Publications
The Gender Gap: Hedging Your Bets In Uncertain Times *
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By Melissa McClenaghan Martin
New York Law Journal
January 30, 2009
Many attorneys feel they are facing uncertain futures these days. There have been large-scale layoffs at firms across the country, several venerable firms have disappeared, partners are being de-equitized, and, at an increasing number of firms, associate salaries have been frozen. Last year saw the loss of 7,000 legal jobs according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
Softening demand for legal services is expected to continue through year-end 2009 as corporate clients cut costs and demand reduced fees from their lawyers. Analysts expect firms to continue to lay off attorneys at all levels of practice. By all accounts, the outlook is bleak.
So what does this mean for attorneys in the lateral hiring market?
Over the past few years, legal employers were in a war to attract and retain talent. It was a recruits' market, and employers were willing to make accommodations for quality candidates. Alternative work arrangements such as part-time and flexible schedules were offered to new lateral recruits. Many partners were hired because of their technical expertise, although they lacked significant books of business. It was a market of hope and possibility.
But the market has changed.
"The market is no longer about what the employer can do for you as a recruit," said Maricar Tinio, chief diversity officer and a director at the legal recruitment firm Lateral Link, which manages a Web-based legal jobs platform. "It is about what you can do for the employer."
Across virtually all sectors, "employers are in a wait-and-see mode, being incredibly selective, and few candidates even get in the door for an interview," Ms. Tinio added. "Some attorneys have been looking for a new position for over a year."
Ms. Tinio identified several growth areas this year, including bankruptcy, energy, compliance and intellectual property. Most in-house openings are outside of New York, with many in Texas or on the West Coast, she noted.
"If you still have a job and don't have to leave your employer, now is not the time to look for a new position," advised Avis Caravello, founder of Avis Caravello Attorney Search Consultants, one of Northern California's leading search firms specializing in partner and practice group placement at firms in San Francisco and along the West Coast.
But for attorneys who need or want to find new jobs, what options are there?
Because the market is saturated with top talent and job openings are few, strong credentials alone are not enough to get candidates in the door these days. Attorneys need to distinguish themselves from their peers. Candidates should highlight board positions and leadership roles, articles written, speaking engagements and other relevant activities. For attorneys at the counsel and partner level, a book of business is essential for firm positions. These days, being a technician is not enough.
When attorneys begin the job search process, recruiters are certainly an essential first step, and they often know of in-house and firm openings that are not made public.
But more is required in this market.
Networking is now more important than ever. Given that employers are inundated with resumes, a contact at a potential employer is invaluable.
Candidates may find helpful contacts by reconnecting with former colleagues through Web sites such as LinkedIn and through law school and undergraduate alumni networks. Networking events, CLE seminars, and bar committee involvement in candidates' practice area are all useful and help candidates get in front of potential employers and other useful contacts.
Now is not the time to hard-sell contacts. With so many hiring freezes in place, it is more useful for candidates to develop relationships with contacts, rather than to immediately ask them for a job.
In addition, candidates in this market may need to be flexible.
Unlike years past, alternative work arrangements such as part-time schedules are seldom available.
"In general, this isn't the time to come in asking for a part-time schedule," Ms. Tinio cautioned. If part-time is essential, she recommends that recruits start at a full-time schedule and ask their employer to re-evaluate their schedule at the six-month or one-year mark.
"By then, you've proven yourself, and you are in a better negotiating position," she said.
For attorneys trying to re-enter legal practice after time out to care for children or aging parents, the market is incredibly tough.
"Even in a good market it's difficult to on-ramp," said Ms. Tinio.
Candidates returning to work will often need to take a step back in terms of salary or seniority, she added. Doing contract work in the interim may be helpful.
Although the associate market is stalled, "the partner market is fairly robust, with firms still strategically looking to make quality additions," said Jonathan Ross, co-founder and partner at Empire Search Partners, one of New York's largest legal recruiting and consulting firms.
However, partner recruitment is more selective than it has been in years past.
In today's lateral market, "firms are looking for quantifiable portable business," said Mr. Ross, "unlike in the boom market of years past, where firms were often willing to consider partners who simply had technical expertise and the potential to generate business."
The amount of business required depends on a variety of factors, such as practice area outlook and attorney seniority. But in general in New York, a partner needs at least $2 million to $3 million of business to get the attention of the largest firms, said Mr. Ross.
In smaller markets like Chicago, law firms tend to require $1 million in actual portable business, said Ms. Tinio. For smaller firms, a book of $300,000 to $500,000 may be sufficient.
Larger firms with West Coast offices will consider senior associates and of counsels with about $300,000 to $400,000 in business and about $750,000 to $1 million for junior partners, according to Ms. Caravello. If you are a midlevel or senior partner, in general, at least $1.5 million in portable business is required.
"I can't emphasize enough how important business development is," said Ms. Caravello.
For attorneys who want options and autonomy, "the best way to get those is to have your own significant book of business," she noted. "If you do, you can write your own ticket. But a 45-year-old partner with a brilliant resume and no business has few, if any, choices."
Across all levels, the advice is clear: The best hedge in today's saturated legal market is for candidates to be more than technicians.
The Gender Gap: Making Rain In a Dry Economy *
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By Melissa McClenaghan Martin
New York Law Journal
November 28, 2008
Rainmaking is probably the last thing on many attorneys' minds these days. Instead, they are concerned about job security, slow practice areas and clients that are being downsized or curtailing outside legal fees.
However, as successful rainmakers know, uncertain economic times are all the more reason to focus on business development. And, for rising rainmakers, this is the time to develop your relationships, gain the loyalty of your contacts, and lay the groundwork for when the economy turns around.
So what do you need to know to take your rainmaking to the next level?
· Business can come from anywhere.
Adrienne Chapoulie, a third-year litigation associate at Kasowitz Benson Torres & Friedman, was hardly expecting to meet a potential client when she attended a social event with friends.
"We were socializing with a few people, and my friend and I struck up a conversation with the person standing next to us," she said. They exchanged pleasantries, and he told Ms. Chapoulie that he owned a company that had recently patented two products.
"I asked him what lawyers he currently used, and, after he named another firm, I said he should bring his intellectual property work to my firm," said Ms. Chapoulie. They exchanged business cards.
When they spoke next, Ms. Chapoulie asked him for more detail about his company, its daily business issues and legal needs. She learned the company also needed a firm to maintain its corporate records, and Ms. Chapoulie suggested that Kasowitz handle that as well.
Within two weeks after their initial meeting, Ms. Chapoulie had introduced her contact to partners in the firm's intellectual property and corporate practices. Just a few weeks later, her contact became a client, bringing in several matters.
Ms. Chapoulie notes, "I didn't expect to find a client at a social event, but, when we began discussing his work, I recognized and took advantage of the opportunity to pitch my firm and ask for the business."
Because business can come from anywhere, it is important to be prepared. Always carry a business card and be comfortable promoting your work and that of your firm.
· Reinvigorate your network.
Each week, set aside at least one hour to reconnect with contacts you have not spoken to recently. With upheaval and uncertainty on Wall Street, now is an excellent time to touch base with your contacts at banks, hedge funds and private equity firms. Frozen credit markets mean there is little deal flow so many clients and contacts have time on their hands and would welcome the diversion. Call or e-mail them and offer to take them out for lunch or coffee.
You probably also know people who have been laid off recently - maybe contacts at clients or former colleagues who were in-house. E-mail them, let them know you are thinking of them, and offer to help in any way possible. Introduce them to your contacts at other firms and companies that might be able to hire them when the market turns around.
Online networks are another opportunity to reconnect with contacts and create new ones. LinkedIn, the pre-eminent online network for over 30 million professionals, can search mail systems like Outlook and automatically upload your contacts. Merely select the contacts, and LinkedIn invites them to connect with you online. When people accept your invitations, call or e-mail them to catch up.
Lastly, be patient. Too many lawyers expect immediate results from networking, but the average relationship requires six to eight substantive contacts over a sustained period of time to result in business, said Catherine Alman MacDonagh, president of the Legal Sales and Service Organization.
· Make a habit of helping your contacts.
As Keith Ferrazzi says in his book "Never Eat Alone," "The currency of real networking is not greed but generosity." Good networking is not about making a hard sell. It is about developing relationships and being a resource to your contacts without asking for anything in return.
Set aside time each week dedicated to business development. Learn about your clients' day-to-day responsibilities, what they are working on and what difficulties they face. Stay current on developments at your clients' company and in their industry through weekly or daily news alerts through Yahoo! Finance or Google News. Forward your contacts relevant articles and firm updates that impact their business.
As Alison Greenberg, a former partner at a large New Jersey-based firm who recently started her own practice explains, "You need to be aware of, and look for, ways to be helpful to your clients, even if it is beyond the narrow scope of your representation."
Susana Betancourt, a commercial litigator who recently left a large Florida-based firm to start her own practice, sets aside two afternoons each week for client and business development.
Ms. Betancourt makes it a practice of visiting her clients' offices once a quarter.
"I learn about the mechanics of their daily work, familiarize myself with their products, and observe the dynamics of the organization," she explained. "Because of these visits, I can offer better advice and possibly save them money."
Many visits are off-the-clock, especially if Ms. Betancourt is getting to know the client or a new product. If the visit is solely related to a case or project, she bills for the time but only after discussing it with her client.
Ms. Betancourt also routinely checks in with her clients.
"It's important to know what's going on in their lives and to figure out how you can help them, personally and professionally. I want to have a client for life, not just for one case," she explained.
· Diversify.
A recent Legal Sales and Service Organization study found that successful women rainmakers who bring in, on average, roughly $540,000 in annual revenues, engage in a wider variety of networking activities than their peers who bring in about one-fourth that amount.
The most successful rainmakers do not only network with lawyers or attend bar association events. They also are involved in business associations, seek out speaking engagements, and take leadership roles in nonprofit organizations. And they focus heavily on networking within their firm.
