In conversation with Mary Gately

Mary Gately is co-managing partner of DLA Piper’s Washington, DC office and co-head of the office’s Litigation group. Mary has traveled with New Perimeter to Kosovo multiple times to work with the Kosovo Bar Association (KBA) to help increase the number of women in the legal profession.

In 2013, Mary joined New Perimeter in her first international pro bono project in Pristina, Kosovo on an initiative sponsored by the National Center for State Courts (NCSC) and USAID to increase the number of women and minorities in the Kosovo Bar. Mary worked with the Gender Committee of the KBA and led a workshop with 50 participants, including judges, law professors and female law students and interns, to set goals and objectives to support women lawyers and encourage women to enter into the legal profession. She also visited two law schools in Pristina and participated in panel discussions to speak about her experience as a lawyer in the US and to offer guidance on how to have a successful career and balance numerous professional and personal commitments.

Mary has been invited back to Kosovo on three occasions since her initial visit to continue to run additional workshops for women lawyers and to celebrate Law Day, where new lawyers are sworn into the bar. On Law Day, she participated in a conference held for the first time on the issues facing women lawyers that was sponsored by the KBA. She has also worked with the newly created Non-Majority Committee to help develop strategies to increase membership of Kosovar ethnic minorities in the KBA.

In Washington, DC, Mary focuses her practice on reputation management, class actions, cross border litigation and other complex litigation in the fields of First Amendment, product liability and commercial litigation. She also serves on the board of SchoolTalk, a nonprofit organization that brings special education dispute prevention and early dispute resolution programs to DC schools.

“Mary’s dedication, enthusiasm and expertise have been instrumental to the success of this project,” said Lisa Dewey, Director of New Perimeter. "She has devoted an enormous amount of time and energy to support the development of Kosovo’s legal sector." 

About Mary Gately

Mary is a partner in DLA Piper's Washington, DC office.

Full bio

"This project was my first experience in doing pro bono work on an international level and it was my first time to visit this region of Europe. It was a terrific experience on a number of levels. It allowed me to see firsthand the challenges that a new country like Kosovo faces from an economic and legal perspective, and it showed me the difficult struggle that women face to be successful lawyers who are treated equally by others in their culture. Perhaps more important than the actual work I did, are the relationships that I was able to establish with young female law students and interns who are hungry for opportunities as lawyers and have the energy to be agents of change in Kosovo."