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ACLU gains admission for women into private club [Clippings]
By jessie kornberg • March 03, 2008 •Mentoring and Networking
Salon.com reports that the ACLU has successfully argued for the admission of women into Mystic, California's influential German Social Society Frohsinn, Inc., a social networking organization. This hardly spells the end of gender exclusive provate clubs. In fact the more entrenched and traditional the exclusivity of an establishment is, the more likely it will be constitutionally protected. Still, this can only be good news for the future female business leaders of Mystic!
Does your firm offer in-house career counseling?
By Anna Nelson • February 08, 2008 •Mentoring and Networking
Recently I wrote about lawyer development, urging firms to invest as much in the success of their existing attorneys as they do in hooking new hires. Here's one way: some firms are retaining in-house career counselors for associates. Niraj Chokshi reports that a few firms are staffing these formal, permanent positions.The position, say firm development managers, offers associates a neutral and confidential third party to go to with questions: How do I stay on track to make partner? How do I better build my practice? How can I switch practices? How do I get out of here? There are a…
Should we pay lawyers to mentor their successors?
By Anna Nelson • February 07, 2008 •Mentoring and Networking
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]In…
Online Social Networking for Lawyers [Part 1]
By Anna Nelson • February 05, 2008 •Mentoring and Networking
1. Background--what's out there now.2. What lawyers--and women lawyers particularly--need from networks, and what limitations they have in building them (e.g. limited time!)3. ... ? Common Craft has a quick, video introduction to social networking, if you aren't sure what it is (for example, if you don't know much about Facebook and MySpace). LawLinkMs. JD National Network (practitioners and students)Ms. JD National Organization of Women Law Students (students)The universe of this stuff doesn't always get talked about together, but time and brain space are finite, so we only read/write/interact so much. Facebook and MySpace are usually mentioned in the same…
Finding a Good Mentor Requires a Strategy
By sintecho • November 24, 2007 •Mentoring and Networking
In Bend An Ear, Straighten Your Path, Ann Farmer offers tips on being a "proactive mentee." The idea is that mentorship is not something that you chance to happen upon but rather something that you actively seek out based on how they can "help you shape your career." Farmer profiles several young lawyers in her article who found successful mentoring relationships, and there was no one-size-fits-all recipe. Some women chose mentors with whom they shared similarities, some chose mentors with whom they would never have the opportunity to interact if not for the mentoring relationship. For some, the important thing…
Becoming the role model I always wanted
By Anonymous • October 18, 2007 •Mentoring and Networking
Communism came to an end in my native country of Albania when I was in first grade. I recall vividly all of the events that took place in my city. People came from all over the country and made their way to the port. Audacious men, women and children crowded ships to overcapacity to cross the Adriatic Sea, eager to reach Italy--many not surviving the journey. People looted stores and offices, while others held demonstrations no longer fearing imprisonment or being sent to work camps. At last, people felt what freedom was like after 50 years of enduring an oppressive…
A Shout Out to Los Angeles and the Amazing Group of Women Lawyers
By Katie Chaine • October 15, 2007 •Mentoring and Networking
I would just like to take a minute to draw some attention to a fabulous group of women attorneys in Los Angeles-- The Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles. This is one active group of women and the discussions and events that they host are really awesome.I joined WLALA when I was a law student and they had a formal mentoring relationship with my LA law school. I stayed a member for as long as I lived in LA. (Now, sadly I've moved out of LA so I don't get to take advantage of all of their resources). If you…
The Power of One
By Emily Snider • June 24, 2007 •Mentoring and Networking
The more experience I had consciously trying to "change" things, the more I realized that in order to affect big changes, a person simply needs to take individual action. My individual action, I decided, was to become a lawyer.I think a lot of women learn from their mothers how to behave in the world. Sometimes we learn from talking, sometimes from just watching. My mother was a woman who made her own decisions. She didn't make a big fuss about something before she did it. She would think about something, make a decision, and act. When I was in the…
Steps
By Anonymous • June 24, 2007 •Mentoring and Networking
Though the challenges facing women in the legal field today seem overwhelming, countless women have paved the way. I think of former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor and current Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. I think of Senator and presidential contender Hillary Clinton. I think of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.There are many challenges facing women in the legal field today. For example, a recent study has found that women lawyers in general receive on average 80% of the salary received by men who are equal to them in seniority. Like many other women in other fields, women in the…