PITT LAW WOMEN AND COUNTY BAR ASSOCIATION TO HONOR LORRAINE BITTNER ON MARJORIE MATSON DAY
PITTSBURGH, April 3 -- Lorraine Bittner, legal systems advocate and attorney for the Women's Center and Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh, has been named "Woman of the Year" in honor of the annual Marjorie Matson Day celebration sponsored by the University of Pittsburgh Law Women's Association and the Allegheny County Bar Association.
The event will be held on Thursday, April 6, at 6 p.m., in Ballroom A-C at the Marriott Hotel at Chatham Center. It is held in memory of Matson, who was Allegheny County's first woman assistant county solicitor in 1941 and the first woman assistant district attorney, from 1948 to 1952.
Bittner, a 1979 Pitt law school graduate, began her legal career as a staff attorney for Neighborhood Legal Services Association (NLSA) where she represented indigent clients in civil legal matters. In 1988, Bittner became chief attorney of NLSA's Family Law Unit, supervising and practicing with attorneys who handled custody and protection from abuse cases. She joined the Women's Center and Shelter in 1996.
Bittner received the U.S. Department of Justice Award for Public Service in 1999 for invaluable service and assistance to victims and witnesses of crime; and for representing the criminal justice system in a just and caring way, while maintaining the highest standards of American law enforcement.
A member of the Allegheny County Bar Association, Bittner participates in the Family Law Section and on the District Justice Subcommittee. She also serves on the Allegheny County Domestic Violence Task Force. Bittner has conducted training on the Protection from Abuse Act for attorneys, district justices, police, and community groups. She is a participating member of the legal committee of the Pennsylvania Coalition against Domestic Violence.
Speakers for the Matson Day Celebration include Chief Public Defender M. Susan Ruffner, who will give the keynote address, and guest speaker Mary Sue Ramsden of Raphael Ramsden & Behers, P.C.
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