Ms. JD Weekly Round-up: Week Ending October 10, 2008

Cleveland Law Firm Offers Perks that Help Employees Balance Work and Family

ABA Secretary Wins Women Judges Award 

Old Gender Roles With Your Dinner?

Obama and McCain’s Stances on Work-Life Issues

What Michelle Obama Didn’t Like About Working at Sidley Austin

Inbox Full

I have three email accounts--a personal account, a work account, and a school account--and every weekend it is my goal to empty out the inboxes.  I want to achieve email Zen by responding to every query and finishing every task.

I never reach this goal. 

Dealing with email adds hours of extra work to my week. While I appreciate the convenience and practicality, the sheer volume often feels overwhelming and unmanageable. I waste a lot of time on email.

Do you hear that sound? It's the winds of change.

On the way to a recruiting dinner recently, I had the pleasure of driving with a sixth-year and an eighth-year (up for partner) associate.  Both are at the top of their game at my BigLaw firm.  Both are highly professional, competent, and competitive.  They are your typical careerists - the type that nobody ever questions their work ethic or dedication to the firm and its clients.  The conversation turned to children as one of their wives is due with their second child in December.  To my surprise, the conversation drifted to paternity leave and how both men had (or intended to) take advantage of the firm's four-week paid paternity leave policy.  There was no mention of what people would think or how the partners would judge them.  Instead, the conversation was all about how great the policy was and how crazy that would be not to take advantage of it.  The tone and direction of this conversation is something that I take for granted.  However, it is important to recognize that this is an indication of a major shift in law firm culture that has occurred likely in just the past handful of years.  And, I for one, am hopeful that it is an indication that balanced-life policies, the kind that lawyers actually take advantage of, are going to cross the gender lines in the near future.

There is an article on law.com called "Rare Birds" from September 1, 2008 and it discusses the fact that while more men are taking paternity leave, they are not yet pushing for the same reduced hours and extended leave options.  Men are, according to the article, "still pursuing the traditional breadwinner role, as opposed to breadwinner-plus".  However, there are plenty of indications that the current generation of law students may be more enlightened in this area.  Male law students, just like female law students, are concerned about the unlive-able demands of the billable hours at BigLaw and are just as concerned about work-life balance.

Building Relationships with Professors: Easier Advised than Done

Fall is the time of year for Tips - hundreds of helpful lists of "Tips for Surviving-and-Thirving in Law School" are published across the internet, indoctrinating hopeful 1Ls into the rigors of outlining, the socratic method and "not getting too stressed out." 

One of the most common tips, along with "Don't be a Gunner!" is "Get to know your Professors." These tips generally recommend seeking out time with faculty during office hours, volunteering to be a teaching assistant, or writing a note with a favorite faculty member. As a 3L Student who has done all of these things, I can tell you - building relationships with professors is great advice - but like "don't get too stressed out," extremely difficult to accomplish.

Working Moms as Role Models: Part II - Role models for other women?

Intro to Part I:

A long while ago I wrote a post about the idea that working moms are role models for their children and about the judging that goes on between women including the battles being fought in the, so called, "mommy wars".  Well, I have some updates and some additional insight on the issue that I'd like to share.

Here is the second insight that I would like to share and it is about the fact that we may be role models for other women.

My kids attend an elite private school -- the kind that has a college-like application and charges college-like tuition to attend.  This is their third year at the school and the class sizes are very small.  Therefore, we have gotten to know the other parents pretty well, at least the parents of the kids in our kids' grades.  The mommy war is really raging at this school.  There are a group of moms like me, lawyers, doctors, busy real estate brokers etc.  And, there are a group of moms that stay home.  Most of the SAHMs are former professionals that left their careers to stay at home -- a choice that I really respect but that is ultimately not the choice for me.  Most, if not all, are pretty wealthy.  The judging that goes on between the two groups is fierce and the lack of respect that flows both ways is sometimes shocking.

Ms. JD Weekly Round-up: Week Ending October 3, 2008

Women Lawyers, Juries, - And Stress?

Women Lawyers Move Towards the Top in Asia

Stereotypes Blamed for Job Review Bias Against Women

Report: Pay Gap is Closing - Slowly

Family-Friendly Law Firms Attract Women

Florida Association for Women Lawyers' Forms a University of Florida Chapter

Law Firms Turning to Family-Friendly Culture

Citing handheld devices, home offices, part time schedules, on-site daycare, and longer maternity leaves, a Los Angeles Times article describes techniques that law firms are using to create a family-friendly culture that accommodates personal lives. 

In the article, Deborah Epstein Henry, founder of Flex-Time Lawyers LLC, comments on the female attrition rate at firms, pointing out that losing a second-year associate can cost a firm between $200,000 and $500,000.

