After passing the Arizona bar exam in 1957, Sandra Day O'Connor set up a small law office with local attorney Tom Tobin. The pair would often go to the courthouse to seek appointment to represent indigent defendants for $25 a case, which they would split, according to O'Connor biographer Joan Biskupic.
     Nearly 25 years later, O'Connor's last name appeared on a list of possible Supreme Court nominees prepared by U.S. Attorney General William French Smith. His aide, Ken Starr, had to ask who O'Connor was, but she would go on to become President Reagan's first appointment.
     These and other stories from Biskupic, a reporter with USA Today and author of Sandra Day O'Connor: How the First Woman on the Supreme Court Became Its Most Influential Justice, will be part of the Arizona State Law Journal Symposium , "Conversations About Sandra Day O'Connor."
     The event will be held from 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. on Friday, March 23, in the Great Hall.
     The day will feature four sessions:

• Biography of Justice O'Connor: Biskupic and Barry MacBan, of the MacBan Law Offices in Tucson, moderated by Patricia White, Dean of the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law.
• Panel discussion with O'Connor's former clerks: Ruth V. McGregor, Chief Justice of the Arizona Supreme Court; W. Scott Bales, Arizona Supreme Court justice; RonNell Andersen Jones, visiting faculty fellow at the James E. Rogers College of Law at the University of Arizona; and Charles A. "Chuck" Blanchard, a partner at Perkins Coie in Phoenix; moderated by Paul Bender, professor at the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law.
• Abortion Rights and Gender and Race Discrimination: "Ideologue to Pragmatist: The Evolution of Justice O'Connor's Views on Abortion Rights" by Stewart M. Jay, University of Washington School of Law, and "Justice O'Connor's Role in Gender and Race Discrimination Cases" by Professor Paul Bender. Moderated by George Schatzki, dean of faculty at the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law.
• Politics and Judicial Independence: "Justice O'Connor and Judicial Independence," by Arthur D. Hellman, University of Pittsburgh School or Law, and "Hit by Lightning, Some Observations on the Politics of Recent Supreme Court Appointments," Lucas A. "Scot" Powe Jr., University of Texas at Austin School of Law. Moderated by Ira Ellman, Professor of Law and Willard H. Pedrick Distinguished Research Scholar at the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law.

Breakfast will be served. The symposium is free without CLE, $100 with CLE credit. To RSVP or for more information, go to www.law.asu.edu/Symposium07.