Women lawyers: Use technology to achieve success

By Nicole Black--Vice President, MyCase

Many women lawyers ignore technology to their detriment. This, despite the fact that women lawyers are uniquely positioned to reap the benefits of emerging technologies, including cloud computing, virtual law practices, mobile tools and social media.

Unfortunately many women lawyers fail to appreciate that technology is a wonderful tool that makes it possible for them to successfully differentiate themselves, expand their networks, and compete in ways never before possible.

My goal is to change that and, through this monthly column, help women attorneys understand that it’s simply a matter of understanding and taking advantage of these new technologies. By doing so, women lawyers can effectively level the playing field. Of course, these new tools aren't a “magic bullet,” but they do provide women attorneys with powerful ways to gain a competitive edge and fashion legal careers that work best for them. For those reasons, women lawyers need to learn about it and use technology to their advantage.

A Primer on Being the Primary Earner

Mass media has trumpeted the conclusion of a market research study that young, single, childless, white women living in cities out-earn their male counterparts. Feminists would love to embrace the results, but, in fact, the analysis has many flaws, including the failure to account for educational differences. That hasn’t stopped The New York Times from characterizing this finding as a global "trend" and predicting large scale changes in gender roles.

Despite my skepticism about these conclusions, I want to offer a bit of advice to women who are the sole or primary breadwinner in a committed relationship. As a former Biglaw partner and general counsel of a Fortune 500 company, I’ve played that role — three times.

Based on my experience and those of my second wave feminist friends, I’ve concluded the key factors in the success of such a relationship are (i) the reason for the income disparity and (ii) how the primary earner regards the reason. Are you supporting a stay-at-home dad or mom, a day-trader or a would-be novelist?

A stay-at-home parent is clearly adding value to the family. But how will you feel when you come home after a week of 16-hour days and find your struggling artist playing Mario Kart as an antidote to writer’s block? That’s something only you can decide.

Best Friends at the Bar

The Unfortunate Truth about Women Lawyers and Emotional Stress

Life is not fair.  Women have to put on makeup, shave their legs, pay for tailoring at department stores, pay more for dry cleaning than men do.....and the beat goes on.  Women have been complaining about this for centuries.  Nothing new there.

But there is some news that you need to think about.  In fact, all of those issues above are trivial when compared to the healthcare issues and the disparities between men and women that have been discovered.

No one is shutting down facilities just because they provide important healthcare to men, but that very thing is happening to women's health clinics because of the debate on abortion that has become heightened in our national dialogue---in spite of the fact that those same facilities provide mammograms and other tests that are critical to women's healthcare and can be provided in those settings for women who cannot afford them and will not get them in other settings.

Supporting State Efforts to End Violence Against Women: Unconstitutional?

By Emily Martin, Vice President and General Counsel

Last week, the Senate voted to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act by a bipartisan vote, an important step forward for the many thousands of women who depend on its protections. But before we forget the Senate debate, we should note not only the surprising resistance the bill met there, but also the specific basis Mike Lee (R-Utah) offered for opposing it. Senator Lee, who sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee and whose views on the Constitution are thus particularly influential, implied that VAWA was unconstitutional.

Senator Lee objected to VAWA’s grants to state and local governments. VAWA provides funding for programs operated by courts, law enforcement, state agencies, local governments, and others, in order to address the needs of victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. In general, recipients must apply to receive these funds. Senator Lee asserted that somehow providing this funding to the state and local governments seeking it compromises states’ rights under the Constitution, because violent crime is regulated primarily by the states. “As a matter of constitutional policy,” Senator Lee stated, “Congress should not seek to impose rules and standards as conditions for federal funding in areas where the federal government lacks constitutional authority to regulate directly.” He also protested that “the strings that Congress attaches to federal funding in the VAWA reauthorization restrict each state’s ability to govern itself.”

Personal Branding Corner: Got Compassion?

If you know me, you know I can relate anything and everything to personal brand management.  This week's post is no exception.

I work with many business owners and CEOs on the topic of compassion. Sadly,  it seems the word does not have a place in business for many people.  Long ago, I realized the importance of compassion in business and realized that my business thrived as a result of it.

Compassion is simply a means by which we put ourselves in another's shoes and see the world through their eyes.   It may not always be a pretty view. In fact, the other party's view point may be completely foreign, hard to get to and even ludicrous at times.  As lawyers we don't always have a good image/perception for being compassionate. This poor personal brand hurts the profession.

