Studying the status of women in the legal profession today, it’s easy to be discouraged by the slow rate of progress. Only 17% of law firm partners are women, a statistic that has not changed much over the last two decades. And that number is significantly lower when the analysis is limited to equity partners. Moreover, women hold less than 15% of key leadership positions on firm Management and Compensation Committees. The percentage is even smaller when calculating the number of women managing major law firms. Clearly, there is a significant difference between the number of women lawyers in the proverbial pipeline and those who have the opportunity to undertake leadership and partnership roles.

The Legal Landscape For Women Has Changed In 40 Years

Still, there’s no denying that the status of women has changed. Forty years ago, women could not retain their birth names after marriage or obtain credit in their own names. Single women were unable to obtain insurance. Abortions were relegated to dangerous back-alley procedures and contraceptives were not freely attainable.

Change happened because forward-thinking women began working together, creating historic coalitions that worked effectively to eliminate gender bias and discrimination. Their efforts produced a series of education-related bills to prohibit sex discrimination in school activities, opening the door to new opportunities in the classroom for young girls. Title IX, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in federally funded programs or activities, resulted in sweeping opportunities for women student athletes. Legislation was also passed prohibiting discrimination in employment on the basis of sex—a fundamental right in today’s workplace.

Pioneering Women Made A Difference

The efforts of these pioneers clearly demonstrate that when women work together, their impact can be profound. Perhaps women today should study the extraordinary efforts of these women whose successes made ours possible, such as 85-year-old Betty Roberts, a lawyer, activist, legislator, and first woman Justice of the Oregon Court of Appeals, and subsequently, its Supreme Court. She played a critical role in eliminating many of the overt sources of discrimination that existed not that long ago.

Betty Roberts recognized that she would need determination, resolve, toughness, perseverance—and ultimately trust—for her ambitious agenda to succeed. But she also understood that creating meaningful change would require a coalition of like-minded individuals. In forming a Women’s Caucus in the Oregon Legislature, she brought together women of different ages, backgrounds, marital status and party affiliation to achieve a common purpose: securing equal rights for women. She described the satisfaction derived from “…working with a community of goal-oriented women who never spoke ill of each other, never showed signs of jealously or envy, and bonded together as if our lives depended upon it.”¹

Notwithstanding her collaborative efforts, she faced opposition from her own ranks, and described her disappointment with women who did not support their efforts. She spoke of women who opposed a state Equal Rights Amendment, declaring that they did not want equality. She expressed particular disdain for “…their selfishness in not wanting other women to have equal opportunities to live their lives as they chose without enduring discrimination.”²

But the lack of unanimity did not deter the Women’s Caucus. Pushing for major legislative initiatives, they formed powerful coalitions with others, including men who supported their efforts, and moved forward in a number of critically important fronts.

To read Betty Roberts’s memoir, With Grit and by Grace, is to be struck by the many parallels between her role as a lawyer and pioneer of women’s rights, and the relevance of her experiences to women lawyers today. Betty Roberts remains an icon who still gains recognition for her prodigious achievements, including the prestigious Margaret Brent Award from the American Bar Association’s Commission on Women in the Profession.

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That’s why it’s so ironic to me that we’re so much more resistant to the idea of taking the time to develop mutual understanding with the associates we supervise, the partner who assigns us work or the colleagues with whom collaboration is necessary for work to get done.

Certainly, given some serious thought, no one working today in an American legal workplace could assume that “we are all the same” and therefore there is no compelling need to be sensitive to and respectful of cross-cultural differences. The traditional law firm culture of homophily is increasingly challenged by the simultaneous influx into the U.S. legal workplace of four generations, women, racial minorities, physically-challenged lawyers, attorneys with openly different sexual orientations, and, in our global economy, attorneys from all over the world. Thus far, the culture of the legal profession has resisted change in spite of this diversity by continuing to make conformity the criterion for advancement. However motivated this is by the belief that the way things have always been is necessarily the best (a/k/a unconscious, automatic bias) it is costly to the profession, the citizens it intends to protect and the lawyers practicing within it.

Diversity Is Demanding

All of us are more comfortable with others similar to ourselves. Differences require us to challenge our assumptions about how the world operates. We can’t count on people behaving as predicted; we have to pay attention. Diversity is demanding.

