firm life

On a Tightrope

Anonymous — Mon, 5 Jan 2009 15:31:15 -0600

In her New York Times piece, The Tightrope of Managing a Law Office, Anita J. Cicero discusses the challenges of being an office managing partner.

Watching management issues unfold each week is like watching TV when someone else controls the remote. One moment you’re watching a documentary, then — click! — it’s a thriller, then a drama, then the evening news. Switching among unfolding story lines, focusing on practical and fair solutions and trying to remember to prepare that agenda for a 4 p.m. teleconference make for stimulating and often exhausting days.

At 43, a relatively young partner at Drinker, Biddle & Reath, Cicero sought out advice and support from friends and nearby law firm managers.

The 50 Best Law Firms for Women - 2008

Ms. JD — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 11:04:29 -0500

Click here to go straight to the list.

Flex-Time Lawyers and Working Mother Magazine have just released their 2008 ranking of "The 50 Best Law Firms for Women." You can download a PDF of the press release from www.flextimelawyers.com.

Ten Family-Friendly Firms (new ranking by law students)

Anna — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 07:10:27 -0500

The women's student group at my school has just release its second annual ranking of "the top ten family-friendly firms." I did not have any part in preparing these rankings... just passing them along. The press release is here.

According to Yale Law Women and co-sponsoring women's law groups at Stanford, Harvard, Columbia, Chicago, Boalt, Northwestern, and Virginia, the top ten family-friendly firms of 2007 are...

[More after the jump]

The Firms Where You Are Most Likely to Make Partner

Anna — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 11:20:17 -0500

Working Mother Magazine didn't rank firms by how many of their partners are female, but I'll do it (using their data)! Of the fifty firms named "best for women" by WMM and Flex-Time Lawyers, which firms have the highest proportions of equity (profit-sharing) and nonequity partners?

The standouts are Folger Levin & Kahn (San Francisco), Ice Miller (Indianapolis), Armstrong Teasdale (St. Louis), and Katten Muchin Rosenman (Chicago).

[More after the jump]

The 50 Best Law Firms for Women

Anna — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 09:07:02 -0500

Click here to go straight to the list.

Flex-Time Lawyers and Working Mother Magazine have just released a ranking of "The 50 Best Law Firms for Women." It is the September cover story of WMM. You can download PDFs of the press release and two articles at Debbie Henry's website: Young, Gifted and Leaving, and Making Partner.

I wanted to get this news item posted for y'all ASAP, so I will be back to post some more when I have read through the methodology. Meanwhile, I have a couple of comments based on what Debbie has told me in the past few months.

This is a ranking of large firms with ~~100~~ 50+ employees. As Susan Carter Liebel and Carolyn Elefant emphasize, please don't forget to consider the alternatives of putting up your own shingle in a solo practice or going to work at a smaller regional firm. That is another significant way to find a different quality of life as a lawyer in private practice.

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Book ToDo: The Undomestic Goddess

KHernan881 — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 17:52:44 -0600

Okay, so I'm calling this a "ToDo" instead of a "Review". First, I don't want to seem too serious about this. I'm no literary critic. Heck, I don't even read that much besides my law school textbooks these days. Second, I don't get any benefit from writing this ToDo. I had to purchase the book like anyone else but you could probably check it out from the library. Summer is approaching so I thought I'd pass on a fun book that I read last summer and thoroughly enjoyed.