When You Run Out of Steam...

Remember the scene from "The Graduate" when Benjamin is rushing to the wedding in his spunky little convertible when ever...so...slowly...the...music...slows...down...until...he's out of gas?

Have you ever been on the treadmill at the gym and thought, "Gosh, I would be so mortified if I couldn't keep up and fell off this thing!" ?

This is how I'm feeling these days.  Like a meteor hurtling toward the earth, without knowing whether I'll burn up in the atmosphere or burst through successfully.

Call for Submissions: Gender Diversity: Have we solved the problem? If not, where do we go from here?

The ABA Commission on Women in the Profession announced their 2008 Video/Essay Competition:

Put your video and writing skills to work! Create a 3-minute YouTube video and/or craft a 6-page essay to tell us what you think about Gender Diversity: Have we solved the problem? If not, where do we go from here?

Open to young lawyers and law students, winners will receive $500 and award winning entries will be posted on the Commission's website.  

Entries must be submitted by 12:00 p.m. Central Time on December 31, 2008.

Click here for more information and contest rules.

Questions? Contact Barbara Leff at leffb@staff.abanet.org.

Working Moms as Role Models: Part I -- Role models for our kids?

A long while ago I wrote a post about the idea that working moms are role models for their children and about the judging that goes on between women including the battles being fought in the, so called, "mommy wars".  Well, I have some updates and some additional insight on the issue that I'd like to share.

First, I was recently amazed at the fact that my 5 year old daughter is completely oblivious to gender roles.  I now think that this is partly due to the fact that I am a lawyer and have always worked full-time.  I now think that my decision to work is impacting the way that she looks at the world and that I am a role model -- at least a model for a woman that chooses to make similar choices.

Catherine Murdock Dewey, One of the First Female Lawyers in Boston, Turns 100

Catherine Murdock Dewey, one of the first female lawyers in Boston, is celebrating her 100th birthday.  She will be honored by the New England School of Law, in Boston, where retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, the first woman on the Supreme Court, will be present the keynote address.

Dewey and two of her female law school "chums" opened their own firm, Curry, Mowler and Murdock, in 1933.  They wanted to try cases instead of being relegated to legal secretary or "confidential" law firm positions.

Table for Two

The benefits of eating dinner together as a family are well documented, but a recent study indicates that the benefits of family dinner time apply to couples without children, too.

[The researcher, David] Schramm said that while more couples are dining out, simply eating together may not be enough. The tasks surrounding mealtime—food preparation and clean up—also can be beneficial to a relationship.

Maximize Your Time in Law School

A friend of mine just started law school, and she asked me what I wished I’d known when I was a 1L that could have changed my law school experience for the better.

Here are the top three things I think you can do to maximize law school:

1. Invest time in making friends

Business school students know that networking is just as important a part of their business school experience as their classes. Though calling it “networking” makes you sound a little too premeditated about the whole process, the idea behind it is a good one that I don’t think law students give enough credit. Your peers in law school are going to be your future colleagues and connections. They’re going to be the people who can get you an interview for that great job 10 years down the road, the partners at the law firm who can hire your solo practice, or the general counsels at the company who hires your firm. In the short-term, they’re going to be the ones who lend you notes when you miss class, study with you, and talk you off the ledge when 1L grades come out. Put less time into solo study at the library and more time into bar reviews and other social activities. Maximize your time in an environment with other smart and interesting people by making lasting friendships and connections.

Business or Pleasure?

A recent New York Times article, Business or Pleasure? More are Choosing Both, caught my eye today. Adding leisure time to business travel is something that my husband and I have done on many occasions. With one airfare and several days of hotel paid for, adding on an additional ticket and a few extra days at the hotel can be a cost-effective way to explore a new city. 

Mr. Cohn of Orbitz for Business said that given rising travel costs, it made sense to tack some family leisure travel onto a business trip in which “part of the cost can be absorbed through the work trip.”

Call for Papers: Applied Feminism: How Feminist Legal Theory is Changing the Law

The University of Baltimore School of Law is hosting their Second Annual Feminist Legal Theory Conference in 2009.  The conference, which will bring together law students, legal academics, practitioners and activists, "will look at discrete areas of the law and ask how feminist legal theory operates or could operate to expand existing law, create new law, or combat contractions in the law." 

This conference will address these issues from the perspectives of activists, practitioners and academics. The conference will provide an opportunity for participants and audience members to exchange ideas about the current state of feminist legal theory by looking at how those theories are being actualized in practice and in specific areas of the law. From the conference, we hope to further the discourse about the future of feminist legal theory and its practical applications to the law.