Hometown Heroes: Skye Martin and the Arkansas Association of Women Lawyers

For this week’s segment of Hometown Heroes, AY About You sits down with Skye Martin, the President of the Arkansas Association of Women Lawyers.

Martin grew up in North Little Rock and graduated from the UALR William H. Bowen School of Law in 2012 with High Honors. Nowadays, Martin works as an attorney for the Arkansas Department of Human Services. Martin’s husband, Jonathan, also practices law and is an immigration attorney at Monterrey Law Firm. In her spare time, Martin enjoys reading, painting, dancing and community service.

The Arkansas Association of Women Lawyers was founded in 1938 to further the interests of women lawyers and their service to the legal profession.

“We raise money to provide scholarships to female law students every year. We also offer continuing legal education and opportunities for networking with female law students, judges, and others in the profession,” Martin shares. “We hold clothing drives to donate professional clothing to female law students for their interviews and clerkships.”

Martin joined the student chapter of AAWL as a law student and loved the opportunity to meet established female lawyers and to do community service projects.

“During my time in the student chapter, we raised money and did projects for Women & Children First, a domestic violence shelter,” Martin says.

As with nearly all organizations, the pandemic made it difficult for the organization to hold their usual events in person, but the AAWL was able to find success by moving to a digital platform.

“We had a successful online auction to replace our Annual Holiday Brunch,” Martin says. “We still awarded scholarships like usual but did not get to meet the winners in person. Our Board did a great job of pivoting to online events and CLEs.”

Over the next five years, Martin hopes to see major growth for AAWL, as well as a bigger connection to the law school in Fayetteville.

Martin and the AAWL are currently planning a few events for the rest of the year.

“We are having our Annual Holiday Brunch and Auction on Dec. 4, 2021,” she says. “It will be from 10 a.m. to 12 noon and will involve food, mimosas, and a silent auction with fabulous items. Also, attorney and talented artist Meagan Davis Lofton will be painting at the event and her art will be auctioned off. We are hoping to have the event in person this year but we do not have our location yet. This brunch is where we raise most of the money for our scholarships. Also, Bang-Up Betty donates part of the proceeds from her Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg “I Dissent” necklace sales to AAWL, so check that out as well.”