Veteran Female Lawyer Fought Cancer, Discrimination to Lead

By Rabiah Alicia Burks
American Bar Association News Service
July 25, 2011

WASHINGTON – Col. Maritza Ryan is a lawyer, mother, professor, cancer survivor, military adviser, and the first woman and Hispanic academic department head at West Point.

Ryan, a Manhattan native and first generation American, is one of five trailblazing women attorneys to be honored with the 2011 Margaret Brent Women Lawyers of Achievement Award, given annually by the American Bar Association Commission on Women in the Profession. The award is named for America’s first woman lawyer, who arrived in the colonies in 1638.

“The Margaret Brent Awards recognize the remarkable achievements and accomplishments of distinguished women lawyers from around the country,” said Roberta D. Liebenberg, chair of the ABA Commission on Women in the Profession. “Our honorees have not only achieved great professional success, they have also blazed the trail for other women lawyers, and served as inspirational role models.”

Eleanor Dean (“Eldie”) Acheson, Paulette Brown, Karen J. Mathis, and Hon. Esther Tomljanovich will also receive the 2011 Margaret Brent Women Lawyers of Achievement Award. A sixth honoree, Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin of the Supreme Court of Canada, will receive a special award. Previous honorees include Hillary Rodham Clinton and U.S. Supreme Court Justices Sandra Day O’Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

In high school, Ryan earned a scholarship to attend a college prep high school for girls that ultimately took her on her first tour of West Point. Before 1976 women were not admitted into federal military schools. Thus, when Ryan asked if she could attend West Point someday she was told that girls would never be allowed there.

A few years later, she was a part of the academy’s third class of women.

“Frankly, the thought that I could make it through West Point, become colonel, and then be selected to be the first woman department head, was not a thought that would have entered my mind,” Ryan said.

Her admission to West Point sparked her interest in pursuing law. She became a lawyer, earning her juris doctorate from Vanderbilt University.

“Congress passed a law that opened up all the federal military academies to women, so the law has played a role in my life early on,” Ryan said.

After graduating from the academy, Ryan began her career of being one of the many women to break down gender barriers in the military.  During Operation Desert Shield she was a military adviser to a brigade of 1,000 soldiers.

“I have always been very grateful to be an American,” said Ryan.

It has been a tremendous opportunity to combine leadership and a career in the law, Ryan said.  As an Army JAG Officer and a lawyer she served in all areas of council, including being a prosecutor, defense attorney and chief of military justice.

While she’s proud of her accomplishments, Ryan attributes most of her success to the women who came before her and the people who provided her with opportunities along the way.

Ryan was attending staff school at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., when she was diagnosed with soft tissue sarcoma cancer. Struggling through rounds of chemotherapy and radiation, her illness could have ended her military career.

“They easily could have said I was medically retired. I would have understood and gone on,” Ryan said.

Instead, the military and its leadership stuck with Ryan during one of the most difficult challenges of her lifetime. Brigadier General Malinda Dunn came up with a duty roster of women to come out and be with Ryan.

“I had to go to Texas, my family was up in Kansas and so I was basically alone,” said Ryan. “My sister came as much as she could but basically I had a bunch of attorneys who took turns taking care of me.”

It was this type of support from the military that Ryan attributes much of her success.

Ryan interviewed for an academic position at West Point’s law department despite the uncertainty of whether or not she would remain cancer free. She had been fighting cancer and the affects of the treatment for two years, which also resulted in having a metal rod placed in her leg.

“Between being selected and the time I had to report, I had another medical setback,” Ryan said. The rod that had been placed in her leg became infected.

“I was basically looking at being in a wheelchair for the rest of my life if they couldn’t do a hip replacement,” Ryan said. “With all the chemotherapy I had I was prone to infection.”

Once again the military supported Ryan and waited the additional months until she was well.

“Women can lead, women can succeed,” Ryan said. “They can have opportunities.”

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