Last night, Conan O’Brien took over from Jay Leno as the host of the Tonight Show.I think one of his first guests should be his mother, Ruth O’Brien, whom I got to know while working at Ropes & Gray in Boston.The second woman partner at the firm, she was welcoming and helpful to new attorneys at the firm.She also, not surprisingly, has a great sense of humor.Incredibly, she raised six children while pursuing her legal career—her path from Worcester to Vassar to Yale to Ropes & Gray is detailed in this fascinating account from the Stanford Women’s Legal History Project.I remember Ruth remarking one day that one of her sons was starting a late night television show in New York—and how they hoped it would work out for him. We now know that it did—congratulations!

Cathleen Kaveny is the Darald and Juliet Libby Professor in the Theology Department and Law School at Boston College.

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