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The Women in Law Conference | Vienna | September 11-13, 2025

Justitia Awards 2022

celebrating outstanding women in law

nominations for the Justitia Awards 2023 will open on January 17, 2023

Justitia Awards Gala 2022

The Women in Law Initiative proudly presents the Justitia Awards Gala 2022 at the Vienna Palace of Justice on September 16, 2022.

Justitia Awards Journal 2022

Read all about the outstanding nominees and winners of the Justitia Awards 2022 in the Justitia Journal 2022

and the winners 2022 are ...

The Justitia Awards Laureates’ Selection Committee had the honor and difficult task of choosing the winners from over 100 nominations from 6 continents. Due to the outstanding nominations, the Committee decided to present international and national awards in all categories.

Winners Category 1 – Lifetime Awards

International

Eren Keskin

Eren Keskin is a Kurdish lawyer and human rights activist. For more than thirty years, she has fought for fundamental rights and freedoms in Turkey, especially for women and the LGBTI+ community. Eren Keskin is a founding member of the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey and she is also one of the founders of the Foundation for Society and Legal Studies. Eren has won various international awards which recognize the progress she drives in human and women’s rights.

National

Maria Berger

Maria Berger is an Austrian lawyer and politician. She has held several political functions in the Austrian Social Democratic party, she served as a Judge at the EU Court of Justice, as the Austrian minister of Justice and was a member of the European Parliament and its Legal Affairs committee as well as the council of ministers – three major EU institutions. Maria Berger is also a visiting professor at the Institute for European Law at the University of Vienna.

Winners Category 2 – Academia

International

Zlata Đurđević

Zlata Đurđević is a professor of criminal procedure, human rights and international and European criminal law at the University of Zagreb. She has published extensively in the field of human rights, international criminal law and criminal procedural law has been cited by the European Court of Human Rights and has acted as an expert witness in the UNCITRAL and ICSID arbitrations. She is the president of the working froup for the Criminal Procedure Act and a recipient of several international awards.

National

Elisabeth Holzleithner

Elisabeth Holzleithner is a Professor of Legal Philosophy and Legal Gender Studies. She served as head of the working group on equal treatment at the University of Vienna from 1994-2001 and has since drawn on her experiences of the hurdles women face in academic careers, incorporating her insights into her scientific work. She is considered one of the leading scholars in this field. Elisabeth is the Head of the Working Group for Equal Treatment at the University of Vienna and head of the research platform “GAIN”.

Winners Category 3 – Pioneers & Game Changers

International

Tadala Chinkwezule

Tadala Chinkwezule is a Malawian Lawyer and Notary Public. Tadala has contributed extensively to several areas and in diverse roles. To name a few: during her tenure as President of WLA, the organization was successful in key Malawian cases. During her tenure as President of YALI, she led the Executive Committee and the organization in the Malawi Votes Project in 2019, whose target was to reach 1,000 young people, however through teamwork, the project reached over 10,000 to raise awareness about the right to vote and ensuring peace.

National

Dora Bertrandt

Dora Bertrandt is the founder of “Paragraphinnen”, an Austrian initiative that aims to support and inspire young women in law, especially law students. Dora started the initiative while still being a law student herself. She has been active in the legal world for several years, especially in the LegalTech scene. In 2019, Dora Bertrandt was elected President of the Student Body that represents over 13,000 Students at the Univesity of Vienna Faculty of Law.

Selection Committee 2022

The distinguished Justitia Laureates’ Selection Committee reviews each nomination for the Justitia Awards, shortlists the finalists, and selects the laureates of each category.

Marisa Sandra Aizenberg

Marisa Sandra Aizenberg is a Justitia Award laureate, she graduated from Buenos Aires University with a specialization in Health Law. She is the founder and Academic Director of the Health Observatory of the School of Law at UBA and the first woman in Argentina to lead legal and ethical studies in digital health.

Jarpa Dawuni

Jarpa Dawuni is a Justitia Award Laureate, an internationally renowned scholar, researcher, and qualified Barrister-at-Law. She is the founder and executive director of the “Institute for African Women in Law”, and the recipient of the President Obama White House Presidential Award.

