Ms. JD Weekly Round-up: Week Ending May 30, 2008

Leading N.Y. Women Partners Meet at the Kate Stoneman Project Power Breakfast

Study Finds that Female Lawyers are More Likely to Practice in Firms and Less Likely to Make Partner

Report on Retaining Women Lawyers Approved by the Ontario Law Society

Commentary: Legal Profession Need to Evaluate and Overhaul Itself to Retain Women

Andrews Kurth LLP Partner Kathleen J. Wu Recognized Among Texas' Most Powerful and Influential Women

Scotland Celebrates Its First All-Female Bench

Shoes, Clothes, and Law, Oh My

The Wall Street Journal has joined the hoary conversation on women’s professional apparel with a trifeca of articles/blog posts: first, with a profile of Lehman Brother’s CFO Erin Callan; next, with a follow-up post on The Juggle blog that specifically commented on Callan’s choice of shoes in the photo accompanying the profile; and now on the Law Blog, which picked up on comments that split on whether female lawyers indeed need to wear uncomfortable professional outfits in the courtroom.

And as regular Ms. JD readers know, this is indeed something that consumes a great deal of time and mental anxiety for female lawyers and law students (I’ve posted in the forum about it here; sintecho has written about long v. short hair here; and a paralegal has written about her sartorial quandaries here).

All of this leads to one simple conclusion: a lot of people have strong opinions on whether appearances matter, particularly for women. Past that, good luck finding any consensus. I’m not going to hide the ball on my position, since I have always thought that (1) appearances matter a lot; (2) there are absolutely wrong choices to make; and (3) finding the right balance between what is appropriate, comfortable, and something you like is one of those juggling skills that only come with a lot of practice, some keen observations, and a good sense of self. As a huge fan of Go Fug Yourself and Jezebel’s Snap Judgments and the Good, the Bad, & the Ugly, I’m not afraid to stick with the notion that the message you send with your clothes and appearance will often precede you, and may even ensure that what comes out of your mouth (or from your briefs) can both be discounted or augmented by your appearance.

Personally, and (I think) in light of my relative youth, background, and brand new J.D. (a whole other post!), I go conservative.

Ms. JD Weekly Round-up: Week Ending May 23, 2008

London Times Reports that the Gender Pay Gap is Still a Huge Problem in the Legal Profession

Are Successful Woman Avoiding Motherhood?

General Mills' Roderick Palmore Brings GCs and Law Firms Together To Discuss Diversity and Retention of Women in the Workplace

Lawyers Rate Female Jurists as Less Courteous Than Men

Women's Bar Association Honors Justice Ginsburg and Mary Kennard

Human Rights Lawyer Professor Catharine MacKinnon to Receive Honorary Doctorate from Hebrew University

Gender Discrimination Lawsuit Against Alameda County District Attorney Tom Orloff Fails

Ms. JD Weekly Round-up: Week Ending May 16, 2008

Women in Small Firms are Leaving the Law Over Lack of Maternity Leave

Nigerian Governor Peter Obi Tasks the International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) to Assume More Responsibilities in the Present Effort to Change Society

Work-Life Balance for Lawyers - Sullivan and Cromwell Achieves Top Adoption-Friendly Workplace Ranking

Ethiopian Lawyer Meaza Ashenafi Builds Strong Foundation for Women's Rights

Brunswick County Women's Bar Association Promotes Women Working for Women

250 Delegates Attend the Second World Meeting on Women, Gender and the Law in Havana

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.

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 McGuire

Buffalo lawyer named 2008 Athena Award winner

Cedar Crest introduces new president

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?

Ms. JD Weekly Round-up: Week Ending April 18, 2008

Ashby Jones Asks Why There are So Few Women Atop the Law-Firm Pyramid

The Globe and Mail Reports that Women Lawyers Face Unique Challenges in Sole Practices and Small Firms

The Bangladesh National Woman Lawyers' Association Advocate for More Women to be Nominated in Elections

With Only 8 Percent of Firm Head Positions Filled by Women, Female Law Firm Leaders Remain Sparse

Report on Participation in the Women Rainmakes Roundtable - A Program to Help Successful Women Lawyers Become Successful Business Developers

Attorney Anna Barbara "Bobbie" Hantz, a Partner at Nashua-based Gottesman & Hollis, P.A., Selected as One of the "Top 10 General Practice Lawyers" by Women's Business Boston Journal

Women Attorney Quentin Bryce to Become Australia's First Woman Governor General

Profile of Jedidah Wakonyo Waruhiu, Kenya's Volunteer Lawyer

Worcester-Based Law Firms Compete to Meet the Needs of Young Lawyers, Especially Women Lawyers

Temple University's James E. Beasley School of Law Names JoAnne A. Epps as its New Dean

Lauren E. Handel Named Above the Law's Lawyer of the Day

Illinois Supreme Court Justice Rita B. Garman Delivers Speech - Improving the Image of Lawyers: More Atticus Finch and Less Ally McBeal

Ms. JD Weekly Round-up: Week Ending April 11, 2008

Kenya's Federation of Women Lawyers Advocate for More Women to be Trained on Court Procedure so that They Can Represent Themselves in Court

Susan Levy Becomes the First Woman to Run Jenner & Block - Only 8% of Managing Parnters at the Nation's Top 200 Firms are Now Women

Clifford Chance Partner Kathy Honeywood Comments on Her Mission to Increase the Number of Women at the Top of Her Firm

Academic Linda Duxbury Concludes that Law Firms are Generally the Worst-Practice Everywhere When it Comes to Work-Life Balance

6 out of 8 of Offshore Firm Appleby's New Partners This Year are Women - New Firm Record

Helen A. Knowlton Orne is Remembered as the First Woman to Legally Practice Law in the State of Maine

Kathleen Waters Appointed as President and CEO of the Lawyers' Professional Indemnity Company (LawPRO)

Ms. JD Weekly Round-up: Week Ending April 4, 2008

Firms Are Increasingly Seeking to Develop Programs to Help Female Lawyers Return to the Work Force

Women Attorneys Debate One Firm's Ban of Fishnet Stockings at Work

New Theory to Explain the Growing Pay Gap Between Male and Female JDs?

National Democratic Congress Presidential Candidate of Ghana Pushes for a Female Lawyer, Betty Mould-Iddrisu, to Serve as his Running Mate

This Year's Partnership Promotions in the United Kingdom are Shaping Up to be the Best Ever for Female Lawyers

Philippines Bar Association Announces that More Women are Topping the Bar

United Arab Emirates Appoints its First Female Judge