Mommie knows best?
By kirkebaby • April 04, 2007 •Other Career Issues
When we found out we were pregnant approximately one month after we were married and about four months before my husband was set to start his MBA in a different city than my job was located, I knew life would never be the same. I thought I always knew what I wanted: a career and a family. A perfect balance. I was going to be Martha Stewart by nights and weekends, and bad-ass corporate lawyer by day. I even chose to go in-house right out of law school, knowing my personal and family time was going to be a priority…
DeMANding Work: Is there a place for part-time?
By Jill Russell • April 03, 2007 •Issues, Balancing Private and Professional Life
This weekend I attended the Legally Female conference at Yale Law School. After hearing an amazing set of speakers and panelists and interacting with amazing women from across the country, I can't stop thinking about a question that was raised during one of the sessions. What is the limit of the part-time phenomenon? Can corporate litigators or criminal trial lawyers and others under huge time pressures really do their job effectively in a part-time situation? I guess the reason I keep thinking about this is because I just don't know. If there is a good answer, I haven't thought of…
Mentoring & Judging
By Peg Johnston • April 02, 2007 •Other Career Issues
I got started thinking about mentoring during one of the panels at the Ms. JD conference this weekend. I can't help but wonder why I've always seemed to have a hard time finding a mentor and holding onto her. Whenever I've been somebody's mentor it didn't pan out as I'd imagined either. In fact, the most successful mentor/mentee relationships that I've ever had have been with men. However, I recognize that finding a woman mentor is extremely important and that, someday, being a productive mentor to another woman will also crucial. The panelists at the particular session that I am…
Because Justice is a woman
By Anna Nelson • April 01, 2007 •Sexism, Sexual Harassment, and Other Forms of Discrimination
This is an adaptation of the speech I delivered at our Legally Female conference last weekend. If you are wondering what Ms. JD is (or should be) about, here is my take. You might have a different take. I hope you will share it with me! As you can see at the top of this website, the Ms. JD logo is a version of Lady Justice, and the watch-words of Ms. JD are "changing the face of the legal profession." [Continues after the jump]Lady Justice personifies grace and power, balancing her scales with a sword at the ready. Yet a…
Were You At Ms. JD’s National Launch?
By Mack Tastic • March 31, 2007 •Other Law School Issues
Ms. JD had its national launch at Yale Law School’s Legally Female Conference this Saturday, March 31. Were you there? If so, we would love to hear from you. Send us your thoughts, reactions, something that inspired you, or something you took issue with. But have no fear: if you were not at Legally Female, we still want to hear from you. We will be posting videos of the conference, so check out the amazing women who came and shared their stories, advice, and experiences.
Remarks at the conference “Legally Female: What does it mean to be Ms. JD?”
By Harold Hongju Koh • March 31, 2007 •Mentoring and Networking
Editor's Note: As part of Ms. JD's 5th Birthday celebration, we'll be looking back at our favorite posts over the years. Dean Harold Hongju Koh of Yale Law School opened the national conference entitled “Legally Female: Ms. JD” co-hosted by Yale Law Women at Yale Law School on March 31, 2007 with the following remarks. Four years later we're gearing up for another conference - have you registered yet? Welcome and Congratulations to Yale Law Women for all you have done to put today’s conference together. In the 1992 vice-presidential debate the third party candidate began by asking “Who am…
Two Articles of Interest
By Yes, Virginia • March 28, 2007 •Women and Law in the Media
Two articles came out this week that I thought were pretty interesting. The New York Times’ article, “Poor Behavior is Linked to Time in Day Care” sparks anger, guilt (note the title: “Am I Hurting My Child With Day Care?”),
Hi. I’m an addict.
By Yes, Virginia • March 27, 2007 •Balancing Private and Professional Life
Confession time: I’m an email addict. Seriously. I have five email addresses that I constantly check most days (it tends to die down a little between Friday afternoon and Sunday morning). I think I probably spend most of my “working time” composing and answering emails, particularly since I have gone far enough into my law school career to be somewhat indifferent to reading for class. By the end of the week, I’m so sick of emailing that I have even been able to overcome my long-standing, deeply-rooted aversion to the phone, and starting ringing people up. Most of what is…
The other women’s career
By Lena Graber • March 23, 2007 •Legal Academia
Reading many of these discussions about women dropping out of the legal profession, especially out of big firms, inspired me to look up statistics on women law professors, which as we know are only slightly easier to find than women Senators. If wanting to be a good mother is driving women out of legal practice, how does that explain the shameful dearth of female law professors, particularly tenured ones? An academic schedule seems much more conducive to having a family, and might, in theory, be more about intellectual achievement and less about the aggressiveness that we associate with large firms.…