Evening star., 1942-09-06
Washington Woman Lawyer
Heads National Association
Marguerite RuwoIt
Is Special Attorney
In Internal Revenue
BY JESSIE FAINT EVANS.

| A washington Portla, Marguerite
Rawalt, special attorney in the of
| flee of the chief counsel of the In
| ternal Revenue Bureau, has lust
been honored by being made presi-
dent of the National Association of
Women lawyers at its AID conven-
tion, held in Detroit last week.
Miss Rawalt is one of the two
women lawyers in the chief coun-
sells office assigned to the appeals
division, which is composed of at
torneys who represent the Govern
ment in the trial and conduct of
Federal income, estate and gift tax
cases before the Board of Tax Ap-
peals.
Her present assignment is that of
reviewer on the central office staff
In Washington, which reviews the
briefs of trial attorneys all over the
United States and passes on policy
questions arising in the various de-
centralized offices for the purpose
OF maintaining uniformity of policy
in the administration of revenue
laws
General Clearing House.
Judging by the amount of busi-
ness which was flowing over her
desk and that of her associate in
Room 53l1 in the Internal Revenue
Building at the time of our inter-
view, it was evident that here was
a general clearing house for untan-
CLING all sorts of legal snarls invol-
wing Uncle Sans revenue returns.
Blond, blue-eyed, courteous, this
modern Portia has ready smile
and a warm, friendly manner, but
her quick, decisive replies under
questioning in her field, indicate
she knows all the answers, and is
right on her toes in looking after the
Governments interests.
The National Association of
Women Lawyers, we were told, is lust
what its name would indicate, a
forum for some 1000 women LAWYERS
OF the Nation. 1t functions through
its membership in every part of the
country and meets once a year in a
convention preceding that of the
American Bar Association for the
discussion of problems of Importance
to the welfare of our country in
general and of it's women LAWYERS
in particular.
At its last convention, beside the
top honors which went to Miss
Rawalt, Miss Caroline Just of this
city was elected national secretary
and Mrs. Charlotte Milton, vice
president for the District of Colum-
bia.
Took Lead in Panel.
One of the features of this Cleve-
land meeting was its panel discus
sion, Opportunities for Women
Lawyers During Wartime" in which
Miss Rawalt took leading part.
Under the title 1--WE Work for
Victory Miss Rawalt is also the
author of an article in the August
number of the Women Lawyers
Journal, official organ of the asso-
citation.
"First and foremost in our hearts,"
she emphasized, must be the desire
to serve our country and the clear
Sap Soll9AAodcllCSo ol ia SU tlllllkC
first, God, country, church and home.
Then, there must be a willingness
to serve in whatever capacity we
can best do so, with a subordination
of self to the overpowering need of
our country. For, in such time as
this, freedom is not alone an in
heritance but an obligation as we'll
as an achievement to be upheld not
merely by faith but with the last
ounce of our strength and self
sacrifice, both as individuals and as
Nation.
"It has been inevitable" she con-
tinued, that the ctivities of women
lawyers should have been accelerated
and enlarged in scope by wartime,
speaking now of our professional
activities rather than of our per-
sonal ones, as women in Red Cross,
nursing and other humanitarian
services. There is more legal work