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

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.

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.

Part VI in Series: A Junior Associate's Networking Plan

I am short on time and energy today so I am skipping to Part VI of my seven part networking series to share with you today, my Online Networking Plan.

I'll have to admit upfront to be woefully behind the power curve on on-line networks.  As a member of Gen X, I missed the boat that was MySpace and was a late joiner on other online networks as well.  I reluctantly became a member of facebook in 2007 just because I repeatedly got friend invites from it and signed up just to have a shell of a presence so that I could accept the requests.  Well, just last July, when things were a little slow at the office, I decided to really join the online networking game and to make it part of my Junior Associate's Networking Plan.

Part I in Series: A Junior Associate's Networking Plan

This is the first part of a multi-part series where I will lay out my creatively-titled "Junior Associate Networking Plan" for your information, criticism and suggestions. I am writing this series because I have found the task of figuring out what a junior associate can and should be doing to build her professional network to be a little daunting and that is perhaps because there is no way to know how much effort one should put into it or where one should dedicate that effort.  I do not claim to have the right answers or be implementing the perfect plan.  Instead, I hope to share my plan with Ms. JD readers with explanations and pros & cons and then hear from others on what they are doing and/or what I should be doing.

A little background to set the stage for this series.  As you may know from my earlier posts, I am a junior associate in the corporate department of a large national law firm, where I have my sights set on making partner some day.  I have little "free time" on my hands.  I am a little compulsive about making the most of the time that I do have.  Some may say that I am overly goal-oriented and/or too ambitious.

7 Truths that Every Working Woman Should Know Before Having a Child -- Part VII

Finally, the 7th and final installation of the series that I started many months ago and haven't been able to bring myself to finish.  Way back in November, I promised to tell you the truth about the seven things that I wished I would have known about being a mom -- information that I thought would be helpful to professional women that are not yet moms but are contemplating starting a family.

I hope that my series was information and helpful, even if it was personal and only one girl's opinion and advice.  (I've put links to the other six posts below.)

The thing that I promised to write about last was: "You'll be the Same Person But Now You'll Just Have a Kid".  I've been putting this off because, well, the myth is self-explanatory.  However, with a lot of thought I think I have nailed the reason why this is a myth -- besides the obvious reaons like how could you possibly be the same person if you are only getting sleep in 1.5 hour increments or painting you two-year old daughter's toe nails with peel-off polish instead of getting a pedicure of your own in your free 30 minutes on a Saturday afternoon!  The truth to counter this myth is that the center of your life changes when you have a child...

Getting back into work after taking some time with your kids

I recently attended a symposium on work-life balance where the keynote speaker was Deborah Epstein Henry.  She was there to talk about her FACTS program.  In a portion of her talk, Debbie mentioned some current initiatives at Big Firms aimed at helping with the work-life balance concerns of women.  Most that she mentioned, I was aware of already because of blogs like Ms. JD.  Most were programs seemingly aimed at making the unbearable billable hours requirements more bearable or aimed at creating reduced-hour alternatives for lawyers.  However, she also mentioned that some firms are putting into place initiatives aimed at bringing back their "regrettable losses" -- i.e. attorneys that leave the firm that the firm wishes would have stayed and that may be in a position to come back at some point in the future.  One such program is the "Sidebar" initiative at Skadden and, frankly, I am not sure how I missed it. (JDBlissblog.com covered it last month here.)  You can find some information on it on Skadden's Women's Initiatives page here even though I think the program is not just for women.  According to the site:

Through Sidebar, attorneys in good standing may decide to leave the firm for any number of personal reasons for up to three years (more than the six-month maximum permitted under a leave of absence), with the expectation that they will return to the firm at the end of that period consistent with the needs of the firm and their department. The firm expects and encourages Sidebar participants to remain connected, for example, by attending certain firm-sponsored events and gatherings and continuing legal education programs.

This is not intended to be a plug for Skadden but more of a head's up to other law firms.  I think this is genius.