Thus, for rising rainmakers, it is important to make yourself visible to potential clients and referral sources. Become more involved in bar and alumni associations, industry groups, volunteer activities and nonprofit groups.
During an economic downturn, it is also particularly important to increase your visibility within your firm. Write an article for a legal or industry publication, provide a presentation to your department on a recent legal development, or organize a CLE program that the firm can provide to clients.
Above all, as most successful rainmakers know, business development requires time and consistency. According to the Legal Sales and Service Organization study, most successful women rainmakers spend more than 11 hours a week on business development.
As Ms. Betancourt said, "It's more important to spend time developing relationships that will last the length of your career than to be worried about making your billables for the month."
For these rising rainmakers, developing relationships with their clients and contacts is an essential and non-negotiable part of their practices. And, for others who hope to follow in their footsteps, now is the time to make a habit of networking and lay the groundwork for years to come.
The Gender Gap: New Models For Diversity *
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By Melissa McClenaghan Martin
New York Law Journal
July 25, 2008
We all know there's a problem. Women represent only 18 percent of partners in the nation's largest law firms, 16 percent of equity partners, and fewer than 10 percent of managing partners. At every level of firm practice, including partnership, women are leaving at a much higher rate than their male counterparts.
Firms have enacted various measures to address the problem. Diversity committees were created well over a decade ago. Women's initiatives have been expanded, part-time and flex-time programs strengthened and more personnel and resources are now dedicated to diversity.
Yet little has changed. Retention and advancement of women remain problematic for many firms. So what will it take to solve the problem? First, firms need to solve the right problem.
"Work-life issues" are not the primary reason women leave firm practice. As numerous studies have shown, women leave firms because they are dissatisfied with stalled advancement and career opportunities, unsatisfying work and "unsupportive" work environments. Work-life concerns are certainly a factor in women's decisions to leave, but they are not determinative.
Can novel approaches to associate development and advancement help stop this drain of female talent?
The competency-based "level" system used to evaluate associates at Husch Blackwell Sanders, a firm with 675 attorneys throughout the Midwest and other locations, seems to suggest so.
The firm's level system was created in 2000 at Blackwell Sanders (which merged with Husch & Eppenberger last year). The system provides three levels for associate development, and each level articulates 17 skills and performance competencies. Associates are evaluated twice annually.
A level system makes the associate review and advancement process more transparent than a typical lockstep system. Partners in a level system must make an "affirmative decision about each associate's development" when deciding whether to promote an associate to the next competency level, explained Peter Sloan, a partner at the firm and the author of "From Classes to Competencies, Lockstep to Levels," in an interview.
In contrast, at many lockstep-based firms, associates advance (and are paid more) merely because they are getting older, not necessarily because their competencies have improved. Also, the partnership seldom has to make any substantive decisions about an associate's advancement until he or she is up for partner. As a result, "many associates don't know where they stand" until partnership, Mr. Sloan added.
In Husch Blackwell's level system, an associate only receives higher pay when his or her competency level improves. In addition, associates' billable rates only increase when they are promoted to the next level. Thus, both the associate and the firm have an incentive to develop an associate's skills.
Because of this shared incentive, associate development programs, including training, mentoring and coaching, are viewed as an "investment in developing our associate talent, not an expense," said Mr. Sloan.
"Increased associate competency is directly tied to increased firm revenue."
Mr. Sloan said the level system enables the firm to better retain top talent, including women and ethnic minorities. Before the system, attrition averaged about 30 percent annually. But by 2004, attrition had dropped to 14 percent, and it has remained relatively level since then. In fact, the percentage of women who left the firm in 2005 and 2006 was lower than their male peers, with only 10 percent of women leaving each year.
In addition, under the level system, several associates have been promoted to partner earlier than they would have been under lockstep. Half of those fast-tracked promotions were women.
Howrey also has a competency-based system that was rolled out in 2005. The Howrey system details four levels of proficiency, from novice to expert level, for each of its 16 competencies.
The firm's competency system has been integrated into firm culture and processes, and its training, pro bono and evaluation programs, as well as assignments, are tailored to competency levels.
To further enhance its competency system, Howrey recently increased the frequency of associate evaluations to twice a year and rolled out a "supervising partner" program where each associate is given a partner who coaches the associate on how to set his or her developmental goals and identify assignments and opportunities that will help improve their competencies.
The supervising partner program has helped reinforce the goals of the firm's competency system.
"Associates realize we are invested in their growth, and they feel empowered to take control over their career," said Karen Lockwood, a partner at the firm and co-chair of its Women's Leadership Initiative.
In 2009, Howrey will switch to a merit-based compensation system that will reward associates as they progress to higher competency levels.
Howrey's competency program seeks to "individualize the associate experience, in terms of progression, pace to partnership and compensation," said Eileen Billinson, Howrey's chief associate career management officer.
"Flexibility is built into the system," she added, "so if an attorney needs to scale back because of family responsibilities, he or she still has access to the same career resources and opportunities."
The Next Generation
Deloitte & Touche USA has long been a leader in its talent management and women's initiative programming. It eliminated its gender gap in attrition years ago and, over the past two decades, has seen a significant increase in its percentage of women partners.
The firm already had robust career development and evaluation systems and flexible work arrangement programs when it decided to launch its new talent management program Mass Career Customization (MCC) in 2005.
Mass Career Customization formalizes the notion of individuality in career development and pacing, recognizing that employees may want to "ramp up" or "ramp down" at different times during their careers.
Under the system, each employee customizes his or her career by selecting, in consultation with their managers, options in four "career dimensions:" pace, workload, location/schedule and role. For example, under MCC, an employee may pursue an accelerated pace with a full workload early in his or her career, and later, take a reduced schedule or limit travel ("location" under the system), when he or she has young children.
MCC is incorporated into the firm's comprehensive evaluation process. Evaluations include in-depth discussion of employee past performance, the employee's specific skills and performance goals for the next year, and whether those goals are consistent with practice group needs. During the evaluation, each employee also determines their MCC profile.
MCC further enhances the "amount of information" provided through evaluations and provides "transparency about employee choices and tradeoffs" along its four career dimensions, explained Anne Weisberg, senior advisor of Deloitte's Women's Initiative and co-author of Mass Career Customization.
MCC did not open the floodgates for reduced-hour requests. To the contrary, 91 percent of Deloitte's employees in the MCC program did not want to change their career path, and the firm received twice as many requests to ramp up than ramp down.
"It's the option value which is incredibly important," explained Ms. Weisberg. "Employees want to know they have the ability to customize their career as their professional and personal needs change."
None of these programs are a quick fix for diversity problems. Each program requires a fundamental change in how business is done, a clarity regarding performance expectations and criteria for advancement, a shared responsibility on the part of the firm and the associate to improve the associate's skills and competencies, and an understanding that attorneys may choose different paths.
But the benefits are clear: increased attorney engagement, satisfaction and performance. Aren't those in everyone's best interest?
The Gender Gap: Working Toward Partnership Parity *
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By Melissa McClenaghan Martin
New York Law Journal
March 28, 2008
Women have made great strides in the legal profession, but they have yet to achieve gender parity within firms. Women represent only 18 percent of partners at the nation's largest firms although they have been entering firms at roughly 50 percent for more than two decades. Attrition is significantly higher for women than men at every level of firm practice, including partnership.
Some firms are leading the way in addressing these issues, dedicating significant resources to retaining talented women, developing their professional skills and nurturing top performers. At these firms, women's initiatives are more than just work-life programs and affinity groups. These firms are grooming the next generation of leaders by tapping women's leadership and business development potential and increasing their visibility and exposure.
Holland & Knight is one firm that has dedicated significant resources to the development of high-potential women. In 2003, the firm created "Rising Stars," an intensive leadership program for five high-performing women in their seventh year or above. The program was designed to "give women the tools and exposure they need to advance within the firm," said Judy Mercier, a partner, national chair of the firm's women's initiative and a graduate of the program.
Rising Stars includes biweekly conference calls during which participants discuss professional development issues as well as two weekend sessions per year. Each participant creates her own marketing plan, which is reviewed with one of the two senior partners who coordinate the program. After the plan is created, each participant works with a marketing coach for several months to target her marketing efforts.
In addition, participants have direct access to firm leadership and meet with the managing partner, executive committee and practice group leaders.
The program has been incredibly successful, Ms. Mercier said. Participants have gone on to leadership positions within the firm, becoming practice group leaders, executive partners of offices and committee heads. In addition, retention numbers for program participants are significantly higher than the firm's overall associate retention.
Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison is another firm providing professional development for high-potential women attorneys through its "Sponsors Program." Paul Weiss' program pairs each high-potential woman at the end of her fifth year with senior partner mentor who serves as an "advocate and guide, helping her plot the trajectory of her career, identify the matters she should work on and how to achieve her goals," said Claudia Hammerman, chair of the firm's women's initiative committee. The program serves as an "additional check" to ensure women are getting access to the same mentors as their male peers, Ms. Hammerman said.
White & Case recently launched a pilot leadership coaching program for eight high-performing women associates and junior partners. The goal of the four-month program is "to empower and encourage participants and give them the tools to continue to advance and excel," said Kelly Hoey, the firm's manager of professional development.
"Coaching is the most impactful thing the firm has done" from a development standpoint, Ms. Hoey said.
The firm has rolled coaching out on a broader basis to attorneys on maternity leave and to attendees at the firm's annual women's retreat.
"The programs are worth every penny. They're a way to re-energize attorneys, help them become leaders, take on challenges and be excited by their careers," Ms. Hoey added.
Most firms provide business development training to their women attorneys but best practices firms take these programs a step further, dedicating significant resources to women's business development efforts.