Regardless of how we self-identify, whoever is not “one of us” easily becomes “them.” If only “they” would act more like “us” we’d bill more hours, make more money and not have to collapse from “diversity fatigue.” Women lawyers are as vulnerable as any others when it comes to “us” vs. “them” thinking. Senior women complain about the “entitlement” of the young women entering their firms. Many are hurt by what they perceive to be a lack of appreciation for what they endured to pave the way for their younger colleagues. At the same time, junior women lawyers see the women who could mentor them as begrudging them their options. They perceive these older attorneys to be competitive and resentful, and unwilling to help them.

We Miss Opportunities When We Close Our Doors To Others

This divide wastes precious resources that could be invested in the advancement of all women in the profession. If developing a deeper understanding of those who differ from you became the priority of all women lawyers, then the enormous potential presented by diversity would begin to be tapped.

The globalization of legal practice demands that lawyers do more than understand why one group may pepper them with questions while a presentation to another, culturally different group may be received with silence. Something more than the acknowledgement of differences is required. Genuine cultural sensitivity requires the willingness to consider the fact that law firm culture as it is and has been is only one of many possible ways in which excellent law may be practiced. In fact, it requires taking this thinking a step further and considering that there is much to be learned from colleagues overseas as well as those down the hall. Perhaps these nearby lawyers may have an approach that will enable you to serve your clients well and thrive at work and life.

Diversity may be challenging, but it also presents extraordinary opportunities. Instead of allowing our natural xenophobia to lead to balkanization, we can stretch ourselves just enough to try to create authentic relationships with dissimilar colleagues—relationships in which differences are openly addressed as opportunities for learning and individuals can move past social categorization to mutual support, information sharing, and successful collaboration.

A great example of how traditional law-firm culture could be improved by the willingness to consider alternatives practiced by diverse cultures is the emphasis on individual effort and heroism. This is so much a part of the culture of U.S. legal practice that it is reflected in compensation, recruiting, hiring and credit-for-billing practices. It’s simply taken for granted as the way things work.

But think about it for a minute—no one has achieved success entirely on his or her own. The contributions of teachers, mentors, associates and colleagues are rendered invisible by this myth of individualism. We’ve all had a lot of help along the way. But the culture of legal practice only recognizes the final result—even though it couldn’t have been attained “if not for” the assistance of others.

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It was difficult for me to match her enthusiasm without knowing the answers to the difficult questions which would go to the heart of her firm’s commitment to her success: “What resources are they providing you? Who from the firm’s senior management team will be involved? Is there a dedicated committee to work with you on this effort? And what are they specifically asking you to accomplish in this role?”

When her answers indicated that she had no resources, no senior management involvement, no dedicated committee and no specific goals or objectives, the proverbial handwriting was on the wall. It was no surprise, therefore, to learn that some time later she had left the firm in frustration and accepted a new position elsewhere.

After decades of losing talented lawyers, law firms are now recognizing that they need to address their failure to retain and advance women in the legal profession. Even if the increasingly high costs of attrition are not sufficiently compelling reasons to focus on these issues, the competition for talent makes it a business imperative. Many firms are responding by creating Women’s Initiatives. A well-designed initiative can indeed help a firm make meaningful progress. If not carefully created, however, these efforts will be, at best, an opportunity for women to work on projects together; and at worst, a waste of valuable time and energy that causes friction and divisiveness.

Identify And Rectify Impediments To Women’s Success

At its essence, a Women’s Initiative is about crafting a framework to identify and rectify impediments to success. Most often, it focuses on both removing internal barriers that exist within the firm and providing external opportunities that, among other things, can serve as helpful tools for building a practice.

Even as Women’s Initiatives range tremendously in scope, focus, and sophistication, they all should offer skill-building and related training opportunities, assistance in developing business networks, a safe environment for women to discuss issues of concern, and a strong internal management support system for addressing these issues. And even as these Initiatives are often initiated by a firm’s female lawyers, clear and visible senior management involvement is an important element to ensure its success.

From its inception, a Women’s Initiative should be the product of significant input. This means understanding the firm’s internal culture and identifying the unique factors in the firm that may contribute to the relatively low percentage of female partners. Most lawyers resist an assessment process, claiming, “We know what our problems are. We just want to get right to the stage where we can fix them.”

But the knowledge to be gained from an internal assessment is critical, offering firm-specific cultural insight and information upon which to design a strategic plan of action to stem the loss of talent and develop future firm leaders.

