WLS Frances Newell Carr Achievement
Award Recipient -- Lilly Spitz
by Debra Roberts Ries

Lilly Spitz, a local healthcare attorney, has been chosen as the Frances Newell Carr Achievement Award recipient for 2002 by Women Lawyers of Sacramento (WLS) for her long-time dedication to the service of women and children and the achievement of excellence in the legal profession.

In 1994, WLS created the Frances Newell Carr Award in honor of the late Justice Frances Carr to recognize individual attorneys or judges who, like Justice Carr, have served our community, achieved professional excellence in their legal careers, assisted other women in the pursuit or furtherance of legal careers and who have personally advanced opportunities for women in the law. In 1962, attorney Frances Newell Carr was a founder member and first president of WLS. In 1975, Carr was appointed to the Superior Court in Sacramento by then Governor Jerry Brown. She was the first woman judge to serve in the Sacramento Superior Court. She was elected presiding judge of the Superior Court in 1978, and in 1980, was appointed to the Third District Court of Appeal where she served until her death in 1992. Justice Carr was well respected and known for her humor, legal excellence, and analytical and careful consideration of legal issues while serving on the bench.

Lilly's life work has been in the service of women and children. She worked during college as a caregiver for an autistic child, a juvenile hall counselor, a volunteer administrator for a free health clinic, and for Vista as the volunteer youth program director. She also co-founded a family planning network. After graduating from UC Irvine with a Bachelor of Science degree in Social Ecology, Lilly moved to Sacramento and worked in crisis pregnancy counseling and as director of a women's comprehensive health clinic. She then went on to law school for two years at Antioch Law School, Washington, D.C., where she worked as a law intern for the Congressional Clearinghouse on Women's Rights and for Washington D.C. Legal Services. Lilly finished her law degree at Golden Gate University School of Law where she volunteered at La Casa de las Madres in San Francisco, co-authoring the first Legal Handbook for Survivors of Domestic Violence. She also interned for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund.

After receiving her law degree and being admitted to the California Bar in 1977, Lilly went on to serve as health policy and legal advisor to former Assembly Speaker Willie Brown. While working in the Legislature, Lilly co-founded the group Women in Politics and the Women's Equity Network, a coalition of advocates for low-income women. She left the Legislature in 1982 to found and direct the Women's Legislative Institute, a non-profit organization created to teach legislative advocacy skills to advocates of women's organizations including such organizations as WLS and California Alliance Against Domestic Violence, coordinate statewide conferences on key women's issues and teach the history of women's political involvement. After several years with the Women's Legislative Institute, Lilly spent time serving as staff counsel and legislative liaison to the Fair Political Practices Commission, as director of the California Nurses Association, and then several years as general counsel of the California Healthcare Association.

In 1999, Lilly found a niche in healthcare law serving as the first chief legal counsel for California Planned Parenthood's statewide non-profit education/public policy arm, the California Planned Parenthood Education Fund. This position involves her with issues ranging from community clinic licensure and staffing, to gender equity and reproductive rights. Lilly participates in litigation, drafting legislation, legal/policy/medical research, analyzing and responding to proposed and current state and federal regulations, and leads workshops and seminars. Dan Stone, formerly a deputy attorney general in the government section of the California Department of Justice and now with the Department of Education, had high praise for Lilly's work, which he sees as vitally important and a major contribution to the health of women.

Lilly served on the board of California Women Lawyers (CWL) from 1994 to 1998 as the representative of Women Lawyers of Sacramento, and currently serves as a board member of the CWL Foundation. In 1996 and 1997, she received the CWL President's Award of Excellence for her work in support of affirmative action and community education regarding domestic violence. She is the editor of the acclaimed and widely distributed Manual on California Domestic Violence Law, published by the CWL Foundation. In addition, Lilly has served on the boards of The Birthing Project and Women in Politics and currently serves on the board of The Capital Unity Council. She is also a member of the National Council of Jewish Women and co-founder of a support and education program "Family Shalom" responding to family abuse in the Jewish community.

Lilly was born in Vienna, Austria, to parents who immigrated to the United States as refugees of Austria in 1949. Her father was a concentration camp survivor. Lilly is married to retired judge of the Sacramento Superior Court, Barry Loncke, and they have a daughter Katie, a sophomore at McClatchy High School.

Lilly Spitz is a well deserving recipient of the award. She joins previous recipients the Honorable Alice Lytle (1994), Virginia Mueller (1995), the Honorable Cecily Bond (1996), Charity Kenyon (1997), the Honorable Faith Geoghegan (1998), Marian Johnston (1999), Professor Martha West (2000) and Joan Stone (2001). Lilly will receive the award at the SCBA's annual Law Day event on May 2.