Dickstein Shapiro, one of Vault's top five 2008 "Best Firms for Women," created a "Women's Leadership Development Initiative," a program that trains women at all levels on how to become business generators and profit centers for the firm.
The firm provides formal business development training to all attorneys, but the women's leadership initiative provides an "additional layer" to address the unique issues facing women, said Robin Cohen, managing partner of the firm's New York office and a member of the executive working committee of the women's leadership initiative.
"Women often network differently from men," she added. "The goal of the women's leadership initiative is to help women figure out what networking style works best for them and how to generate business."
Women have been more energized and engaged in business development because of the targeted women's leadership initiative training, said Ms. Cohen.
Firm management is very supportive of the initiative, she added. "They see how women partners' business development efforts and networking events with women clients have helped the bottom line."
The initiative also has its own budget, which covers training programs as well as networking events and an upcoming retreat for women partners and general counsels.
Mentoring at All Levels
Mentoring programs are another important piece of successful women's initiatives.
"It's important to provide a forum for women to discuss how to find a style for themselves that's consistent with their personality and values and that's also effective," said Ms. Hammerman of Paul Weiss, which is why the firm created mentoring circles for women attorneys.
Women associates and counsel at Paul Weiss are assigned to a mentoring group of 12 to 15 attorneys of mixed seniority, including two women partners who lead each group. Each group sets its own agenda and has monthly discussions on topics such as leadership styles, networking and business development.
Davis Polk & Wardwell, another of Vault's top five 2008 "Best Firms for Women," also focuses on mentoring its women attorneys. Women partners routinely meet to review the career progress of female associates and discuss whether additional mentoring might be useful for certain women. The partners then coordinate with the firm's professional development team, which includes non-lawyer assignment coordinators in each major practice group who help manage staffing for the firm's junior attorneys and oversee mentoring relationships, said Kathleen Ferrell, a partner and chair of the diversity committee.
Some firms, such as Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal, provide mentoring and development for new women partners. At Sonnenschein, which was ranked first nationally in the 2006 edition of Presumed Equal, a survey of 16,000 women attorneys at the nation's largest law firms, an external consultant helps new women partners fulfill their new responsibilities and expand their networking and business development activities. In addition, senior women partners identify and mentor high-potential women income partners who are interested in developing business and advancing to capital partner.
Several firms are supplementing traditional development initiatives, such as mentoring and business development training, with novel approaches to development.
For example, O'Melveny & Myers recently created "WomenConnect," a Web site that serves as a "communication platform" for firm attorneys and alumni. The site is a resource for information about the firm's women's initiative and an opportunity for networking among firm attorneys and alumni through discussion forums, said Danielle Fredericks, the firm's director of professional development.
The Web site also highlights the achievements of women within the firm, publicizes firm events, and provides an opportunity for women's affinity groups in each office to regularly share information about current initiatives and programs.
As more firms follow in the footsteps of these firms, perhaps gender parity within partnership ranks will be possible.
The Gender Gap: Make Yourself A Priority *
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By Melissa McClenaghan Martin
New York Law Journal
November 30, 2007
They are the dirty little secrets about life as a lawyer. The misconceptions that lead us astray. We believe that if we put our heads down and do good work, success will come to us: superiors will recognize our talent, mentors and clients will be driven to us and we will achieve all of our ambitions.
But all attorneys, and especially women, need to realize that "hard work alone doesn't get you ahead," Lois Frankel, author of "Nice Girls Don't Get the Corner Office: 101 Unconscious Mistakes Women Make That Sabotage Their Careers," explained in an interview.
"Nor is success just about honing your legal skills," said Diane Yu, chief of staff and deputy to the president of New York University and a former practicing attorney whose career has included positions as associate general counsel and managing counsel at Monsanto.
"You must take charge of your career development, build your networks and project yourself as a leader," said Ms. Yu, who credits her time as a White House Fellow for much of what she learned about leadership.
But billable hours, client pressures and superiors' demands leave attorneys with scarce free time, and so it is not surprising that many attorneys neglect critical career development and planning.
Women attorneys often face additional challenges, navigating a difficult balance between the demands of work and home (where women typically shoulder more caregiving responsibilities), and, with still few women at the top of the profession, women often lack access to the same mentors and informal networks as their male peers.
Particularly for women in firms, where career development initiatives are generally still in their infancy, it is essential to make time for strategic career planning, whether your goal is to make partner, go in-house, enter the government or non-profit sector, or leave the law entirely.
Women need to dedicate 5 percent to 10 percent of each work week managing their careers and developing strategic relationships and networks, Ms. Frankel said.
To take charge of your career, the first step is to undertake a "rigorous self-assessment," said Ms. Yu. "Identify what motivates you, what your priorities are, what you are good at and what you need to improve."
Too often, attorneys start down a career path without questioning whether that path is consistent with their values, priorities and aspirations.
"But you need to continually re-evaluate where you are and where you want to be, and you need to correct [your path] if you are off-course," added Ms. Yu.
Attorneys should regularly assess their goals and needs for the short, middle, and long term: what skills are needed, how to develop expertise and increase professional visibility, and what mentors and networks are needed at each stage of development.
For many, it helps to create a written career development plan, with specific action plans and time lines that can be routinely revisited to determine whether you are on track.
Another essential aspect of career development is having a network of mentors who can serve as role models, teachers and advisors. You also need mentors who can act as power brokers within your organization and the profession, sharing their wisdom and connections and advocating for your advancement.
"Mentors can be from a variety of backgrounds and experiences," noted Ms. Yu. Of course, women need mentors who are senior attorneys, but colleagues at all levels and professionals from a variety of industries can also provide invaluable advice and insights.
Be sure you have mentors with whom you can have the "big" conversations, ask for their feedback on your strengths and weaknesses and seek advice regarding how to target your efforts, improve your skills and achieve your goals. Talk to senior women about how they have balanced the competing demands of work and life.
And always recognize your responsibilities as a mentee.
"Give them your enthusiasm, energy, hopefulness, and bring your ideas and intelligence to the table," said Ms. Yu.
Continually re-evaluate your mentoring needs because you will need different mentors throughout your career.
All About Networking
For many lawyers, networking is just one more thing on their to-do list. Because there are so many reasons not to network - scarce free time, not knowing how to begin, not liking the idea of "selling" ourselves - networking is often neglected.
But networking provides essential access to important mentors, contacts and clients. Networks can also provide support to help you achieve your goals and the inspiration you need to stay motivated and engaged. If you are looking for a new job or considering a career transition, networks can help you locate opportunities and establish contacts.
Yet many lawyers think they can delay networking efforts until they actually need them - when they are up for partner, need to grow their book of business or are looking to change jobs or careers.
But you cannot wait to build relationships. Most contacts take years to result in business. No one is going to give you business or a job referral merely because you met once at a networking event.
Each month, attorneys should dedicate time to networking, focusing on developing current relationships, creating new ones, and becoming involved in professional associations and organizations.
Women attorneys have unique networking opportunities available, with many professional organizations focused on connecting and supporting professional women such as the International Women's Insolvency and Restructuring Confederation (for women in insolvency practice), the Association of Real Estate Women (for real estate professionals), and 85 Broads (for women graduates of select schools and Goldman Sachs employees).
It is essential to be proactive in seeking out the professional experiences, relationships and knowledge you need to succeed. If you don't make the time, no one else will.
"If your firm has an affinity group, you need to be active in it," Ms. Frankel said. "Don't avoid it because you're afraid of playing the gender card" or don't think you have the time.
"Active involvement is how we stay in the loop and on our superiors' radar screen," she said.
Women also need to routinely have "doorway conversations" with their superiors, Ms. Frankel added. Stop by a partner's office for a casual conversation.
"These conversations cement relationships, and people hire and promote those they know and like," she said. "Success and promotion aren't always about whether you're the best and brightest. They're often about whom you know and who knows you."
Likewise, take advantage of the learning and networking opportunities available to you.
Join networking groups that offer professional development and support. Participate in training programs offered by your firm and other organizations. Attend seminars on topics relevant to your professional growth, such as the New York City-based Women in Law Empowerment Forum series, which provides panel discussions on issues facing women lawyers. Hire a career coach to help you stay on track with your goals.
In order to succeed, you have to take charge of your career, plan for it, and seek out the resources and support you need.
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The Gender Gap: Getting Ahead of the Curve
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By Melissa McClenaghan Martin
New York Law Journal
September 28, 2007
When it comes to gender diversity, law firms generally have been behind the curve. Although women have been graduating from law school in roughly equal numbers to men since the mid-1980s, women represent only 18 percent of partners at the nation's largest firms. Attrition remains significantly higher for women than for men at all levels of firm practice, including partnership.
Nearly all major firms have had diversity committees in place for well over a decade and yet little has changed at the top of firms.
"But diversity is not an intractable problem," Anne Weisberg, senior advisor of the Women's Initiative at Deloitte & Touche USA, said in an interview.
Ms. Weisberg should know. Deloitte has made remarkable strides in gender diversity since it became the first company in corporate America to create a women's initiative in 1993. Deloitte's pyramid structure (with few partners at the top but a large number of employees below) makes its success in gender diversity particularly instructive to law firms.
In 1992, Deloitte selected only three women as partners, principals and directors. Women were leaving the firm at significantly higher rates than their male peers. But, with the commitment of Deloitte's management and the institution of a robust Women's Initiative, Deloitte's gender diversity has dramatically increased.
By 1997, Deloitte led the Big Six accounting firms with the highest percentage of women in leadership. Last year, Deloitte selected 134 women as partners, principals and directors. The firm has also eliminated its gender gap in attrition.
What can law firms learn from Deloitte's example?
Deloitte's first step was to determine "what problem we were solving," Ms. Weisberg explained. Under the leadership of J. Michael Cook, then-chairman and CEO, Deloitte in 1992 formed a Task Force for the Retention and Advancement of Women to examine why women were not reaching partnership.
