DirectWomen Board Institute trains senior attorneys to serve on corporate boards

If you or a senior attorney you know would like to serve on a corporate board, you'll want to know about the DirectWomen Board Institute. DirectWomen is a little over a year old--it started around the same time as Ms. JD. While a lot of our stuff focuses on the front end of legal careers (for students and associates), DirectWomen works on the back end (retiring business attorneys). The ABA-sponsored initiative means "to identify, develop, and support a select group of accomplished women attorneys to provide qualified directors needed by the boards of U.S. companies."

DirectWomen does three main things:

1. trains female attorneys who are retiring from the practice of business law, providing career development and networking to prepare for board positions (with an annual two-day institute) [Is two days enough? I guess it's two more days than an average male board candidate will have, right? --Ed.];

2. educates executive search firms and corporations about well-qualified female candidates for board positions; and

3. honors female attorneys who succeed in serving on corporate boards (with the Sandra Day O'Connor Board Excellence Award).

The 2008 Institute and awards ceremony are happening this week (Feb. 20-22) in New York. Applications for the 2008 Institute are closed, but you can email bl-directwomen@staff.abanet.org to be added to the mailing list to receive an application for the Class of 2009. Good luck!