Networking

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

Peg — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 15:54:54 -0500

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.

Ms. JD Summer Book Series: Pinstripes & Pearls, By: Judith Richards Hope

Ms. JD Summer Book Series — Sun, 18 May 2008 16:09:50 -0500

Pinstripes & Pearls: The Women of the Harvard Law Class of '64 Who Forged an Old Girl Network and Paved the Way for Future Generations

Author Judith Richards Hope, a member of the Harvard Law Class of '64, states in the introduction to her book:

"[W]e didn't fully understand what we were getting into - what obstacles we would encounter, what trails we would blaze.... We just knew, from an early age, that we wanted both to serve our country, help make our world a little better and a little safer - and to marry; rear honest, happy children; and lead fulfilling personal lives - just like our mothers."

In some ways, the concerns of Hope and her classmates are so similar to those of women in the law today. Issues of work-life balance, career success, and negotiating law school and legal careers as women, figure prominently in the book. The trail-blazing nature of the women of the Class of '64, however, stands out.

Why Do We Need Women's Bar Associations?

Elizabeth Peck — Fri, 2 May 2008 08:07:00 -0500

Elizabeth K. Peck is President and Co-Founder of the Finger Lakes Women’s Bar Association and the Director of Career Services at Cornell Law School in Ithaca, NY

Why Do We Need Women’s Bar Associations?

I asked myself this very question 18 months ago. Back in October of 2006, along with 300 other women attorneys in my area, I was invited to breakfast by the Women’s Bar Association of the State of New York (WBASNY) to discuss starting a new chapter of the organization. Honestly, I had no interest then in a “specialty bar.” What I did have, however, was interest in meeting local attorneys. Much as I had tried, I hadn’t yet connected with lawyers in my community. Tapping into this network was important to me because I am a career counselor at a law school in rural New York. Each year a small number of my students want to stay in our lovely hamlet to practice law after graduation. Without contacts among local lawyers I couldn’t serve their needs as well as I wanted to. In small communities, if you want to find a job, you’ve got to know people.

So, I went to breakfast. I listened to the pitch. I ate luke-warm eggs. Nothing. Then, I just happened to meet the right person at the right time. On the sidewalk outside the restaurant, I struck up a conversation with a young woman attorney working for a local firm. “Ah ha!” I thought. “This is exactly the kind of person I’d like to get to know.” I quickly realized that helping to start this new organization would connect me to the very people I had been yearning to meet. So, after 20 minutes of chatting in the October sunshine, we’d decided to start a new bar association.

And, to make a long story short: we did. Six months after our initial meeting, the Finger Lakes Women’s Bar Association was born. I am, to this day, continuously surprised at our success. Our little chapter grew from 25 to 60 members in a year. (In fact, although we are a women’s bar association, we are open to all and quite proud of our sole male member.) We have held meetings, social events and continuing legal education courses. Our members have learned of the sacrifices of the suffragettes, listened to the wisdom of an early NOW president, and come up to speed on the continued struggle for women’s equality in the world of college sports.

And because our bar association is a chapter of the state-wide women’s bar, we have also witnessed the immense power that women, singly and collectively, can have. At the state-level, WBASNY (yes, it is an ungainly acronym) gives voice to the needs of women, children and families before the New York State Legislature. With a paid lobbyist and very committed volunteer members, our organization analyzes legislation pending in Albany and advocates for those bills which will best serve the people of New York, especially those people who are women, children or members of families.

This is all very nice, but get back to the original question: so, why a women’s bar association? Don’t co-ed bars do the same things? Well, yes and no.

'Dear Sisters, Dear Daughters' - A New Mentorship Publication from the Multicultural Women Attorney Network

Erin — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 13:11:02 -0500

The ABA's Multicultural Women Attorney Network has published an exciting and unique new work to address the limited mentoring opportunities between multicultural women. Entitled 'Dear Sisters, Dear Daughters: Words of Wisdom from Multicultural Women Attorneys Who've Been There and Done That,' this publication is a compilation of letters from multicultural women attorneys who graduated from law school more than a decade ago.

These letters are directed at young women lawyers and law students, offering advice of a variety of topics including building a practice, raising children as a professional woman, overcoming stereotypes, building bridges with women of color, and directing one's own career. The diversity of topics covered is matched by the degree of diversity amongst the contributors themselves - some are still practicing, some are retired; some are mothers, some are not; some are members of the judiciary, some are academics. All are inspirational figures for women in the law.

Mablean Pehriam, Judge on Divorce Court for Fox Television, commented on this publication: "Every woman benefit from reading these letters. They speak of both our struggles and triumphs...As you read these pages, I hope that you too will be inspired, as I was to continue the struggle for justice and equality, using the law as a tool for change."

For more information on 'Dear Sisters, Dear Daughters: Words of Wisdom from Multicultural Women Attorneys Who've Been There and Done That.' visit:

http://www.abanet.org/minorities/mwan/dsdd.html

DirectWomen Board Institute trains senior attorneys to serve on corporate boards

Anna — Sat, 9 Feb 2008 10:55:02 -0600

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!

Should we pay lawyers to mentor their successors?

Anna — Thu, 7 Feb 2008 09:17:20 -0600

Woke up this morning to an article claiming that "Senior Partners Press Firms to Pay Them to Train Their Successors." Details in the article suggest that this is mainly an issue of client retention (about the time it takes to smoothly hand over ongoing work). If it is an issue at all, that is--the report cites not a single specific firm or partner as evidence of the trend. Setting that aside, the headline got me thinking: should we pay lawyers to mentor their successors? Do any employers do this already? To what could such compensation be pegged?

[More after the jump]

Social networking for women NGO activists and their clients

Anna — Tue, 5 Feb 2008 00:07:09 -0600

PulseWire is in beta testing, open for women who are working in the fields of human trafficking, HIV/AIDS, and water sustainability. Could that be you?

[More after the jump]

Does earning a biglaw salary mean that there is no room for my voice in the discussion on work/life balance?

Peg — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 00:41:07 -0600

I had the chance today to engage some law firm partners and others in a discussion about worklife balance. The focus of the discussion was whether or not law firm management should listen to the concerns of law students and young associates when determining business practices and trying to attract and retain women attorneys.

A funny thing happened. The partners kept bringing the discussion back to the fact that I, and others like me, now earn(ed) $160,000 as first year associates at big law firms. When I said to one person that I wasn't talking about money and that I didn't understand why the conversation had to keep returning to that issue she said to me, "it is what it is, associates make decisions about where to work based on money."

Advice from the Author of "Ending the Gauntlet"

Elizabeth — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 12:08:11 -0600

Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly published an interesting interview with Lauren Stiller Rikleen, the author of Ending the Gauntlet: Removing Barriers to Women's Success in the Law. There's an interesting review of the book on Ms. JD here. To research her book, Rikleen, through interviews and research, identified many "misconceptions women have about work." The main misconception seems to be that women think "if they just come in, close their door, work hard and leave at the end of the day, that as long as they're doing good work, they will succeed." However, Rikleen maintains that success is about more than good work and that "doing good work is the baseline, the starting point; it's not the end point."

So what's the second step?

Southern Ms. Part III: Networking

jessie — Sun, 6 Jan 2008 14:05:27 -0600

This week the female clerks in my building are gathering for our second "Wine on Wednesday." Wednesday was chosen because that's when the male clerks in the building hold practice for their all-male basketball league.