Once an assessment has been completed, the Initiative’s leadership must go about the hard work of prioritizing its goals. Whatever shape that process takes, it is important to remain focused on the key underlying purpose of the Initiative: to provide greater opportunities for advancement and leadership for women attorneys at the firm. This includes maximizing the involvement of women attorneys throughout the firm and seeking to break down possible resistance to the effort. For example, women attorneys may occasionally feel express discomfort about meeting “separately,” worrying about how their male colleagues will view these meetings. As those who have been involved with the implementation of successful Initiatives know, as long as women constitute small minorities of equity partnership and leadership positions, there is a need to implement programs and policies that will lead to improved firm metrics and greater opportunities for success.

Men And Women Need To Work Together

But it is not enough to reassure male colleagues that a Women’s Initiative is important. In light of their predominance in the law firm management structure, men must become active partners in creating the template for institutional change that will guarantee the Initiative’s future success. Senior law firm leaders have a critical role to play in first, understanding the subtle ways in which unexamined biases compromise the success of women lawyers; and, second, ensuring the needed management support, accountability, and resources to ensure that positive changes are implemented. Their role as participants in a Women’s Initiative, therefore, is critical.

Once the foundation for the Women’s Initiative has been established, a variety of programming options are typically developed, including speakers and training to meet the goals and objectives identified through the assessment process. Firm-wide training programs may include a focus on diversity, respectful workplace issues, and a gender-equal evaluation process.

In addition, successful Women’s Initiatives generally include speakers of interest to present to women attorneys on a variety of topics ranging from client development, media relations, negotiation skills, and gender issues in the courts, to such issues as dressing for success. Other key programming areas include workshops focused on career navigation skills, business development, and networking. They can range in scope from panel discussions, which can be open to clients and business contacts, to retreats, or even “spa days” for key women clients. These programs provide important tools to help women lawyers focus both internally and externally on building important career-development skills.

Measure Success Accurately

In establishing a Women’s Initiative, however, it is essential to resist efforts to “measure” its success simply by tracking new clients or new business directly attributable to these efforts. This is a false measure of progress and would only undermine the reason for creating such an Initiative in the first place, which is to assist the firm’s efforts to retain and promote women attorneys. Rather, the appropriate measure of a successful Women’s Initiative is the rate of increase in women attorneys retained, as well as the rate of increase of women elevated to partnership and firm leadership positions. Accordingly, even though management support is a crucial component, it is women who must drive the agenda and identify the measures of success.

In writing about gender-based differences in behavior, author Deborah Blum observed the positive impact of women helping other women in the workplace: “The most heartening part of seeing women rise in the power structure is not seeing them perform like powerful men, but like powerful women.” Women’s voices have also focused attention on the importance of day care, flexible schedules, and addressing work-family issues.

In other words, critical mass matters. Toward that goal, women are becoming effective at joining forces to accelerate a change in law firm demographics. By forming bonds and working together internally, and by working with male colleagues who understand the mutual benefits that derive from a successfully implemented effort, women lawyers can lead the way to an environment conducive to the success of all lawyers.

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Ultimately, deep change, whether at the personal or the organizational level, is a spiritual process. Loss of alignment occurs when, for whatever reason, we begin to pursue the wrong end. This process begins innocently enough. In pursuing some justifiable end, we make a trade-off of some kind. We know it is wrong, but we rationalize our choice. We use the end to justify the means. As time passes, something inside us starts to wither. We are forced to live at the cognitive level, the rational, goal-seeking level. We lose our vitality and begin to work from sheer discipline. Our energy is not naturally replenished, and we experience no joy in what we do. We are experiencing slow death.1

I define a team as an enthusiastic set of competent people who have clearly defined roles, associated in a common activity, working cohesively in trusting relationships, and exercising personal discipline and making individual sacrifice for the good of the team.2 – Robert E. Quinn

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…48% of partners felt that the two objectives [giving lawyers quality of life and at the same time delivering top-notch service to clients] are a contradiction in terms… “You can fiddle around at the edges. But at the end of the day, clients expect 24/7 from the leading firms.”

Over half the partners (56%) and nearly half the clients (45%) interviewed did not think that flexible working could be a credible solution…

Law firm of the 21st century, an Eversheds report p.10

“Permit me…to editorialize for a moment on “work/life balance.” I don’t believe you can have it at a top-notch firm.”