Based upon interviews and focus groups with current and former employees, the task force realized a "multi-dimensional" approach was required. The resulting initiative targeted three main areas: (i) creating a more inclusive environment for women, (ii) providing women greater access to "career-defining opportunities" through strengthened mentoring, networking and career-planning programs, and (iii) making flexible work arrangements available to employees at all levels.
Now, 14 years later, Deloitte continues to assess, develop and expand its Women's Initiative programs. Last year, the initiative sponsored over 400 professional development, networking and mentoring activities nationally.
"You don't get from where we were to where we are today without significant, targeted focus on this," Ms. Weisberg said. "From the very beginning, our Women's Initiative has been a core business strategy" which firm leaders have "visibly supported and championed." In addition, the firm has always devoted significant resources to the initiative, in terms of budget and dedicated and line personnel, Ms. Weisberg explained.
Today, the Women's Initiative is an "essential part of Deloitte's culture and something both men and women are very proud of."
Some law firms are following in Deloitte's footsteps, dedicating significant resources and personnel to diversity and professional development efforts.
Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Nicholson Graham, now Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Preston Gates Ellis, is one of them.
In 2003, Kirkpatrick & Lockhart became the first major law firm to appoint a chief diversity officer.
After an extensive assessment period, during which its programs and practices were examined and attorney input solicited, the law firm "reinvigorated" its formal mentoring program, providing mentoring training and increased support and guidance to participating attorneys.
Under the program, still in existence today, two professional development and mentoring program administrators, both former practicing attorneys, oversee mentoring relationships and attorney development training. The administrators work closely with mentor coordinators (a partner in each office), the associates' committee and individual mentors to proactively address individual performance issues and identify career-building opportunities for attorneys.
K&L Gates views mentoring as "critical" to the retention and advancement of women and other diverse attorneys, said Richard Weinerman, professional development and mentoring program administrator. "We want to make sure all associates are getting the development and opportunities they need, and no one falls through the cracks."
Another important component of K&L Gates' retention efforts is its balanced-hours policy, which includes part-time, telecommuting and other flexible arrangements. The firm's director of professional and personal life integration and its director of legal recruitment and professional development monitor the amount and quality of work given to balanced-hour attorneys.
Post-merger, K&L Gates continues to stress the importance of professional development, mentoring and flexible schedules to the firm's retention and diversity efforts, said Rick Jones, the new chief diversity officer.
Firm leadership's "strong commitment" to diversity distinguishes K&L Gates from many of its peers, Mr. Jones added. "We hold ourselves accountable" for attrition and promotion figures.
In addition, the firm realizes that diversity requires ongoing attention.
"We are continually evaluating and improving our programs, soliciting input from attorneys, and addressing individual needs," he said.
Foley & Lardner also has made great strides in its diversity efforts.
Its diversity business department, led by a director of diversity who is a former practicing attorney, focuses on identifying and supporting career-building opportunities for the firm's women and other diverse attorneys. The department connects attorneys with external opportunities to showcase their expertise and also facilitates internal relationship-building.
In addition, the department counsels and mentors diverse attorneys, helping them create business plans and providing career-path coaching.
"Our diversity efforts augment resources already provided at the practice group level and through mentors," said Maureen McGinnity, Foley's chief diversity partner.
The firm's affinity groups, including its women's affinity group which operates on both the national and local level, provide "an additional forum for networking and mentoring, a peer support system, and a communication vehicle for issues to surface up to management or down to junior people," Ms. McGinnity said.
Foley's flexible schedule policy is also an important part of its retention efforts. The firm recently streamlined the process for attorneys seeking part-time to make the process "easier and more routine," said Ms. McGinnity. Requesting attorneys only need to complete a short form, and requests are processed in less than two weeks.
The revised policy also emphasizes that part-time arrangements are a "shared responsibility," she added. When supervisors approve part-time requests, they must affirm, in writing, that they will accommodate the part-time schedule and ensure the attorney is given career-building opportunities.
By making shared responsibilities explicit, Foley's goal is to show "part-time is not a favors program," said Ms. McGinnity. "As our CEO, long a champion of our policy, has articulated, flexible schedules are a critical tool in our retention strategy."
As these law firms illustrate, successful diversity initiatives must have strong and visible support from firm leadership and be treated as core business strategies. Initiatives must also integrate strengthened mentoring and career development opportunities, provide viable and non-stigmatized part-time options, and foster a culture where attorneys are supported and valued. Only then will more law firms get ahead of the curve.
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The Gender Gap: The Real Opt-Out Story *
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By Melissa McClenaghan Martin
New York Law Journal
July 27, 2007
Women attorneys are opting out, leaving law firms and sometimes, the practice of law behind.
At every level of firm practice, including partnership, women are leaving at a much higher rate than their male counterparts, according to the MIT Workplace Center's recent study, "Women Lawyers and Obstacles to Leadership."
And they aren't just leaving to become stay-at-home mothers. Women attorneys from all walks are "opting off" the track and abandoning earlier aspirations of partnership - mothers, women without children, single women and primary breadwinners.
Some change careers. Of those who remain in the law, many change sectors, switch employers or move to less demanding practices or schedules that stall their advancement.
Why are these women leaving and what must firms know to stop this drain of female talent?
Pushed Out by Reality
In law, "push" factors (workplace drivers such as lack of satisfying work) have a greater influence than "pull" factors (such as childcare) in women's decision to temporarily leave or "off-ramp" from their careers, said Sylvia Ann Hewlett, president of the Center for Work-Life Policy and author of "Off-Ramps and On-Ramps: Keeping Talented Women on the Road of Success."
For example, 59 percent of women attorneys who had off-ramped cited lack of satisfying work as a "major reason" they left their legal career behind, according to the Off-Ramps study, and 53 percent cited stalled advancement. Only 26 percent of women attorneys who had off-ramped cited childcare as a major reason for leaving.
"Push" influences are not limited to women attorneys who off-ramp, however.
When Jessica (not her real name), a 1999 law school graduate, began her career at a large New York City firm, she wanted to become partner. But, after five years of firm practice, she opted out for a position with the federal government.
Although Jessica was told she was one of the department's best associates, the firm "still didn't care enough to help me develop." No partners discussed her career or made any effort to help her obtain the skills she needed to grow and advance as a litigator.
Moreover, "it was a struggle" to attend any professional development training or networking events while at her firm. She had to miss most events because of work, but, "even if you could attend - even department meetings - partners thought you had too much time on your hands and gave you more work," she explained.
When she saw "brilliant and driven" senior associates being mistreated by partners and whose hard work and long hours went unappreciated, she realized firm life "wasn't going to get any better."
Jessica worked at two more firms, a large national and mid-sized regional firm which offered little improvement, before she decided to leave firm life. "There were simply too many negatives and too few positives."
No Support
Overall, a "very large" percentage of women view firms as being "very unsupportive, and women lawyers feel underappreciated," Ms. Hewlett explained.
According to the MIT Workplace study, the top reasons why women leave large firms for small firms are long hours (46 percent), "unsupportive work environment" (42 percent), work load pressures (35 percent) and poor promotion opportunities (31 percent).
Amanda (not her real name), a 2000 graduate, dreamt of making partner at the large New York City firm where she began her career. However, after three years, she realized, "I just couldn't do it anymore. The firm had sucked the passion and energy from me."
Amanda's greatest frustration was that she never received constructive feedback or knew where she stood within the firm, other than the "one-sentence" positive review during her annual evaluations. "Feedback is extremely important," she said, "but I never knew what I was doing well or what I needed to improve."
When she tried to solicit feedback or ask questions about assignments, partners were often "too busy" to provide answers or seemed bothered by the request.
With the long hours, high stress, false deadlines and unapproachable and often unreasonable partners and senior associates, "I came to work with a knot in my stomach every day," Amanda said.
Amanda left her large firm for a small firm outside the city which was much more collegial and supportive. Still, Amanda misses the caliber of work at her New York City firm.
After six years of firm practice and a new baby, Amanda questions whether she wants to remain in the law long-term. "I think another profession would allow me the same challenge, with more enjoyment, and without the unnecessary costs."
"Now it's even more important I find my career rewarding, because it's time I'll be away from my daughter."
Unable to Give Back
Women may also be more inclined to leave firm practice because many want to "give back to society" but are unable to given the realities of firm life.
After spending seven years at two large firms in New York City, Maria (not her real name), a 1999 graduate, left firm practice seeking work where she could "help people with real needs. Helping corporate clients isn't enough for me anymore."
When Maria began her career, she said, "I believed I could make a difference at a big firm, as some women partners did through pet pro bono projects." But, she soon realized pro bono is "frowned upon" because it is non-billable, and attorneys, especially associates, are discouraged from doing "too much" of it.
If she had been able to do more pro bono work, Maria said she believes her firm experience would have been "much more fulfilling."
Maria is not alone. Fifty-six percent of women lawyers in the "Off-Ramps "study cited the need to give back to society as an important priority.
"If you're in the office until 2 a.m., working an 80-hour week, then you have to be able to give back and find fulfillment at work because there's little time left," Ms. Hewlett explained.
Maria agrees. "I always waited to leave the office to lead my life. But I don't want there to be a disconnect between my life and my work."
Higher Expectations?
Money and power are the top career motivators for men, Ms. Hewlett explained. But, for women, other factors are more important: high-quality colleagues, working with great teams, the meaning and purpose of their work and their ability to give back to society.
For women, "work is not just a paycheck," added Ms. Hewlett.
Karen (not her real name), a 1998 graduate who worked at two large New York City firms before going in-house, said, "You couldn't pay me enough to return to firm practice," blaming the "complete lack of respect" junior attorneys were shown at her firms. "I value myself too much to go back."
Too many top-performing women are leaving firm practice. Most, like those profiled here, never plan to return. Of off-rampers, only 3 percent want to return to the employers they left.
