Loving what you are doing

I stumbled across a great little article about successful women attorneys today, here.  (Okay, so I am a few weeks behind on my reading!).  This article in New York Magazine is, for once, all about successful women lawyers and talks to many to find out their secret to success.  It is refreshing to find an article that, while starts with an introduction that sounds much like the Ms. JD Mission Statement, is really not so much about why women leave the profession but, instead, what makes the successful ones stay. 

What is their advice to young lawyers and other women executives? In a nutshell, you have to be prepared to work very hard for very long hours, they say. And, unless you really love the work, it won’t be worth that very high cost.

So true.

Reminder: Register for free NYC networking event by MAY 15 (the event will be on June 4th)

If you'll be in New York next month and you haven't yet registered, consider attending the free networking reception & presentation at White & Case on June 4th with Debbie Epstein Henry talking about the Best Law Firms for Women ranking she undertook with Working Mother Magazine last year. (We covered her survey here and here.) The deadline to RSVP is TOMORROW, May 15th. Hope to see you there! More details after the jump...

Coming Soon: Ms. JD's Summer Book Series

Ms. JD is pleased to announce its Summer Book Series!  The series will begin Monday, May 19th, and will continue weekly for the remainder of the summer.  Visit Ms. JD every Monday to learn about books highlighting women in the law. 

Next Monday's Featured Book: Pinstripes and Pearls: The Women of the Harvard Law Class of '64 Who Forged an Old Girl Network and Paved the Way for Future, by: Judith Richards Hope.

Southern Ms. Part V: The Good Life

So lately I've been thinking that this is a really good place to live. Good people, good work, good culture. Especially when you're a young professional and the cost of living is a fraction of what it is in New York or California.

Lawyers here make six figure salaries but live like millionaires would in the bigger legal markets because the cost of housing is so low that they have much more disposible income.

Best of all those six figures come with a considerably lower time commitment. Sure if you're in trial you'll be busy, but for the most part lawyers here seem to work fairly reasonable hours. Nothing like the all-nighters and long weekends my friends in BigLaw are pulling on the coasts. No kidding, 9-5 is realistic and 8-7 is considered cruel. And these are in the big law firms here - so you're still getting the benefits of good staff support and insitutional weigh that come with BigLaw posts in other cities. It's made me think that this whole work-life balance, billable-hour rebellion is (just like the "opt-out revolution") the problem of a very small fraction of women lawyers in this country.

NAWL's Ready to On-Ramp program, for those of us who haven't even graduated yet.

I attended NAWL’s Ready to On-Ramp? program at Jenner & Block in Chicago, which was “designed to help lawyers develop their own personal strategy to re-entering the workforce” after taking time off, usually for raising children. Not having graduated from law school yet (one more week!), I was the youngest person there. I got some puzzled looks.But I found that the women I met, who have entered, exited, and sometimes entered the legal workforce again, had extremely valuable information to impart on a woman just starting her legal career.

Great advice was shared by the likes of Carol Fishman Cohen, author of Back on the Career Track: A Guide for Stay-at-Home Moms Who Want to Return to Work, who reiterated Lynn Hecht Schafran’s point at our Ms. JD conference last month, that Sandra Day O’Connor never entirely left the profession to raise her children—she was active in the bar and the Republican party the whole time.

Deborah Epstein Henry, founder and president of the consulting firm that released “Best Law Firms for Women,” pointed out that firms want to hire and retain talented women, and might be willing to accommodate alternate schedules and time off to keep us from leaving entirely. Firms like Skadden, Arps have developed programs in which women can take up to three years off work, raise children, and re-enter the firm still sharp on their legal skills.Finally, several panelists pointed out that working and raising children is probably the norm—as opposed to the old model of working and having a spouse raise them for you. The new model requires some shifting in the entire structure of law firms. Lucky for my generation, some shifting has already begun.

There’s no reason for law students to learn this too late. Plan ahead and look for advice from veterans who have made it through past darker days of women’s issues in the legal profession.

Ms. JD Weekly Round-up: Week Ending May 9, 2008

Retired San Diego Court Judge Patricia A. Yim Cowette Awarded the Joan Dempsey Klein Distinguished Jurist Award

Secretary of the Employment Lawyers Association Reports that Employers Need to Implement Policies to Prevent Women Being Discriminated Against at Work

Cindy Weber Named One of D.C.'s Top Ten Copyright and Trademark Lawyers

First Woman in the U.S. to be Admitted to the Bar Honored at Iowa Wesleyan College

Pregnancy Discrimination Problem in Biglaw?

Attorney Amy Lepine Runs for San Diego City Attorney

Attorney Work/Life Balance Reform with a Virtual Law Office

A small part of the work/life balance reform in the legal profession is taking place quietly through the use of secure, web-based technology. Virtual law offices provide an alternative method of practicing law that permit flexible work hours and can be used to create a better work/life balance for legal professionals. I chose this alternative and for the past two and a half years I have practiced law from home with a completely virtual law office powered by Virtual Law Office Technology, LLC (VLOTech).