Click HERE to read the rest.

Personal Branding Corner: Effective Personal Branding & Customer Service- Trader Joe's

I love to shop at Trader Joe's.  I find it makes me happy just thinking about going to that store.  And yes, I do spend money and deal with the parking headaches in their lots.  But I still go happily.  Not only that, every time the name, "Trader Joe's" comes up, I feel happy.

In personal brand management, we teach that everything is about the emotional quotient- what feeling do you drum up in us when we think about who you are so that we remember you and want to be around you, buy from you, etc? Trader Joe's clearly has that emotional quotient value mastered.

Click HERE to read the rest.

The Mother Law: Finding Common Ground

Driving my kids to school one day, I started daydreaming about trading in my Subaru Outback for a minivan. I surmised that in a minivan, my kids could sit in the rear seats - as far away from me as possible. That way, I would not have to hear them fight.

Usually excellent playmates, my kids become possessed as soon as they enter the car. My son discovers a sadistic joy in antagonizing his sister - intentionally hitting her, stealing her toys and mocking her. Younger and less equipped to respond, she screams. At that point, I try not to jump out of my seat or steer the car into a lamp post.  Oddly, my son, like me, is highly irritated by the piercing noise of her screams. Trust me, it is loud. In response, my son makes any kind of bizarre noise that is itself quite loud. Somehow, I know this pattern must be broken but instead, on that particular day, I imagined myself in a serene bubble at the front of the minivan oblivious to the commotion behind me.

Best Friends at the Bar: Young Women Lawyers and Peep-Toe Pumps

Editor's Note: Ms. JD is excited to announce that Susan Smith Blakely, author of Best Friends at the Bar, will be speaking at Ms. JD: She Leads on October 5, 2012. This post originally appeared on the Best Friends at the Bar blog on June 23, 2011.

I am feeling a bit frivolous today, so I think I will get on the bandwagon and discuss Peep-Toe Pumps.  What is the issue you wonder—-about Peep-Toe Pumps?  To ask that is to acknowledge that you skipped the summer of 2010 when law bloggers, including Viva Chen of The Careerist and David Lat of Above the Law, took shots at deciding whether Peep-Toe Pumps were appropriate for the office.  In the end, all seemed to agree that this particular foot gear was appropriate, although, by the time that consensus was reached, it is questionable whether anyone cared.

Arguendo: Find A Mentor!

Prior to starting law school, I received a handful of emails from campus organizations offering to pair me with a student mentor. I gratefully accepted several of these offers, but I had no idea how to maximize such a relationship. Still, I thought that having a student who was already familiar with the nuances of being a student and being at my school could only help.

You see, I am not a student who is attending law school because it's the family business. In fact, I had very little idea of what lawyers do. I must admit that I was part of the vast majority of Americans who could not define or name a tort. I also have no close family or friends to ask for advice about law school, so I took advantage of the opportunity to meet people in these positions.

After meeting my mentors, I began to realize the value of these relationships. Students, professors, and practitioners are all incredibly valuable resources in helping a first-year student navigate the complexities of starting a legal career. They also remind students of the larger picture that many of us lose focus on in the midst of reading and writing memos.

Ms. JD Celebrates: Birthday Wish List

Ms. JD is six! For six years, we have been providing relevant and exciting programs to women law students and attorneys. We have striven to support your experiences in the legal profession and to give voice to why it matters that women continue to overcome barriers to achieve gender parity in the profession.

Over the past six years, we have grown tremendously. We currently offer fellowships to law students, enable women in developing countries to pursue legal educations, award summer stipends to law students committed to working in the public interest, conduct original research, provide daily content on our blog, host an annual conference for women in the law, and so much more.

If Ms. JD has inspired you, offered you support, given you hope, or helped you connect, please consider making a birthday donation to the organization. The Ms. JD programs would not exist without our generous supporters and now is the perfect time to celebrate Ms. JD's victories!

Donate $6 and buy Ms. JD a slice of birthday cake

Donate $60 and buy Ms. JD a bouquet of birthday flowers

Donate $600 and buy Ms. JD a relaxing day at the spa

Donate $6000 and buy Ms. JD a Tiffany bracelet

Click HERE to donate to Ms. JD today! Contributions both affirm your dedication to promoting women legal professionals and law students and enable Ms. JD to pursue activities dedicated to achieving equality in the legal profession.