Susanne Kalss

Susanne Kalss is a professor of business law at the University of Economics and Business in Vienna. The founder of the „Austrian Supervisory Board Day“ (Aufsichtsratstag) and the „Austrian Family Business Day“ (Familienunternehmertag) is also a Justitia Award Laureate.

Carmen Thornton

Carmen Thornton founded her own law firm as a young mother. She was one of the first lawyers in Austria to extensively use social media for marketing, acquisition, and PR, gaining over 17,000 followers on Instagram. She is a prolific columnist and speaker. Carmen is also one of our Justitia Award Laureates.

Brigitte Bierlein

Brigitte Bierlein is a Justitia Award Laureate, she was the first female President of the Austrian Constitutional Court. In 2019, she was appointed as Federal Chancellor of the Republic of Austria – the first woman in Austria’s history to hold this office

Lukas Flener

Lukas Flener is a Partner at Fellner Wratzfeld & Partner Rechtsanwälte. He has over 20 years of experience as a lawyer and worked for the Austrian Cartel Court and international law firms in Vienna, Brussels and London.

Andrew Leck

Andrew Leck is the CEO at MSI Global Alliance – a silver sponsor of the Women in Law Initiative. He coordinates the strategy set by the Board of Directors of MSI, a leading global association of independent legal and accounting firms. Andrew has several years of experience in leadership positions.

Nida Usman Chaudhary

Nida Usman Chaudhary writes for national and international publications, advises on gender and children’s rights and teaches corporate law from a business and human rights perspective. The Justitia Award Laureate also founded the Women in Law Initiative in Pakistan.

Christina Blacklaws

As President of The Law Society of England and Wales, Christina developed a lead program for women in leadership positions in the legal field. Today, she runs her own consultancy business and is an award-winning published author. She is also one of our Justitia Award Laureates.

Alix Frank-Thomasser

Alix Frank-Thomasser is a senior partner of Alix Frank Rechtsanwälte GmbH – a gold sponsor of the Women in Law Initiative. She co-founded the Women in Law Initiative five years ago. She is a successful business lawyer, published author, co-founder of the EuréseaU network, and chair of the CSR Committee of CCBE, the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe.

Elisabeth Zoi Lendway

Elisabeth Zoi Lendway is a contracts Mmanager at Airbus Defence and Space GmbH in Germany and a Justitia Award laureate. She is a mentor to young professionals and also takes care of and advocates for children on the Autism-Spectrum.

Rupert Wolff

Rupert Wolff is not only a prolific lawyer but also a certified court interpreter for the Italian language. He was elected President of the Austrian Bar in 2011 – a prestigious position he still holds today.

Michaela Clicque

Michaela Clicque is a legal counsel for UEFA’s Statutory and Regulatory Unit, where she takes the lead in all regulatory-related matters. Michaela is a Justitia Award Laureate. Jointly with FIFA, she provides legal advice on the revision process of the statutes of the national associations affiliated to UEFA.

Omnia Gadalla

Omnia Gadalla, a Justitia Award Laureate founded the „Her Honor Setting The Bar Initiative“, which fights gender-based discrimination in the Egyptian legal industry. She has filed suits against the Egyptian President, Minister of Justice and head of the state council. She teaches at Al-Azhar University, where she mentors female students.

Ilse Reiter-Zatloukal

Ilse Reiter-Zatloukal is an accomplished researcher and beloved lecturer at the Department for Legal and Constitutional History at the University of Vienna School of Law. As Vice-Chair of the Senate of the University of Vienna, she holds one of the highest positions at the University and is a Justitia Award Laureate as well.

Raffaela Zillner

Raffaela Zillner is a trained lawyer. She currently serves as general secretary at the Austrian Association for Betting and Gambling and is thus one of the few women in such a prominent leadership position in her industry.

Justitia Awards 2023

The Justitia Awards honor outstanding women in law in one of three categories:
(1) international leaders / life time awards
(2) academia
(3) game changers / pioneers / young achievers

Nominations are open to all legal professions: lawyers, notaries public, in-house counsel, judges, researchers and scientists, civil servants, and all other fields of legal practice.

NOMINATIONS WILL OPEN JANUARY 17, 2023

The Awards Ceremony will take place in Vienna, on September 15, 2023, during the Fourth International Women in Law Conference.

Sponsors

Platinum

Gold

Silver

Bronze