In the interest of full disclosure, VLOTech is a company that my husband and I founded based on the positive response we received from other legal professionals nationwide to the concept of a completely virtual law office and the flexibility it offers. The technology is a secure, web-based, software as a service (SaaS) hosted program that generates online client development and permits an attorney to practice law anywhere he or she may access the Internet. The technology assists legal professionals so that they may build a better work/life balance for themselves by modifying their practice to fit personal and family needs.

Finding a better work/life balance was my motivation to start a completely virtual law practice. I chose to practice law from home so that I could spend my days caring for my young child but still continue to build my career as an attorney. To provide a brief description of my virtual office, my client files, data, billing, invoices, accounts receivable, other accounting and administrative tools, calendars and data management tools are located in the backend of the virtual office online. I have a central point in the virtual law office where all of my cases are organized and it shows me the status and priority for better time management. On my client’s side, they have access to their own homepages through my virtual law office where they may view all of our online communications, pay me online, download and upload documents, and update client data, among other features. I have 24 hour policy of responding to my clients online. My clients are located across the state, most of them I’ve never met or spoken with in person. My flexible work hours include the time during my child’s nap, in the early morning and evenings or whenever else it is convenient for me and my clients to get work completed. My clients appreciate that I am available to them during non-business hours because that is often more convenient for them as well.

Through the use of VLOTech, blogs and other web-based technologies, the legal professional today may create alternative working arrangements that can be adjusted and refined as circumstances in his or her personal life require. I have used these to fashion a work/life balance that meets my current needs as a parent, a wife, a daughter and an attorney.

Trading SAHM for SWAT?

There's a new article by Sue Shellenbarger in the Wall Street Journal that highlights an interesting trend:

The decision among some highly educated women to stay home with children is sparking a countertrend: The rise of the mommy "SWAT team." The acronym, for "smart women with available time," is one mother's label for all-mom teams assembled quickly through networking and staffing firms to handle crash projects. Employers get lots of voltage, cheap, while the women get a skills update and a taste of the professional challenges they miss.

This article seems mostly applicable to the MBA crowd, but similar things are happening in the law (Axiom Legal, for example, is a firm that provides flexible legal hiring). I'm not sure, however, if the trend this article discusses is a good or bad development--after all those long hard years getting a higher education and in the work force, should these women be contracting themselves out for bottom dollar (i.e., aren't they worth more than that, even on a part-time or temporary basis)? Or is this a good way for companies to get affordable troubleshooters and for these women to keep their fingers in the mix? And is this one way to help women who have elected to stay home (perhaps for a limited period of time) be able to "ramp on" in the future?

Networking: Keeping Your Circles Alive

Paramjit Mahli of Sun Communications Group is a former journalist who has worked with international news organizations including CNN Business News, and now helps small to mid-sized law firms get in front of their target markets effectively, efficiently, and expeditiously. Her job is to let the lawyers do what they do best – practice law – while she takes care of their communications and marketing programs.

Referrals from your network don't just happen. It takes time, energy and resourcefulness. Learn what you can do to make your circle come alive.

"Seek first to understand and then be understood," states Steven Covey, author of Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. In essence that is precisely what good networkers do: they make themselves indispensable by becoming resources that you can't do without. Think of concierges at hotels, they know everything that guests might want to need during their stay at hotels. Good networkers are lobbyists, yes, those damned pesky public relations professionals, fundraisers and restaurateurs. Bottom-line, they know people.

When distilled to essentials networking is all about building relationships with your target markets. Think how long it took you to make friends, court and get married. Networking is similar. Once there is trust and confidence, networking can reap dividends.

For lawyers, solo practitioners, associates and managing partners this is an indispensable part of their business, even though they think it ranks at the bottom of their priority list. Building your book of business requires grass roots networking, regardless of whether you think marketing is overrated hype and fluff. Regardless of gender, geography and ethnicity, people do business with people who they know and trust. Yet, with all the demands on our time not only is it tempting to designate networking at the bottom of the priority list but it is also so easy to ignore. Like personal relationships networking takes time, effort and solid commitment from you.

Where do you start?

Work-Life Balance, not just a plea from us Ms. JD bloggers

One of my favorite blogs, The Juggle, has a post today about young doctors that are looking for some work-life balance and steering clear of jobs where they would be expected to be on call at all times in the life.  At the end of the post, Sara writes:

Despite the downsides, this industry shift toward family-friendly solutions was probably hard to imagine just a few decades ago. Might there be a similar shift on the horizon in other industries, like consulting, i-banking, or big law?

Now, as I just said, The Juggle is one of my favorite blogs.  But, wake up and smell the movement already.  I am sure the readers of Ms. JD know that there is a real swell of exasperation with the lack of work-life balance for Big Law attorneys.  Women lawyers, are everyday choosing career paths with better work life balance.  What we need is better work-life balance on all paths.

A good comment on the post's comment string says:

“…and they say, ‘I’m not doing this, I’m not doing that,’” which makes the older doctors realize they’ve been had. It’s not this generation’s fault that the older docs were duped into working long hours for little reward.  No, “We’re not doing it,” and we’ll get paid just fine working a job with reasonable hours, zero call, and family time.

