On April 30, 2013, Deputy Chief of Mission Bridget Brink joined Supreme Court Chairman Konstantine Kublashvili and Minister of Justice Tea Tsulukiani to open a conference, organized by EWMI, entitled “Gender in the Court: Working Toward a More Inclusive Court System.” The conference aimed to foster the development of a court system that encourages women to play a greater role in the running of courts and the development of the justice system.  Nearly 80 women judges from all over Georgia traveled to Tbilisi to participate in the conference.  They were joined by women representatives of the Georgian Prosecutor’s Office and the Georgia Bar Association.  This was believed to be the first such gathering of women jurists in Georgian history. To start the conference, U.S. Judge Mary McGowan Davis explained the process by which, after 30 years of effort, women judges in the U.S. had achieved greater equality of representation in state and federal courts; then later suggested networking strategies that could be used by Georgia’s judges and lawyers to achieve similar success.  Most of the conference however was devoted to Georgian judges, prosecutors, and attorneys sharing their experiences and discussing how they could increase their representation and influence at the higher levels of Georgia’s justice institutions.  At the end of the conference, U.S. Ambassador to Georgia, Richard Norland, hosted a reception at his residence for all the conference participants.