Lawyers Club Blog (ARCHIVE)

Can We Have It All?

At 6:00 a.m., my alarm goes off and I ignore it. About 15 minutes later, my son goes off with a faint moan from his crib, and I wobble out of bed to prepare breakfast for us downstairs. Breakfast isn’t fancy; he eats Cheerios. I have to prepare just enough for him so that I can put on my makeup undisturbed. This has all been timed through a series of trials and errors. Before, he would run into the bathroom with Legos, or I would find myself going back and forth between tasks, losing precious minutes that could be saved elsewhere. That’s the amazing thing about law school: minutes matter.

Guest Blog: The more things change, the more they stay the same. 

I belong to a family law listserv that includes others besides members of the family law legal community. The other day, a professional preparing a vocational evaluation inquired as to whether any of the attorneys on the listserv would hire as a paralegal a woman who had a 30 year-old paralegal certificate and had not worked as a paralegal since 4 months after receiving it. This resulting question and answer brought me up short:

Feisty Boys, Hysterical Dudes

A few weeks ago, I wrote about how the words used to describe migrants – words that evoke a sense of fear, of disaster – stay with us as we learn about issues of migration and color our perception thereof. The post sparked some conversation and questions about the words typically used to describe women, including professional women, and how language choice affects each of our lives (including our careers). I’ve been doing some digging on this and I want to share these resources, which range from scholarly to smile-inducing:

For the Love of Law 

When I try to describe what life is like after having stepped into my first law school course, I imagine it is similar to Sarah Jessica Parker trying to weave her way through the mean streets of New York. Like New York, law school is cynical, demanding, and leaves you prepared to multi-task like never before. In other words, you have to be savvy to survive the outlines, case briefs, and egotistical blows that await you. But once you've traversed through every borough, you will find that law school is what you make it. Every journey is about falling in love with the law, taking chances, and working as hard as you can for what you want, right? 

"Big Law Study Provokes Misogyny, Rebuke"

The Recorder news feed last week reported a study by ALM Intelligence (ALI) titled “Where Do We Go From Here? Big Law’s Struggle With Recruiting and Retaining Female Talent.” Guess what? Female attorneys are concentrated in fields that have time flexibility and are not gladiatorial. And, achieving anything like parity in Big Law will take decades.

Life Imitates Law: Words Can Convey or Destroy Dignity

Bombastic litigators, craftsman brief writers, and shrewd contract drafters all stake their clients’ best interests on choosing the right words in the search for just outcomes. So, as much or more than to anyone else, lawyers should care how we refer to other humans, especially those most vulnerable.

The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same . . .

I was on the Lawyers Club Board when, on September 9, 1991, we approved a statement written by then President Rebecca Prater that opposed the appointment of Judge Clarence Thomas to Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. Testimony regarding his appointment was scheduled to begin the next day and Anita Hill testified before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee a month later.

A Damn Good Lawyer and Her Bully, a Story Years in the Making

I am a two-time NCAA champion softball player. My coach used to yell at me. I persevered. I got better. She raised me up and told me I was greatness in the making. She told me that if I came to the field every single day and gave 100%, I would help our team. I would be the best I was capable of being. That is all she asked of each of us, every single day. We took responsibility for our actions and controlled only the things we could control, letting everything else go. That is how we became champions.

If Only We All Could Have Gender-Neutral Names

There is an interesting story going viral about a man and a woman who switched names on their email when interacting with clients. This experiment began when Martin Schneider noticed he was having a difficult time interacting with a client. This client was being impossible, rude, dismissive, and ignoring his questions. Schneider could not understand the reason for this treatment until he realized he was signing his email with his female colleague’s name, Nicole Hallberg. Schneider then reintroduced himself and the client’s demeanor immediately changed. He was thanking him for his suggestions, responding promptly, and became the model client. As noted by Schneider, “My technique and advice never changed. The only difference was that I had a man’s name now.”

4 Practical Tips for Dealing with Creeps in the Workplace – Part II

I’m sure many of you have experienced similar (or worse) situations to the one described in "What’s a Girl Boss to do When It’s Not Just Lunch?" Here are four practical tips I wish I had the self-confidence and courage to use at the time.