If firms hope to stop the drain of their female talent, they need to create workplaces where top performers are properly mentored and developed, constructive feedback is given, junior attorneys are valued and respected, outlets for attorneys' altruism are accepted, and where viable, non-stigmatized part-time options exist.
Then wouldn't firm life be better for everyone?
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The Gender Gap: Making It Rain
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By Melissa McClenaghan Martin
New York Law Journal
May 25, 2007
"I never woke up and said 'I'm going to be a rainmaker," said Sheila Birnbaum, head of Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom's complex mass tort and insurance group. "It was just a natural process."
Other top women rainmakers describe their success in similar terms. Rainmaking is the natural result of passion for their work, fondness for their clients and desire to help (rather than hard-sell) their contacts.
So what are their secrets?
"Women are often very good at developing relationships," said Christine Baker, a partner at Drinker Biddle & Reath and co-chair of the American Bar Association Women Rainmakers Committee. "The trick is to use those natural skills for business development."
Women often "compartmentalize" their contacts and do not realize a personal connection may become a client or referral source, Ms. Baker explained. She advises women to look broadly at their network and contacts "because business can come from anywhere."
Business often develops naturally, merely from asking questions about contacts' business and personal lives and "being an active listener, rather than doing a sales pitch, which many women don't like to do," said Ms. Baker.
Other top women rainmakers have found the same, using their strengths to find an approach that works for them.
As an initial matter, having a specialty makes rainmaking much easier.
A niche practice helps "set you apart from the competition," said Ms. Birnbaum, who specializes in toxic torts and product liability litigation.
In addition to building their expertise and reputation, women attorneys also must focus on increasing their visibility.
Ms. Birnbaum advises women to showcase their expertise by writing, speaking and becoming actively involved in national and state bar associations.
"Don't miss an opportunity to get your name out," added Ms. Baker who, in addition to doing general commercial litigation, specializes in real estate and land use litigation. Through her active involvement at the national and state bar level, as well as her frequent speaking engagements at continuing legal education seminars, Ms. Baker said she has received numerous business referrals.
Clare O'Brien, a partner in Shearman & Sterling's mergers and acquisitions group, engages in similar efforts. For example, because investment bankers are a significant source of business for Ms. O'Brien, she and other members of her firm periodically provide presentations to bankers regarding legal developments relevant to their practices.
But external visibility is not enough. Attorneys must also promote themselves within their organization.
In general, women may not be as comfortable with self-promotion as men, said Ms. Baker, especially in a firm environment.
"But the key to bringing in business is to make sure others know of your accomplishments and what you can do," she said.
High-Caliber Work
Doing excellent work and developing client relationships are the most important prerequisites for being a top rainmaker.
"You have to provide the highest caliber work and be responsive to client demands," said Valerie Ford Jacob, chair of Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson and head of the firm's global capital markets group.
Ms. Jacob said she considers herself very fortunate.
"I've always had great clients with interesting work, and I really enjoy spending time with my clients," she said.
"You have to be attuned to your client's needs, look broadly at your client's current matter and what's happening in their workplace," Ms. Jacob added. "It's not just the specific transaction or case that's important. The relationship needs to be much broader so you can really help your client."
As Ms. O'Brien explained, "Ideally, you are not only a transactional or litigation advisor to your clients, but they come to you for advice on other matters as well," even matters outside of your specialty, in which case you connect them with the appropriate lawyer at your firm.
Maintain Contact
Another essential aspect of rainmaking is maintaining your relationships.
"I keep in touch with my clients, whether I am currently working with them or not," said Ms. Baker. With inactive clients, she said she touches base "at least quarterly to ask how things are going." She also forwards her clients relevant articles and information.
Ms. O'Brien similarly maintains contact.
"My goal is to give my clients and contacts information that's useful to their practices," she said.
Ms. O'Brien said that a phone call - rather than a long lunch or meeting - with a busy contact is often the best way to maintain the relationship.
"I'll call a client to discuss developments of interest to them, whether on the transactional front or corporate governance issues," she said. "That way, they've spent half an hour talking to me, but they've gotten helpful information. That's a useful form of marketing."
Start Early
Business development efforts need to begin early in an attorney's career.
Former classmates, peers at your client and former colleagues who have gone in-house are all potential clients and referral sources.
"You should focus on those relationships when you start your career because, as time passes, those contacts will be able to give you business," said Ms. Birnbaum.
Forward junior in-house contacts relevant articles, Ms. O'Brien suggested.
"Make yourself useful to them, and put them in a position where they look good," she said.
Senior attorneys should also mentor junior contacts, added Ms. Jacob.
"It's important to mentor younger people at the client. It's rewarding, and, as they become more senior, they'll remember your help," she said.
In addition, follow contacts as they change employers, thereby broadening your potential client base even further.
Find the Time
But business development is a time-intensive undertaking, and many attorneys find it difficult to set aside the time required.
Women attorneys may need to follow a different schedule than their male counterparts, especially if they have young children, noted Ms. Birnbaum. Still, she recommends women "constantly focus on business development - building your expertise and relationships, writing or lecturing - because you need to continually help the process along."
Networking and business development efforts often take years to pay off.
"Things don't often come together until your 40s," explained Ms. Birnbaum. "Your 30s are a period of continually building. You shouldn't expect things to happen overnight."
"You need to figure out what works for you," added Ms. Baker, whether that is speaking, writing, or becoming involved in industry or bar associations.
It may take trial and error, but the key is to find enjoyable activities, as these rainmakers have.
"My personal and professional life completely intertwine now," Ms. Birnbaum explained. "I often socialize with clients, but I'm not thinking about how to develop business. I'm out with friends whom I happen to get business from."
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The Gender Gap: The Secrets of Their Success
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By Melissa McClenaghan Martin
New York Law Journal
March 30, 2007
They are women at the top of their game. Former Acting Supreme Court Justice Leslie Crocker Snyder founded the Manhattan District Attorney's Sex Crimes Prosecution Bureau, the first in the nation. Diane Yu, the chief of staff and deputy to the president of New York University, was the first woman and first attorney of color to serve as general counsel to the California state bar. Julie North has risen to the top of Cravath, Swaine & Moore and is one of only 90 partners at the firm.
With so few women at the top of the legal profession, these women's stories offer inspiration and invaluable insights to those still climbing the ladder.
Ms. Snyder, a partner at Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman and special assistant to New Orleans district attorney, said in an interview that she wanted to be a criminal lawyer from an early age. Her inspiration was her mother, who told her, "You can be anything you want; just do something worthwhile with your life."
That inspiration led Ms. Snyder, a 1966 Case-Western Reserve Law School graduate, to an illustrious career. Her many accomplishments include being the first woman to try felony and homicide cases in the Manhattan District Attorney's Office, leading its sex crimes prosecution bureau, and co-authoring New York state's Rape Shield Law.
Early in her career at the district attorney's office, Ms. Snyder said that it was thought "women couldn't try felony cases." She waited longer than her male peers, but through determination and hard work, was promoted to serious felony cases.
She later left the office and spent several years as a solo practitioner to have more time with her children, then ages 2 and 5.
She became a judge in the Criminal Court of New York City in 1983 and subsequently was appointed to the state Supreme Court and the Court of Claims. Presiding over the trials of some of the city's most violent mob, gang, drug and murder cases, she received death threats necessitating around-the-clock security for herself and her family.
"I worried about my kids an awful lot," she said. "But still, I felt the work was extraordinarily important, and the whole family agreed I should continue doing it."
Ms. Snyder said she plans to run again for Manhattan district attorney in 2009, having lost to Robert Morgenthau in 2005.
"I believe I can make a real difference in the office," she said.
"I've had an exceptionally rewarding career," Ms. Snyder added. The obstacles she faced were "overshadowed by the fact I've always done work I was passionate about, had the support of a wonderful family, and was able to balance my personal and professional life."
She advises women to seek that same passion in their work.
"Know what you want, and find work that drives you. Then, you need to find the balance that's right for you," she said.
Diane Yu
When Diane Yu graduated from the University of California at Berkeley, Boalt Hall School of Law, in 1977, she began practicing at a firm but was uncertain about her long-term career path.
Since then, her career has taken many unexpected twists and turns. After five years at her firm, she became a Superior Court commissioner in Alameda County, Calif., and was both the first woman and person of color in the position. She subsequently spent a year as a White House fellow, then served as general counsel for the state bar of California, and later as associate general counsel and managing counsel at Monsanto.
As both a woman and attorney of color, Ms. Yu said in an interview that she faced some resistance, especially early in her career. Although certain opportunities were closed to her, she considers herself fortunate.
"I've always had jobs where I respected my colleagues, had great mentors and did intellectually stimulating work," she said. "I also believed in what I was doing."
She attributes her success to her parents, both medical doctors and Chinese immigrants who set a high bar for their children, and to her own "willingness to work long hours."
She advises young lawyers to "do good work, develop their skills and build strong relationships and networks."
Throughout her career, Ms. Yu has been actively involved in the state, local and national bar. In 1988, she helped found the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association. She is a former chair of the American Bar Association Commission on Women in the Profession and a current board member of the Minority Corporate Counsel Association and the White House Fellows Association.
Through her networks, she made contacts who later recruited her to the California state bar, Monsanto and her current position at New York University.
Ms. Yu said that she believes "regular and rigorous self-assessment" is important for professional happiness.
"I periodically reassess my career goals," she said. These reassessments, she added, have made her more open to unexpected career opportunities and challenges.
"Spend time learning what motivates you, what you're good at, and what skills you'd like to develop," Ms. Yu said.
Julie North
Julie North, a 1989 graduate of Syracuse University College of Law, planned to practice in East Central New York, near her family, when she began her career. However, with encouragement from her law school dean, she interviewed with New York City firms.
It took only 20 minutes into her interview at Cravath's offices for Ms. North to realize she wanted the job.
