Playing "the gender card" in the courtroom

Carol Simpson — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 12:01:48 -0500

This past week I attended court for the first time in my three years in law school. Actually attending a real court has not been part of any of my courses to date, so this was an event that was particularly interesting. I was attending an evidentiary hearing in federal court, after having written the analysis of an important change of facts in the case. The hearing was before a female judge, and both the plaintiffs’ attorneys are female, as well. When the defendant’s attorneys arrived, there were two men and one woman. It was obvious that their plan was to have the woman speak for the group. It was also obvious that she was the less-experienced attorney of the team, and her male colleagues essentially fed her arguments as the hearing progressed. While every young attorney must have her first chance at first chair, I couldn’t help but wonder if this strategy was playing “the gender card.”