Why Do We Need Women's Bar Associations?

Elizabeth K. Peck is President and Co-Founder of the Finger Lakes Women’s Bar Association and the Director of Career Services at Cornell Law School in Ithaca, NY

Why Do We Need Women’s Bar Associations?

I asked myself this very question 18 months ago.   Back in October of 2006, along with 300 other women attorneys in my area, I was invited to breakfast by the Women’s Bar Association of the State of New York (WBASNY) to discuss starting a new chapter of the organization.  Honestly, I had no interest then in a “specialty bar.”  What I did have, however, was interest in meeting local attorneys.  Much as I had tried, I hadn’t yet connected with lawyers in my community.  Tapping into this network was important to me because I am a career counselor at a law school in rural New York.  Each year a small number of my students want to stay in our lovely hamlet to practice law after graduation.  Without contacts among local lawyers I couldn’t serve their needs as well as I wanted to.  In small communities, if you want to find a job, you’ve got to know people.

So, I went to breakfast.  I listened to the pitch.  I ate luke-warm eggs.  Nothing.  Then, I just happened to meet the right person at the right time.  On the sidewalk outside the restaurant, I struck up a conversation with a young woman attorney working for a local firm.   “Ah ha!” I thought.  “This is exactly the kind of person I’d like to get to know.”  I quickly realized that helping to start this new organization would connect me to the very people I had been yearning to meet.  So, after 20 minutes of chatting in the October sunshine, we’d decided to start a new bar association.

And, to make a long story short: we did.  Six months after our initial meeting, the Finger Lakes Women’s Bar Association was born.  I am, to this day, continuously surprised at our success.  Our little chapter grew from 25 to 60 members in a year.  (In fact, although we are a women’s bar association, we are open to all and quite proud of our sole male member.)  We have held meetings, social events and continuing legal education courses.  Our members have learned of the sacrifices of the suffragettes, listened to the wisdom of an early NOW president, and come up to speed on the continued struggle for women’s equality in the world of college sports. 

And because our bar association is a chapter of the state-wide women’s bar, we have also witnessed the immense power that women, singly and collectively, can have.  At the state-level, WBASNY (yes, it is an ungainly acronym) gives voice to the needs of women, children and families before the New York State Legislature.  With a paid lobbyist and very committed volunteer members, our organization analyzes legislation pending in Albany and advocates for those bills which will best serve the people of New York, especially those people who are women, children or members of families. 

This is all very nice, but get back to the original question: so, why a women’s bar association?  Don’t co-ed bars do the same things?  Well, yes and no.

Ms. JD Weekly Round-up: Week Ending May 2, 2008

Iranian Rights Lawyer Defiant Despite Threats

Bella Abzug, 1920-1998: Activist for Women’s Rights Was Known for Her Large Hats and Strong Opinions

What if women ran things in Chicago?

Nigeria: Akande, First Female Law Professor, Dies

Brunswick County Women's Bar Association promotes women working for women

Q and A with Follow the Women tour participant Colleen McGuireBuffalo lawyer named 2008 Athena Award winnerCedar Crest introduces new president

Should you supplement CA BarBri with PMBR

So, the first thing I want to point out is that this is not a paid advertisement and I don't have a relationship of any sort with Kaplan PMBR.

Congratulations to all graduates.  I think most around the country will graduate some time over the next three weeks or so (sorry, Chicago!).  If you are like I was, you may be looking to the not-so-distant future and wondering if you have the right plan to tackle studying for the bar exam.  Hopefully, this advice isn't too late, but if you haven't signed up for a course that will supplement BarBri's MBE program, I think you should, at least if you are taking the CA exam.

Did you know that the best indicator of whether somebody will pass the CA bar exam is their LSAT score?  Why, likely because 1/3 of the test is multiple choice and such a test requires a skill set that translates from one multiple choice test to the next.  Also, it is likely because the essays are so subjective that many get through them without doing all that great objectively.  California test takers have one of the top average MBE scores in the country.  I also believe in the idea that practicing can help improve your multiple choice test performance.

I think that, if you have the time and the money, you should take the 6 day PMBR to kick-start your summer of studying.  Personally, I took my last semester kind of easy.  I took the minimum number of credits required and took sort-of soft, theoretical-type classes instead of black letter law type courses.  I found the five days that I spent in PMBR before BarBri started to be a great way to kick-start my black-letter-law brain and get going on the summer.

However, the biggest reason why I think you should take the course is for the practice questions.

Number 63 and Abandoned: A Rant From the Forgotten Eighty Percent

I’m not in the top twenty of my class. I’m not even in the top twenty percent of my class. In fact, by definition, the majority of my law school class is not in the top twenty percent of my class. Yet, we keep being forgotten by our professors, our deans, and perhaps most noticeably, our career services offices.

May 6th in Chicago: NAWL's 3rd Annual "Ready to On-Ramp?" program on re-entry

Jenner & Block's Chicago offices host this year's NAWL program specifically designed to help lawyers develop their own personal strategy for re-entering the workforce. Looks like it will be a great program - especially for the bargain price of $30!