Deborah Benson retired from her law practice of 32 years in April 2014. She was a partner at Hinckley Allen where she practiced trademark and copyright law, receiving many awards and professional recognition.
In 2012, prior to her retirement, Deborah approached the Women’s Bar Association of Massachusetts with the idea of the WBA leading a legislative initiative to make female genital mutilation (FGM) illegal in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The pending bills, Senate bill S1116 and House bill H1530, are the result of the work of the WBA Legislative Policy Committee’s Task Force to study FGM, chaired by Deborah. These bills were filed in January of 2015. Deborah is also the co-chair of the WBA Pay Equity Task Force which co-authored the pending Equal Pay Act, also filed in January and favorably reported out of committee in July of 2015. Earlier in her career, Deborah, through her work with the Boston Bar Association, founded the Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts of Massachusetts.
As an Access to Justice Fellow, Deborah will continue her work on the pending FGM legislation including preparing for upcoming hearings in December, enlarging public and community support for the bills, and engaging in advocacy inside and outside the state house.
2020 Update: “When the Massachusetts Women’s Bar Association first began efforts to ban female genital mutilation (FGM) in Massachusetts in 2013, the state was ranked as the 12th highest state nationwide for women and girls at risk of or living with FGM according to a Brigham and Women’s Hospital report based on 2000 U.S. census data. Despite this clear warning, it took almost a decade for the Massachusetts state government to pass anti-FGM legislation. FGM-ban advocates faced difficult setbacks: legislators were not familiar with FGM, the fight often became political, and this spring, the pandemic consumed the world.
With grit and perseverance, the Massachusetts Women’s Bar Association (WBA), alongside survivors and other advocates, finally reached legislative victory in August of 2020. ”