Judith L. Lichtman

Judith L. Lichtman is an American attorney specializing in women's rights and an advocate for human and civil rights. Lichtman currently serves as the senior advisor of the National Partnership for Women & Families. She is largely credited with the passage of the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993.

Career Judith Lichtman graduated from the University of Wisconsin Law School in 1965 as one of two women in a class of 150.

Lichtman began her legal career as a civil rights attorney working on school desegregation in the southern United States for the federal Department of Health, Education and Welfare. In 1968, she joined the faculty at Jackson State College, a historically black college in Mississippi. She later returned to the District of Columbia to work at the Urban Coalition on school desegregation. For two years, Lichtman worked at the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, conducting hearings in the South on the treatment of black students and black teachers after desegregation. Lichtman also worked with the commission to investigate low-income women's issues and the link between race and gender. In 1972, Lichtman left the commission to work on George McGovern’s presidential campaign. to 2004. She has since served as the organization's senior advisor

During her time as the executive director, president and senior advisor of the National Partnership, Lichtman and her organization have been credited with helping to pass several pieces of legislation, including: the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978, the Civil Rights Act of 1991, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 and, mostly notably, the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, which is referred to as the "Judy Lichtman Act" by insiders on Capitol Hill.

Board and committee membership Lichtman has served on numerous boards and advisory committees, including: the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, the Center for American Progress, EMILY's List,

Washingtonian magazine has identified Lichtman as one of Washington, D.C.'s most powerful women, and named her Washingtonian of the Year in 1986 and one of the 100 Most Important Women in Washington in 1989. Ladies Home Journal named her one of America's 100 Most Important Women in 1988.

Former president Bill Clinton has referred to Lichtman as "a remarkable national treasure" and the late Senator Ted Kennedy nicknamed her the "101st Senator".