"It just felt right," she said in an interview. That was 17 years ago.
When she began at the firm, Ms. North said, "I didn't think I'd be there long term, not because I didn't like it, but because most people don't become partner at large New York firms."
She interviewed at other employers after her second year but realized she would be leaving for the wrong reasons.
"I really liked what I was doing and was getting positive feedback. I just didn't think partnership was in the cards," she said.
In her fifth year, at a time when she, like many associates, considered other options, she decided to stay, "put my nose to the grind, and see what happened."
"I told myself that if I didn't become partner at Cravath, I wouldn't practice law anymore," she said. "I loved what I was doing. I simply couldn't imagine doing it anywhere else. I still can't."
Ms. North said that having an informal mentor, a Cravath partner who gave her support and guidance, was one of the reasons for her success.
But attorneys must be "strong advocates for themselves and manage their own careers," she added. As an associate, Ms. North said she "wasn't shy about asking for advice or expressing preferences about the cases I wanted to work on and whom I wanted to work with."
Rising to the top of a prestigious firm has not been without personal sacrifices, she added.
"I was single for a long time," Ms. North said. But she has no regrets.
"To have this practice, I can't have a 9-to-5 job and be home with my husband and stepson every night," she said.
Her choice may not be right for everyone, she explained.
"Women need to make their own choice and be comfortable with it," Ms. North said. "I love what I do."
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The Gender Gap: The New Networkers
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By Melissa McClenaghan Martin
New York Law Journal
January 26, 2007
We all know about the old boys network. But women attorneys are making new networks of their own. They are overcoming the hurdles that prevent both women and men from networking: feelings of awkwardness, discomfort with self-promotion, uncertainty about how or where to begin, or fear their efforts will be seen as insincere.
These new networkers are finding their own style, forging new paths and forming their own networks. Their approaches are based on sincerity and professionalism, not on manipulation or schmoozing.
Good networking "is not about sales," said Diane Danielson, a former practicing attorney who created the Downtown Women's Club, a network for businesswomen, and a speaker on networking for women. "But it is about building relationships."
So how are women attorneys building relationships and expanding their networks?
Part of networking is figuring out your own style, said Diana Sen, a seventh-year associate at Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson.
"Networking is about sincerity, and if you're fake, people will know it," she said. "I'm honestly interested in learning more about others, and I enjoy meeting new people."
Ms. Sen said that she was not always so outgoing. Not too long ago, she experienced the same hesitation many women have when making "cold" connections.
When Ms. Sen returned to Fried Frank as a fifth-year associate after spending two years as a fellow in the Atlanta office of the Mexican American Legal Defense Fund, she wanted to become more involved in the Latino legal community.
Although Ms. Sen did not know many attorneys outside of her firm, she attended as many legal events as possible, including Latino, civil rights, local and federal bar events.
Because she made herself a familiar face, when she saw attorneys at subsequent events, they were more likely to approach her and vice versa.
Ms. Sen also volunteered for a scholarship committee of the Puerto Rican Bar Association (PRBA) and met more attorneys there. Months later she was appointed to PRBA's board of directors.
But initial connections are not enough. Meaningful relationships are only formed when attorneys take the time to continually nurture their connections.
When Ms. Sen hosted the PRBA's annual Three Kings event, an event honoring newly elected and appointed Latino judges, she had invitees (of which there were about 500) respond to her directly. She initially did this to ensure the process went smoothly, but she realized it also enabled her to personally respond to invitees.
"It was a good way for me to get to know new people and reconnect with others," she said.
About four months after the event, Ms. Sen was elected vice president of the PRBA. Now, two years after returning to New York, Ms. Sen is also the New York Region president for the Hispanic National Bar Association, a position which her dedication to and visibility within the Latino community, including her involvement and leadership within the PRBA, helped her obtain.
Practice Area
Another approach to networking is for attorneys to increase their visibility within their practice area.
Michelle Shapiro, a senior associate at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, has done just that. Early in her career, at the suggestion of one of her mentors, Ms. Shapiro volunteered to become involved in the American Bar Association Criminal Litigation Committee. The committee was approachable and welcoming, and its co-chair appointed her Web site editor, a position that enables her to work closely with the committee chairs and numerous criminal defense attorneys who contribute content.
Ms. Shapiro recommends that young lawyers consider becoming involved in the ABA because "it's a very welcoming organization."
Ms. Shapiro also belongs to the Young Women Criminal Defense Lawyers Network and is a member of its steering committee. The group introduces its members to senior white-collar attorneys through various events. Periodic group meetings also provide a forum for peer mentoring and a place where members can talk about "common concerns and professional goals," Ms. Shapiro said.
In addition, several of Ms. Shapiro's mentors have aided her networking efforts by introducing her to prominent criminal defense attorneys through dinners and at conferences.
Developing a niche for yourself also provides an avenue for networking.
Jill Steinberg, a health care partner at Arent Fox, said that her niche practice has been a particularly effective marketing tool. Because she has a fairly unusual specialty, she said, "I can promote myself as someone who can provide a service only few others can."
Ms. Steinberg said that "it is also important to get your name out," which is why as an associate she wrote articles and sought out speaking engagements on health care topics.
Doing good work is also its own marketing tool.
Part of business generation is through referrals, Ms. Steinberg explained, and "because of the work I've done, I've gotten numerous referrals."
Networking also happens at industry conferences, which give attorneys the opportunity to reconnect with current clients, meet potential clients and "show clients that you know what's important in their industry," added Ms. Steinberg, who attended such events even as an associate.
Branching Out
Attorneys' networking efforts should not be limited to the legal community, however.
Ms. Steinberg is one of the founders of the Women's Health Networking Group, a group of women from diverse areas of health care, including physicians, health-care attorneys, consultants, bankers and other managed-care specialists. The group provides both education and networking for its members.
Other cross-industry networks can be useful to women attorneys. For example, the Downtown Women's Club founded by Ms. Danielson provides a network of approximately 2,000 business and professional women in the New York area and approximately 10,000 members nationally. Through in-person events, the club provides opportunities for peer mentoring and networking across industries.
Online networking offers yet another opportunity for lawyers to increase their visibility and facilitate connections with former colleagues, classmates, and personal acquaintances.
Online networking is also convenient for busy professionals because it can be done at any hour, which is one of the reasons why Ms. Danielson supplemented the Downtown Women's Club's in-person events with an online network.
"It's networking while you sleep," she said.
An important - and often missed - piece of networking is the need for self-promotion within an individual's organization.
"If no one in your organization knows you, you aren't going to get promoted," Ms. Danielson noted.
Women need to inform their supervisors and department chairs of their accomplishments, including their speaking engagements, leadership positions and published articles. In firms, women should work with their marketing department to promote their expertise internally, on the firm Web site and through marketing materials to alumni and clients.
Lastly, the nice thing about networking is "it gets easier with time," said Ms. Steinberg. "The more times you do it, the more times you talk to new people and introduce yourself at events, the easier it is."
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The Gender Gap: Breaking Through the Glass Ceiling?
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By Melissa McClenaghan Martin
New York Law Journal
December 29, 2006
Things seem to be looking up for women in law firms. The percentage of women newly promoted to partner is on the rise, according to recent reports by the National Association of Women Lawyers (NAWL) and the New York City Bar Association. Women have reached high levels within firms, with greater numbers leading firm practice groups and serving as managing partners. Women chair both Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman and Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson.
So are firms on the way to achieving parity between men and women? Will "gender diversity" soon be a concern of the past?
Although greater percentages of women are making partner, "[w]omen still lag far behind their male counterparts in terms of advancement within firms," said Cathy Fleming, president of NAWL and a partner at Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge.
Since the mid-1980s, the number of women law school graduates has been roughly equal to men, and yet the percentage of women at the top of firms has seen only a marginal increase. Women represent only 16 percent of equity partners in the nation's largest firms but 45 percent of associates, according to NAWL's 2006 National Survey on Retention and Promotion of Women in Law Firms.
Nearly all firms say they are committed to gender diversity, said Ms. Fleming, but only some are putting the necessary resources and energy behind their diversity efforts.
"If all firms were as committed as they say, diversity would have happened now," she added.
Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe is one firm that is starting to see its diversity efforts pay off. This year, 56 percent of Orrick's partner promotions were women. Partner Katharine Crost, head of Orrick's Women's Career Initiative, credits the firm's "culture of inclusion" and leadership's strong support of diversity initiatives.
"Partners as a whole understand that retaining and advancing more women is very important to the firm's success," explained Ms. Crost.
As part of Orrick's initiative, a program instituted to affirm the firm's commitment to retaining and promoting women, the firm launched "mentoring circles" for female lawyers. These circles create opportunities for women to connect and develop mentoring relationships with women across practice groups and at different levels of seniority.
"Sometimes minorities, including women, have a harder time finding mentoring relationships," said Ms. Crost. "We don't want to lose people because they aren't getting appropriate mentoring."
Unfortunately, on average, law firms are not achieving gender parity in their junior partner classes. Of law graduates from 1996 (when women represented 44 percent of law students), women represent only 24 percent of equity partners at firms surveyed by NAWL.
One reason for this disparity may be that junior attorneys, and women in particular, tend to "slip through the cracks very easily in their early years at law firms," said Meredith Moore, director of the Office for Diversity for the New York City Bar Association. As the city bar's 2006 Diversity Benchmarking Study found, mid-level turnover rates are higher for women than men.
"Firms need to groom talent from a very early point," said Ms. Moore.
Strong performers, and especially top women, need to be identified early. Firms should then develop and mentor this talent, and ensure that junior women feel connected to the organization.
But these efforts shouldn't stop once women reach partnership.
Beyond Partner
Even after making partner, women too often hit a glass ceiling within firm leadership. Male equity partners earn $510,000 on average, but women earn an average of $429,000 at firms in the NAWL study.
