Leadership, Power, and Politics: How Can You Obtain the Power to Shape Action in Your Organization?

Law firms, governmental agencies, law schools, corporations, not-for-profit agencies, industry groups, and small businesses are organizations. Organizations are systems of government; they are “intrinsically political,” says Gareth Morgan in his classic book, Images of Organization. What does this mean for you?

The Skills for Leading in the Current Legal Landscape Are ...

Any woman who graduated from law school and passed a bar exam is capable of developing all the necessary skills to lead her organization. Do not let anyone tell you otherwise. Do not buy-in to the idea that you need charisma or a particular temperament. Do not let anyone convince you that you must be magically endowed with the right leadership traits or style. Good leadership flows from continually learning and refining the right set of skills for the unique context of your law firm, practice group, in-house law department, law school, or other legal organization.

Leadership is a process with three components: leader(s), follower(s), and goal(s). Leadership is goal-driven. Simply put, leadership skills are what enable leaders to identify the right goals and then develop and implement action plans to achieve those goals.

In my last post, I explained why women lawyers have an inherent leadership advantage for today’s legal landscape. It’s a complex landscape. The best way to lead in the face of complexity is with elegant simplicity. Here it is. There are only four skills that you need to worry about. I’m going to identify the four skills (other than the obvious need for technical excellence as a lawyer) and explain them. Let’s begin.

Skill #1: Identifying Goals

Goals fall into two categories. There are goals, which are necessary to solve problems and goals, which are intended to cause growth. An easy to understand and quite useful process for identifying goals is the B-school SWOT analysis. A leader must be able to think about her group, organization, system, and herself and be a first-class noticer of
internal Strengths and Weaknesses and external Threats and Opportunities. She must then be able to analyze the circumstances and decide upon and implement an action plan.

Is there a weakness that needs a solution? Is there a threat that is really an opportunity in need of innovation? Regardless of the type of goal, an action plan is the series of steps; which, if chosen appropriately and executed properly, leads to an intended goal. As you should have guessed, if they teach this in Business School then you, too, can learn this skill and with practice, hone it.

It’s helpful to have diversity of perspective to improve the process of noticing problems and opportunities and diversity of thinking to improve analysis and decision-making. Diversity rests in diverse groups, not in individuals. This brings us to the next leadership skill.

After the jump tips on leading diverse groups, understanding system dynamics, and leading through shared learning...

Submit Your Questions for "Ask Ms. JD"

Don't forget to submit your questions for the new "Ask Ms. JD" monthly series!

Starting in February, the board members and staff of Ms. JD will answer questions submitted by Ms. JD readers that we have selected as being relevant to the Ms. JD audience.

To submit a question, please e-mail staff@ms-jd.org. (When we reproduce the question, we will not identify the source.)

Ask Ms. JD: A New Monthly Series

Welcome to the inaugural post for the new "Ask Ms. JD" monthly series!

Starting in February, the board members and staff of Ms. JD will answer questions submitted by Ms. JD readers that we have selected as being relevant to the Ms. JD audience.

To submit a question, please e-mail staff@ms-jd.org. (When we reproduce the question, we will not identify the source.)

NYC Bar's 2009 Diversity Benchmarking Report

The New York City Bar has released its 2009 Diversity Benchmarking Report. The report tracks diversity within the 94 law firms that signed on to a Statement of Diversity Principles in 2004. In an article in their newsletter about the report, the City Bar has framed the results as surprising given the economic downturn:

In a 'jobless recovery,' it is often those at the bottom of the power pyramid who are hurt first – through cut hours, cut paychecks, and layoffs.  In New York City law firms, that bottom rung is the most diverse, with greater representation of women and minorities than at the top levels of legal practice.

* * * *

While still underrepresented, the numbers of women, minorities, openly gay, and disabled attorneys practicing in New York have continued to grow. Though not increasing dramatically, gains have "stayed the course" and did not diminish or reverse.

Some stats from the report, as summarized in the article, include:

• "While the overall number of women attorneys at the NYC firms has risen only one percent since 2004--from 35% to 36%--there has been a sharp increase in promotions of women to partner.  The incoming class of partners in 2009 was 33% female, compared to 21% in 2004."
• "Women attorneys represent 45.2% of associates, and only 17.8% of partners."
• " For 2008, the overall voluntary turnover rate was 37% higher for women than men . . ."

As 2009 Draws to a Close, Please Consider Making a Contribution to Ms. JD!

Ms. JD is a charitable 501(c)3, which means donations to Ms. JD are tax deductible. Contributions to Ms. JD fund our website, student scholarships, bias education and training, student chapters, conference and research on women in law. Ms. JD provides these services to law students and attorneys around the country without membership dues or registration fees. We rely solely on our donors to make these programs and content available.

Please support Ms. JD's continued efforts to advance women in the legal profession. We have important and exciting work to do in 2010 and we need all the help we can get. It's not an exaggeration to say that ever dollar makes a difference. We have thousands of visitors to the blog every day. If each of you donated $5 it would pay for a representative from each of our law school chapters to attend our next leadership conference. If each of you donated $10 it would fund ten new public interest scholarships for women law students. 

