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2008 SESSION

089172708
HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 546
Offered March 3, 2008
Celebrating the life of Whitney Harwood Menning Adams.
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Patrons-- Rust, Plum and Vanderhye; Senators: Herring, Howell and Petersen
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WHEREAS, Whitney Harwood Menning Adams of Vienna, a respected attorney, business executive, and women’s rights advocate, died September 23, 2007; and

WHEREAS, born in Illinois and raised in Alabama, Whitney Adams attended Randolph Macon Woman’s College where she earned a bachelor’s degree, and went on to obtain a master’s in history from the University of North Carolina and a juris doctor degree from George Washington University, where she was the Van Vleck Moot Court champion; and

WHEREAS, while in law school, Whitney Adams worked at the Federal Reserve Board, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission; after receiving her law degree, she served for six years as an Assistant United States Attorney, handling complex criminal and civil litigation, and then as Assistant General Counsel for Litigation at the Securities and Exchange Commission and Deputy General Counsel for Litigation at the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission; and

WHEREAS, beginning in 1987, Whitney Adams practiced as a litigator in her own firm and with major law firms, and in 2001 she cofounded Cricket Technologies, a company specializing in forensic electronic discovery; and

WHEREAS, always active in professional organizations, Whitney Adams was the first woman chair of the American Bar Association’s (ABA) White Collar Crime Committee, a vice-chair of the ABA’s Criminal Law Section, and the first woman chair of the Washington Federal Court’s lawyer disciplinary committee; she was also a member of the Sedona Group, the nation’s leading organization on electronic discovery in litigation; and

WHEREAS, deeply involved in the modern women’s rights movement, Whitney Adams was a member of the board of directors of the National Organization for Women early in her career, and one of her main foci in that role was to challenge discrimination against women in television broadcasting and at major private employers; and

WHEREAS, Whitney Adams was devoted to serving the Commonwealth, which she did as a member of the Virginia State Treasury Board, the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia, the Northern Virginia Technology Council, and the board of directors of the Greater Washington Boys and Girls Clubs; and

WHEREAS, Whitney Adams will be fondly remembered for her determination, creativity, and exceptional drive, and she will be greatly missed by her two sons, Taylor and McLean; her brother, Colby; her nephew, Preston; her loving friend, Chuck; and many other family members and good friends; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, the Senate concurring, That the General Assembly hereby note with great sadness the loss of Whitney Harwood Menning Adams, a fine Virginian; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates prepare a copy of this resolution for presentation to the family of Whitney Harwood Menning Adams as an expression of the General Assembly’s respect for her memory.