In the highest levels of partnership, women remain underrepresented.
Women partners are often tapped for committees they receive "less credit for," said Ms. Moore, like diversity and associate development committees.
But women are outnumbered on important firm committees like governance and compensation. According to the NAWL study, women represent only 16 percent of seats on firms' highest governance committees. Roughly 10 percent of firms reported no women members on their highest committee. Twenty percent of firms reported that their highest committee has fewer than 10 percent women.
The percentage of women managing partners is even lower at 5 percent according to NAWL, and well below where it should be, given that women represent 16 percent of equity partners.
Women may be largely absent from these top positions because men are often groomed for leadership in a way women are not, said Ms. Moore. For that reason, she explained, mentoring is "just as important" for women once they become partner. Mentors can share the unwritten rules for success within the partnership: how the partnership works; which are the important firm committees and how to get on them; and how to get credit for business.
In addition, firms should be open with new partners about the criteria for success.
"Junior partners should come in on a level playing field with the same information so that all partners can be as successful as possible," Ms. Moore advised.
To maximize women's success within the partnership, each year at Foley & Lardner a member of the firm's management committee (which also serves as its compensation committee) meets with women partners to discuss leadership's expectations. The goal is to provide women with access to firm management and talk to them about how to promote themselves for compensation and advancement purposes, said Maureen McGinnity, the firm's chief diversity partner.
In addition to providing mentoring and partnership transparency, firms should facilitate the professional development of their women partners.
Foley has created a diversity business department that connects women attorneys at all levels (as well as other minorities) with opportunities to network and showcase their talents. The department counsels and mentors its diverse attorneys, helping them create personal business plans or develop their expertise, thereby increasing their marketability both within the firm and to clients. For partners, these efforts include connecting women with speaking engagements in their areas of expertise.
By cultivating women at all levels, firms improve their bottom line.
"It is simply good business to have women who are very good, active members of the firm," said Ms. Fleming. "More firms need to understand that diversity and profitability are not inconsistent goals."
Once more firms understand this, women will no longer be stopped by the glass ceiling.
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The Gender Gap: The Goldilocks Problem
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By Melissa McClenaghan Martin
New York Law Journal
September 29, 2006
It's a problem no one wants to talk about, and yet it is one of the greatest barriers to the advancement of women attorneys. Carolyn Buck Luce, co-chair for Ernst & Young's Professional Women's Network in the Northeast and leader of its Global Pharmaceutical Sector calls it "the Goldilocks problem."
"Women attorneys are criticized for being too little of this or too much of that; not confident enough or too confident; not aggressive enough or too aggressive; not ambitious enough or too ambitious. But women are seldom just right," said Ms. Luce, who also chairs the "Hidden Brain Drain," a task force that helps employers retain women.
The root of the problem is gender bias, and virtually all of us are offenders. Our biases are often unconscious. They operate automatically, distorting information and reinforcing themselves by giving salience to information that is consistent and dismissing that which is not. As a result, our biases skew our first impressions of others, our judgments about their competence, and which facts we recall about their performance.
But when are women vulnerable to gender bias and how do we remove it from our decision-making?
The problem begins with how we view success. The qualities associated with success in law, like other historically male-dominated professions, are defined in stereotypical masculine terms. A successful attorney or businessman is aggressive, assertive and competitive. He's decisive and authoritative. He has unflagging dedication to his career. But stereotypical female qualities seem at odds with this definition of success.
Both men and women judge professional effectiveness according to these gender stereotypes. Women professionals are considered superior at stereotypical female "take care" behaviors like team-building, but men are viewed superior at stereotypical masculine "take charge" behaviors like delegating and influencing superiors, according to the 2005 study "Women 'Take Care,' Men 'Take Charge': Stereotyping of U.S. Business Leaders Exposed" by Catalyst, a research and advisory organization that works to build inclusive environments and expand opportunities for women at work.
Unfortunately for women, "take charge" behaviors are those associated with success in male-dominated professions like law.
As leaders of the legal profession, men also are presumed to be more competent, but lower status groups like women are implicitly assumed to be less competent, said Ellen Ostrow, a psychologist and the founder of Lawyers Life Coach, an organization providing career coaching to women attorneys. Several psychological studies have found that women leaders are judged more negatively than equally skilled men in male-dominated fields but equally competent in female-dominated fields.
Because we tend to remember information that confirms our presumptions, errors committed by female attorneys may be more salient and therefore more likely to be remembered than those committed by male attorneys, who are presumed more competent.
However, research shows few characteristics on which men and women differ along gender lines. Surveying more than 40 studies, researchers found little difference between women and men's leadership styles, according to the 2005 Catalyst study.
Persistent Stereotypes
Still, stereotypes regarding male and female professional abilities remain.
"When a moment of low confidence or uncertainty comes from a man, who we presume to be naturally confident, we are more likely to dismiss it than when it comes from a woman, who doesn't benefit from the same presumption," said Ms. Ostrow.
When a woman seems uncertain, speaking softly or using qualifiers, her behavior may reinforce the belief that she is not sufficiently assertive or confident. Supervisors may even begin to question her competence, interpreting a hesitant style as questionable ability.
"My friend was told during her review [at a New York City firm] that her work was excellent but her speaking style made her sound 'unintelligent,'" said an attorney who has worked at two national firms. She explained that her friend frequently uses qualifiers and couches her statements as questions.
Often, women face criticisms and questions of ability that "tend to be about assumptions and expectations regarding appropriate style rather than about the quality of a woman's work-product," said Ms. Luce. For example, if a woman is a consensus-builder and solicits her team's opinion, she may be described as weak. If a woman is friendly or easy-going, colleagues may question whether she is capable of tough negotiation.
Even criticisms that seem gender-neutral, for example, if a woman is viewed as insufficiently proactive or responsive, may be the product of bias and selective recall of information consistent with stereotypes.
Women attorneys "walk a fine line," noted Ms. Ostrow. Qualities that are seen as desirable or acceptable in a man are often criticized in a woman.
"If women behave in ways that are inconsistent with their gender stereotypes, there is often a backlash," she said.
"If a woman is aggressive, she's often seen as too aggressive," Ms. Luce explained, "but a man is a great leader if he's aggressive." If a woman is very demanding, or not particularly nurturing or supportive, subordinates may complain she is difficult to get along with.
If a woman is not overly social, she may be seen as rude.
"Firm leadership criticized me for being difficult to get along with. They said I 'built a wall around myself,'" said a senior associate about her time in the Miami office of a national firm.
Although her work received excellent reviews and she had brought business to the firm, she explained, "I didn't schmooze like my male peers and wasn't flirtatious like my female peers."
Not Less Committed
Women are also disadvantaged by the commonly held stereotype that they are less committed to their careers than men.
When a third-year associate returned to her New York City firm after the birth of her first child, she was given "tedious and boring small assignments," unlike the high-profile work she received before maternity leave, she said. The assigning partner later told the new mother he had given her "low-key" assignments so she could spend more time with her baby.
"I appreciated his intentions," she said, "but, truthfully, I was more angry than grateful. If low-profile work was an option, it should have been my option and not his."
Although well-intentioned, the partner would probably not have presumed the same with a new father.
Presumptions regarding commitment, like those regarding style or ability, are deeply embedded. To avoid the influence of bias on decision-making, supervisors must continually re-evaluate their judgments about junior attorneys' competence and performance. Firms also should provide specific training in implicit stereotypes.
Both individuals and firms should pay particular attention to evaluations, which often exaggerate the influence of bias. Supervisors are less likely to focus on hard facts and specific examples in evaluations, and more likely to rely on vague recollections and inaccurate samplings of junior attorneys' behavior. Instead, evaluators should conduct a full and deliberate review of junior attorneys' behavior and work-product.
In addition, "employers need to get underneath soft criticisms and find out what is happening," said Ms. Luce. A junior attorney may simply need a coach or an evaluating attorney may need training in implicit stereotypes or managerial skills.
Firms need "to ensure that stereotypes and gender bias, which are natural, do not get in the way of making the right decisions about women's performance and potential," said Ms. Luce.
By recognizing and proactively addressing hidden bias, attorneys and firms can help ensure that the Goldilocks problem becomes a thing of the past.
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The Gender Gap: Don't Climb The Ladder Alone
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By Melissa McClenaghan Martin
New York Law Journal
June 30, 2006
All attorneys, and especially women, need to seek out mentors. "You can't just sit back," says Ida Abbott, diversity consultant and author of "The Lawyer's Guide to Mentoring." "You must proactively get what you need to develop and succeed in your career."
Good mentors can offer feedback on skills, introductions to important clients and networks, and access to the unwritten criteria for success within the organization. They can also advise junior attorneys on their long-term professional development and career goals.
For those who want to make partner, a good mentor will "be your champion and facilitate partnership," said Jane DiRenzo Pigott, a diversity consultant and former partner at Winston & Strawn. "That doesn't often happen for women in law firms."
With women representing only 17 percent of law firm partners but 44 percent of associates, there are simply not enough female mentors available to mentor junior women. Unfortunately, senior men are often reluctant to fill this gap, according to the Minority Corporate Counsel Association study "Mentoring Across Differences," because they fear the relationship will be misperceived as inappropriate or believe it is "too hard and uncomfortable" to mentor women.
With a limited number of potential mentors, how can women create and maintain the mentoring relationships they need to develop and succeed?
"Some women think that, as long as they do excellent work, they will succeed," said Ms. Abbott, who is also a co-author of "Mentoring Across Differences." But they also must proactively seek out mentors.
When women do seek out mentors, they may limit their search to senior women who are "leading the perfect life, that is, the life a younger woman wants," noted Ms. Abbott. But the search for a perfect role model means that women will miss out on significant benefits that other senior attorneys, including men, could offer.