Every day Ms. JD is changing the face of the legal profession, highlighting the achievements of women in the law and fostering future success stories. Help us make that change. 

Donations may be made by credit card through the Network for Good or by check to Ms. JD (please send to the attention of Karen Hernandez, 1068 Barona Rd, Lakeside, CA 92040). Thank you so much for your support!

The Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Distinguished Lecture on Women and the Law

Last week, the New York City Bar Association hosted the Annual Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Distinguished Lecture on Women and the Law. The bar association founded the lecture series in 2000 to honor Justice Ginsburg's commitment to advancing women's rights. This year's lecture was delivered by Melanne Verveer, the newly appointed Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues. The ambassadorship was created earlier this year, making Verveer the director of the Department of State’s new Office on Global Women’s Issues.

Justice Ginsburg introduced Ambassador Verveer, highlighting the importance of the Ambassador's agenda in helping women around the world develop their talents "without artificial constraints." Ambassador Verveer took the podium to discuss where we have been and where we are going with advancing women's rights around the world. She looked back to the UN's Fourth World Conference on Women, which was held in Beijing in 1995.  Then-Fist Lady Hillary Clinton delivered the keynote address, including the famous line "human rights are women's rights.... And women's rights are human rights." Next March marks the fifteen-year anniversary of the Beijing agenda and brings renewed attention to women's issues across the globe.

Working with Men to Advance Women in the Profession

Editor's Note: Ms. JD's annual conference, Avenues to Advancement, was held November 20-21 in Chicago. These are notes from the "Working with Men to Advance Women in the Profession" panel.  

Michael Morkin, a partner at Baker & McKenzie, noted that when he told his children that he was coming to speak on this panel, his 13-year-old daughter didn't understand the need for a conference focused specifically on helping women advance in the profession, which led him to hope that perhaps for the next generation, gender won't play a role in advancement within the profession.  All the panelists shared Morkin's enthusiasm for this future, and all agreed that seeking mentoring and recognizing that law firms are businesses are key to success within the firm culture. 

The panelists' tips included learning the nature of the business in your particular practice area, participating in internal social networks, asking for feedback from supervisors, speaking up to get assignments, and being active in seeking out the kinds of experiences you want at the firm.  Ronald Green, Co-Founder of Epstein Becker & Green, advised that building a strong reputation in your firm by being responsive, eager, and hardworking--the first hand to go up to volunteer for assignments and the "shoulders that carry the burden"--will put you in a good position to advance within the firm.  Lee Miller, Joint Chief Executive Officer from DLA Piper, cautioned against being reactive in your career, noting the importance of being proactive and building personality skills to communicate and build rapport with others inside and outside the firm.  Gus Siller, a partner at Brinks Hofer Gilson & Lione, suggested that networking is vital to bring in new business and also to build the relationships necessary to keep old business, which is important because the people who have real power within a firm are those who can bring in business.

2010 Writers in Residence

Ms. JD will continue to accept applications for the 2010 Writers in Residence Program through December 31, 2009:

Do you feel your creative spirit fading as you work tirelessly to perfect your legal writing skills?  Do you miss composing prose that is not in the passive voice or that does not require bluebooking?  Would you like to  share your experiences as women entering the legal profession?

Ms. JD is currently seeking law students and young professionals to serve as 2010 Ms. JD Writers in Residence.

The Writers in Residence program will consist of a small group of columnists who will provide monthly articles on a selected topic. Perhaps you can give monthly advice on applying for clerkships, balancing law school and motherhood, or on the joys (and frustrations) of studying for the bar. Maybe you are a fashionista, who can provide monthly tips on what (not) to wear in the courtroom, to an interview, or to the office. Or, maybe you would like to interview a successful women lawyer each month, seeking advice for young women lawyers and law students (what a fantastic way to network with women attorneys in your area!).

Suit Filed against the National Conference of Bar Examiners over Testing Accommodations

Stephanie Enyart is a 2009 graduate of UCLA School of Law. We introduced Ms. JD readers to Stephanie last year, after the ABA Student Division's magazine featured a story about her experience as a legally blind law school student and her role in founding the National Association of Law Students with Disabilities. In law school, Stephanie used software programs that scanned written material and read it aloud while reproducing the text in a magnified visual format. She uses the same blend of software in her current position as a clerk with the Disability Rights Advocates, a nonprofit organization in Berkeley, California. 

Like most recent graduates, Stephanie is ready to take the bar exam. While the California Bar Examiners agreed to accommodate Stephanie with the software she has used in the past, the National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE), which controls the type of accommodations that states may offer during the multistate portion of the exam, has refused to provide her with that software. The NCBE has offered her the option of using a screen reader, the accommodation provided to all blind test takers, but will not offer the software with the screen magnification that Stephanie is accustomed to using.

A lawsuit was filed on her behalf in the Northern District of California last week.