Off Track in Academia

While I can't pretend to be in the know about the gender politics of legal academia, an interesting study was brought to my attention by the FeministLawProfs today.  The study, the largest of its kind, found that

"[Women academics] are deeply frustrated by a system that they believe undervalues their work and denies them opportunities for a balanced life. While the study found some overt discrimination in the form of harassment or explicitly sexist remarks, many of the concerns involved more subtle “deeply entrenched inequities."

Even as somebody who is not involved in academia, I have always been keenly aware of the higher percentage of women in the non-tenure track positions and in positions of service, such as assistant deanships and counselors.  I recently had a discussion with an aspiring professor who informed me that many women take non-tenure track positions just to get their foot in the door of academia later to find out that it is nearly impossible to jump from one track to the other.  This is very similar to the track of "staff attorney" which is a non-partnership track at many large firms.  There too, it is nearly impossible to jump the tracks. 

However, the similarities between the numbers for women in academia and law firms are striking.  Believe it or not, in a statement criticizing the study, the university at which the author of the study works said this about it the progress of women on its faculty:

Women account for 43 percent of assistant professors, 37 percent of associate professors, and 22 percent of full professors. Those figures are going up in science and technology fields too, [the school] noted, and women now are 37 percent of assistant professors, 31 percent of associate professors and 18 percent of full professors in those disciplines.

Boy, this "progress" looks very similar to law firm numbers where women are 47% of junior associates and 18% of partners.  Hmmmm.

Playing the Gender Card

An advertising campaign by an all-woman law firm was brought to my attention by AboveTheLaw today.  The firm is Schroder Joseph and Associates, a boutique labor and employment law firm, and the ad campaign plays squarely on gender stereotypes with taglines such as "Ever Argue with a Woman?" and "Labor Pains? Talk to us.  We're women... we get it."  The controversy is also covered here and here.

I have to admit, that I agree with some of the commentors to the ABA Journal article, the ads are funny, catchy, memorable and remarkable.  Therefore, I would say they are effective advertising. However, what are they effective at and what sort of message does the reciever of the advertising message leave with?  I'm left with the following ideas and impressions -- SJA is an all woman firm (neutral); they aren't embarrassed about that (positive); they think that this is an advantage worth advertising (negative).  My response to the idea that the firm sees this as something worth advertising is negative because I am not sure that it is an advantage.  I can't be somebody that thinks that gender diversity is good for law firms and, at the same time, think that an all-woman firm is better than others, can I?  I recognize the strengths of men and the benefits of diversity.   I would hire an all woman firm to represent my company but I don't think that I would hire such a firm BECAUSE they were all women and I don't think we as women should be encouraging that either.

I get that the ads are supposed to be funny.  I also get that the ads are intended to play on gender stereotypes.  Does a profit-making business take out ads just to "be funny"? Nope, not unless they intend for that humor to attract business.  I just don't see any other explanation for it.

What do others think?

No formal vacation means, well, no formal vacation

Recently, as I was contemplating taking a couple of days off work when the school year ends for my kids in June and I got to remembering when I first started as a biglaw associate. In a session on one of the first days, we met with junior associates who were supposed to answer all of our questions that we didn't want to ask in more formal sessions. Quickly the question came up about how to ask for vacation days and I remember the others that I was starting with being almost giddy about the fact that there wasn't any formal approval process and that we didn't need permission to take time off and even that it didn't seem like anyone was keeping track of it. I also remember being a little relieved that it didn't seem like vacation had to be something that one planned far in advance and didn't need to be coordinated with the entire office. Afterall, it seemed nice that you could take vacation whenever your work scheduled allowed. Ha!-- what a misnomer that whole idea is. See, the schedule of a junior associate in a national law firm, will never allow vacation. Instead, one has to force vacation into a riduculously busy work load and take it regardless of whether you have time to take it or not -- or not take it at all, an option that many see to go for.

Also, I have come to learn that the fact that vacation is very informal for attorneys means, exactly that -- it is informal. The truth is that vacation in general is a very loose concept. I've tried to take a grand total of 4 vacation days since the beginning of this calendar year and have actually only been able to take 1 vacation day where I didn't work, although I was not in the office for the other three.

I was reminded of this today when reading a post on The Glass Hammer.