Learning to be a Lawyer?
By Wallflower • March 16, 2007 •Curriculum and Classroom Dynamics
(Part one of a two-part post. The second post can be found here.) Think back to the first days of your second year of law school. In your first year, you covered the basics of civil procedure, property, torts, and contracts; in your second year, you’re ready to buckle down and learn how to practice in areas of interest to you. You know how to brief a case; you know how to spot issues. Now that you know how to discern legal problems from fact patterns, isn’t it time to learn how to deal with such problems, how to file…
Sex Discrimination at Hair Salons
By Piper Hoffman • March 16, 2007 •Issues, Sexism, Sexual Harassment, and Other Forms of Discrimination
Sex discrimination is alive and well at your local hair salon. Walk in and look at the price list on the wall: "Women, $30. Men, $22." You might think there must be an explanation -- maybe women with short hair are only charged $22, for instance. Nope. I have walked into countless salons and tried to give them an out: what if I don't get a blow-dry? What if my hair is shorter than most men's? But time and again, they shake their heads. Women pay more than men, just because they are women. This is against the law. Besides…
The Honorable Sandra L. Lynch: First Woman Appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit
By Sandra L. Lynch • March 15, 2007 •First Women
The Honorable Sandra L. Lynch, Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit since 1995, is a graduate of Wellesley College and the Boston University Law School where she was Articles Editor of the Law Review. After clerking for Judge Raymond J. Pettine of the U.S. District Court for Rhode Island, Judge Lynch practiced law as an Assistant Attorney General of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as General Counsel to the Massachusetts Department of Education, then in private practice at Foley, Hoag and Eliot in Boston, where she was head of the Litigation Department and handled complex…
The Importance of Planning A Career: It’s Never Too Soon to Start
By CarolynElefant • March 15, 2007 •Firms and the Private Sector
I wrote this article about a year ago, entitled "Treating Family Like Business." I believe that it provides useful advice for young female attorneys embarking on their careers. Best of luck with your project and as Cornell Law School alum (Class of 1988), I'm glad to see that you've got a Cornellian on board. http://www.law.com/jsp/law/careercenter/lawArticleCareerCenter.jsp?id=1135332310801 Carolyn Elefant
Laina: A Legal Secretary’s View of Women in Law
By Jordana Lewis • March 15, 2007 •Other Career Issues
Only the truly fussy would dare complain about my office. Not the law firm, not the partners, not the other summers, but the office itself. My 15th floor window overlooks miles of Southern California sprawl (and one particularly tempting turquoise swimming pool), the leather chair swivels, the ergonometric keyboard supports my wrists, the speakers pump my iTunes, and the air conditioning is perfectly calibrated to combat the afternoon sunshine. But I have no privacy. If I sit at my computer with the door open, and if my assistant Laina sits at her computer in her cubicle, her line of site…
Wanted for Judicial Clerkships: Women with More Law Review Credentials
By Milan D. Smith Jr • March 14, 2007 •Internships and Clerkships
My eldest daughter, Tiffany Smith, who is now a third year law student at the University of Utah, recently alerted me to the formation of Ms. JD and its mission. I write to share some of my recent personal experiences and to applaud your efforts. I was confirmed by the United States Senate on May 16, 2006 as United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and took my oath of office on June 30, 2006. The oath was administered to me by Chief Judge Mary M. Schroeder, who, herself, was given a…
Professor Judith T. Younger, First Woman
By Judith T. Younger • March 13, 2007 •First Women
I’m delighted to be here in such distinguished company. I’m not sure that being a “first” is really as notable as being a “best” but in the spirit of this endeavor, I will admit to being the first woman dean of Syracuse College of Law. I may have been the first woman dean of a law school in New York State as well. I’m pretty sure that I was the first dean of any sex whose resignation from the deanship was covered on the front page of The New York Times. (N.Y. Times, April 8, 1975). I resigned because I…
Waste Not, Want Not?
By jessie kornberg • March 13, 2007 •Balancing Private and Professional Life
One of my female law professors told me that out of her group of female friends from law school (Harvard, Class of 1996), she’s the only one still working. At first I was just depressed. I mean why am I busting my butt when chances are I’ll probably just abandon the law in ten years time? My second reaction was to be pissed—not at social forces or institutions that influence these women’s life choices, but at these women! These women were gobbling up precious spots at Harvard Law School, which could have gone to other women who actually planned to…
Be Open to Change
By Deborah R. Schwarzer • March 13, 2007 •Guest Bloggers and Profiles of Women in the Law
By Deborah R. Schwarzer, Of Counsel, GCA Law Partners LLP I’m reluctantly realizing that I’m ancient. But with age comes history, experience and, with luck, perspective. When I attended the University of Chicago Law School in the early 80’s, women made up about 30% of the class. We weren’t pioneers; those in earlier classes served in that role. We weren’t all alike. And we didn’t have to wear those horrible blouses with the gigantic self-bows that women just a few years back had had to wear (I have incriminating pictures of my sister, also a J.D., in one of those).…