A mentor can serve as a role model, teacher or advisor, but, perhaps most importantly, a mentor can be a power broker within the organization and profession, sharing wisdom and connections with a junior attorney. Because most power brokers are men, "women who are in an effective mentoring relationship with a powerful male mentor have a much higher likelihood of success," concludes Ms. Pigott.
Regardless of what role a mentor fills, "you can't work with only one person and think that's enough," said Susan Kohlmann, a Pillsbury Winthrop partner and former managing partner of the firm's New York office. "In most firms, that's not a recipe for success." Rather, junior attorneys need to assemble a network of mentors, taking advantage of formal programs and developing relationships informally.
While an associate, Ms. Kohlmann created such a network. She had female partner mentors who gave her advice, including about how they balanced career and motherhood. Her male mentors were particularly helpful when she was up for partner and guided her through the process. She considers this combined mentorship instrumental to her success.
After mentoring relationships are found, sustaining them is often the hardest part.
Diana Sen, a sixth-year associate at Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson, and Janice Mac Avoy, a partner and former hiring partner of the firm, developed an informal mentoring relationship while working together. But translating their initial connection into a sustained relationship required continued interaction, which Ms. Sen ensures by volunteering for pro bono cases with Ms. Mac Avoy.
And, when the two won an important case, Ms. Sen suggested they go out for drinks, creating another opportunity for quality time with her mentor.
Many junior attorneys don't realize they must continually develop their mentoring relationships, Ms. Mac Avoy said. "You need to check in before there's a problem." She suggests that mentees routinely "do a drive-by," stopping by a mentor's office.
"Touch base with your mentor in the same way you would with a client," she added.
Pillsbury's Ms. Kohlmann agreed.
"Don't send an e-mail," she said. "In-person contact is critical."
Women may be more likely than men to neglect this important step. Ms. Pigott recently asked the summer associates at a major law firm whether any had stopped by the office of an attorney they didn't know. The only ones who had were men.
"Men are very deliberate about networking," she explained, "so women must be equally deliberate about it."
Some women wonder how to connect and maintain contact with a male mentor.
"I don't follow the Yankees, I don't play golf, so there just aren't as many ways to connect with a male mentor and establish that rapport," said an eighth-year female associate who has worked at two New York City firms.
Women don't need to connect in the same way men do, however. Women may feel more comfortable talking to a male mentor about substance rather than sports.
"Ask a male partner to spend five minutes talking to you about a client, how the relationship developed and what the firm does for the client," Ms. Pigott suggested. Whatever topic a junior attorney chooses, the key is to demonstrate interest and ambition, thereby providing an opportunity to connect.
But finding and maintaining a relationship with a male mentor may present another unique problem, the fear the relationship will be misperceived. While senior men and their male mentees go out for drinks, fear of misperception may prevent women from having the same bonding opportunities with male mentors.
Women don't have to miss out on these opportunities.
"I think that's an easy excuse," said Pillsbury's Ms. Kohlmann. "It's the reality of the workplace that people have to maneuver those relationships."
Ms. Pigott suggested women talk to their male mentor about "the logistics of the relationship, allowing him the opportunity to say, I prefer to meet in my office or over lunch, rather than drinks."
This sort of formality can help any mentoring relationship. Although it is easy to "focus more on the friendship, rather than the utility of a mentoring relationship," said Ms. Abbott, women should be careful not to miss opportunities for professional development.
"Women tend to be very good at building personal relationships, but sometimes it is difficult for them to turn a social relationship into a professional one where they ask a senior attorney for help," she said.
In an informal mentoring relationship, the mentee should "label the relationship," suggested Michele Coleman Mayes, senior vice president and general counsel of Pitney Bowes. "Tell your mentor why you sought them out. Once they realize you have a purpose and it's not just an informal let's-have-coffee meeting, they'll feel responsible and will likely be more rigorous about the relationship."
Women should also be clear on what they want from a mentoring relationship and share their goals with their mentor. These goals should be reassessed periodically, and women should consider whether the mentoring relationship needs to change in terms of substance or logistics.
Throughout their career, women must be both strategic and proactive in creating and maintaining the mentoring relationships they need to achieve their career goals.
"They need to reach out to the mentoring opportunities that are there and be comfortable using them," Ms. Abbott advised, even if doing so requires women to go outside their comfort zone.
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The Gender Gap: Is There a Way To Have It All?
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By Melissa McClenaghan Martin
New York Law Journal
May 19, 2006
'I don't think you can do both — be a mom and a partner in a law firm. At least I can't," said a new mother and fourth-year associate at a Manhattan firm who asked not to be identified. "I couldn't put in the hours and dedication required of a partner and still have enough time for my child."
Many women share this view. This may explain why there are still so few women partners at the nation's top firms and why women associates leave their firms sooner and in greater numbers than men. But is the explanation really that simple?
The demands of firm practice leave little time for anything outside of work, let alone parenthood. Cynthia Thomas Calvert and Joan Williams, directors of the Project for Attorney Retention and authors of "Solving the Part-Time Puzzle: The Law Firm's Guide to Balanced Hours," point out that women typically shoulder more childcare responsibilities but have less support at home than men. Nearly half of male attorneys have stay-at-home spouses, but 93 percent of female attorneys have spouses who work full-time. The authors conclude that the struggle between career and parenthood may be that much harder for women.
Most firms do little to alleviate the problem, and, as a result, many women may feel forced to choose between career and motherhood, sacrificing their ambitions by foregoing partnership, switching to less demanding specialties or going part-time. Others leave law altogether.
But isn't there a way for firms to keep top women without forcing them to choose?
Promotion to partner at the New York City office of a Chicago-based firm was only a year away for another new mother. After maternity leave, she resumed her full-time schedule with long and unpredictable hours.
Then she hit a two-week stretch where neither she nor her husband, who was working even longer hours in finance, saw their son while he was awake. "We realized one of us was going to have to quit," she said. She knew that although she would soon be made partner, her hours would not improve because partners were working equally hard.
Unwilling to take herself off the partnership track by going part-time, she felt forced to choose between her child and her career. She chose her child.
Women who choose to stay at firms face their own trade-offs. Several years ago, a 10th-year associate and mother of two young children switched from corporate work at a New York City-based national firm to a less demanding (and less interesting) specialty. The change took her off partnership track, but she accepted the trade-offs in exchange for a better schedule. Despite the sacrifice, she still billed 300 hours last month and is unable to be there for her children at important times, like when her daughter was sent to the hospital with a broken ankle and she was stuck on a conference call.
She admitted there are times she feels she is "not doing a good job at being a mother" because of her career. She plans to go part-time soon, despite the further disadvantages she will face.
Part-time programs can seem like the perfect solution. Many, though, are "well-intentioned but ultimately ineffective," Ms. Williams said in an interview. Part-time attorneys are often taken off partnership track and "find themselves doing dead-end assignments at nearly full-time schedules but part-time wages." In fact, "attrition among part-timers can be higher than among full-timers if the program is handled wrong," she said.
Perhaps that's why only 4 percent of firm attorneys go part-time although 96 percent of firms have part-time programs. Because full-time attorneys know part-time is often ineffective, they may be more likely to leave their firms rather than attempt a part-time schedule.
A few firms are proving, however, that part-time programs can work. Sidley Austin Brown & Wood, last year's winner of the prestigious Catalyst award for demonstrated results in the advancement of women, is one example. Under Sidley's "reduced hours program" available to all attorneys (not only mothers), lawyers are staffed on the same caliber work but on fewer matters annually. Reduced-hour attorneys adjust their schedule for client demands, putting in long hours when necessary but, when the need subsides, the firm allows them to curtail their hours or take time off.
Partner Laurin Blumenthal Kleiman, co-chair of the firm's Committee on Retention and Promotion of Women, said Sidley considers reduced-hour attorneys "100 percent committed to the firm and its clients," and, unlike many firms, Sidley acknowledges that commitment by keeping its reduced-hour associates on partnership track.
Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Nicholson Graham is another firm focused on making part-time work. The firm recently developed a "balanced hours program" that expanded its already progressive part-time policy to include telecommuting and other flexible work arrangements. The firm's director of professional and personal life integration and its director of legal recruitment and professional development monitor the amount and quality of work given to balanced-hour attorneys. Through in-person and online support groups, attorneys share information and advice about the program.
Part-time programs cannot be successful, however, unless there is buy-in from management. Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman considers its successful part-time program to be a "business imperative" and an "absolute requirement" for the retention of more top women, according to Chairwoman Mary Cranston.
Firm culture must change, too. At some firms, attorneys (and especially mothers) feel they have to hide their family responsibilities for fear they will be seen as less committed. The 10th-year mother of two agrees, adding she is "very careful about covering up" her family responsibilities and always has backup childcare if, last minute, she needs to stay late at work.
But there are some enlightened firms. At Dickstein Shapiro Morin & Oshinsky, "it is part of the culture to talk about your children," said Robin Cohen, managing partner of the firm's New York office and the mother of two young children. "You do not have to hide the fact you have commitments outside of work."
Still, managing the competing demands of a legal career and motherhood "is a challenge. You can't oversimplify it," said Sidley's Ms. Kleiman.
Part-time is not the only solution. Ms. Kleiman has worked full-time throughout her career and said the mentoring and support she has received from other working mothers at Sidley have been instrumental to her success. This is why she believes formal mentoring programs, such as Sidley's women's "mentoring circle," are important for working mothers. They can provide the "reassurance that you can do both," Ms. Kleiman said.
Dickstein Shapiro's Ms. Cohen agreed. "It's important to hear from women partners who are doing both and who are real leaders within the firm," she said.
In addition to effective programs, firms need to foster a culture where women can succeed and lead within the firm while fulfilling their responsibilities outside of it. As more firms implement workable programs and adequate support, perhaps more women will find that, although not easy, there is a way to have it all.
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*Articles from "The Gender Gap" were first published in the New York Law Journal.
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