Bruce McEwan, May 22, 2008, commenting on the Eversheds report in his blog, Adam Smith, Esq.

Apparently, the only attorneys whose “commitments” will enable them to achieve career success at “top notch” firms during the coming decade are those without family responsibilities. So says a recent study commissioned by Eversheds. (RSG Consulting interviewed 50 partners at the top 25 international law firms, and GCs and Legal and Finance Directors at 50 of the world’s most prominent companies and investment banks during November and December, 2007 and January 2008.)

The report’s conclusions confirm what Joan Williams so often and aptly states: you can have a legal career and a family if you’re a man, but not if you’re a woman.

Is it even possible for a woman to succeed at such a “top notch” firm? Certainly, if she’s willing to make the sacrifices, as well as put in the energy to understand how the system works and to work it to her advantage. If this trade-off makes sense to you, there are many coaches who would be happy to coach you to succeed and to celebrate your victory.

Get Out Now If The Culture Of Your Firm Is Too Oppressive

But if this exchange is not the life you imagined in law school, then my advice is to take the money and run! If you began your career in a “top notch” firm in order to pay off your law school debt, start planning your exit strategy. If you’ve been languishing as an income partner or of counsel and wondering how you’ll ever get promoted to partner in the face of demands for 2000+ billable hours and $1-$2 million in new business, consider finding a firm in which partnership is a realistic option for an attorney who doesn’t want to choose between work and life.

Your job is not your career. So often the women lawyers who consult me express the belief that there is no better firm than the one where they are currently employed. This belief is no more surprising than our assumption as children that every family is similar to our own. It’s just wrong.

Learn To Identify Diversity Friendly Law Firms

The culture at some firms puts a premium on the value that a life outside of law brings to legal practice. These progressive firms don’t have flexible work options simply as window dressing. You can identify these firms by their higher-than-average utilization rates of alternative work schedules, the presence of partners working reduced hours, a partnership comprised of more than 17% women (especially ones with families), low rates of associate attrition and male partners visibly involved in their own families’ lives.

Don’t Fall For Myths About “Top-Notch” Firms

Your law school may have persuaded you that a career outside of an “elite” firm is second rate. However, this is a specious argument. Keep in mind that your school’s ranking depends upon how many of its students it places in such firms.

Even the Eversheds report, while touting purported “top notch” firms, found that powerful corporate clients view small and large firms as virtually identical in terms of the quality of their attorneys and legal counsel: Many [clients] felt there was little difference in the standard of legal advice [available from the most prominent vs. smaller firms]: “The quality of work is no different between the magic circle and other firms, and the smaller firms are cheaper; they are far more willing to negotiate on fees.” [Eversheds report p. 6]

How “top notch” will these firms be in the next decade? Jeff Bleich, president of the State Bar of California, posed this question in his statements about large firms with high billable-hours requirements:

“…new lawyers come to view themselves as people who merely rent out their brains for a certain price per hour. And they are degraded by the experience…Young lawyers have fewer client contacts, less ownership of a case and fewer opportunities to actually solve a problem. As they advance, they aren’t asking the questions that will allow them to one day lead their firms and the profession…Instead they think more and more about profit targets, hours targets and what their exit strategy is…An entire generation of lawyers has come to believe that their worth as a lawyer is measured not in how they solve problems but in how many hours they need to work. Not surprisingly, this has not made them better problem solvers.” Bruce McEwen’s blog

If this is the experience young attorneys receive in an “elite” firm, perhaps we need to question the meaning of the term.

Certainly, all of us who have been working for years to reform the large law firm business model in order to make it compatible with current demographic realities will continue to do so. But this is still an uphill struggle. Too many women currently working in firms with traditional “ideal lawyer” cultures are never even reaching the glass ceiling: they’re banging their heads against brick walls.

Especially in today’s difficult economic climate, the most vulnerable to job loss are non-equity partners, many of whom are women juggling high billable demands with family responsibilities and without the time needed to become rainmakers. Why give work to someone with a high-billing rate when a cheaper associate can do the job?

There’s no reason to anxiously await the axe when you can transfer your talent, experience, hard-earned skill and commitment to a firm that will reciprocate your dedication. When you worry about the pay cut you may have to accept, ask yourself whether you believe that all the money you’re making in your big firm job will ever really make you happy or give you the life you want and deserve.

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