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Another Book You Can Skip—Full Disclosure: the new lawyer’s must-read career guide
By K Hernan • July 16, 2008 •Other Career Issues
Sorry to report that I have wasted my money on another lawyer career guide that wasn't worth it. This book full disclosure: the new lawyer's must-read career guide is just not good. One the cover it says "An indispensible mentoring guide for young lawyers and those about to enter the practice of law". That statement couldn't be more wrong. First, the book is very dispensible. In fact, the information offered by this book is dispensed by every would-be career counselor and advice-giver out there; it is information you can generally glean from life's experiences if you are even a little…
Women Supervisors: The Danger of Micromanaging
By lawblogger • June 22, 2008 •Other Career Issues
Lately, I’ve started to wonder if women are more likely to be ineffective managers than men. I think, after mulling it over for a few days, that women (who we already know have to work harder to get into positions of power) might have perfectionist complexes that go past the objective and into the subjective, which might make them difficult to work under. For example, I have a friend who has been complaining to me about his boss (a woman). He says that she likes to be kept “in the loop” on everything he does, including minor emails, and that…
Seeking A Just Balance: Law Students Weigh In On Work and Family
By Caroline Conway • June 15, 2008 •Other Career Issues
A Better Balance: The Work & Family Legal Center is publishing a study, Seeking A Just Balance: Law Students Weigh In On Work and Family. The study is a survey of NYU law students and their expectations around work/life balance. Generation-Y lawyers – American men and women born between 1978 and 1998 – are extremely worried about these issues and are willing to trade money for time. The demand for work/life balance is greater among both men and women than in the past. Family life is a high priority for today’s young attorneys, and they do not want to make…
Why Do We Need Women’s Bar Associations?
By Elizabeth Peck • May 02, 2008 •Other Career Issues
Elizabeth K. Peck is President and Co-Founder of the Finger Lakes Women’s Bar Association and the Director of Career Services at Cornell Law School in Ithaca, NY Why Do We Need Women’s Bar Associations?I asked myself this very question 18 months ago. Back in October of 2006, along with 300 other women attorneys in my area, I was invited to breakfast by the Women’s Bar Association of the State of New York (WBASNY) to discuss starting a new chapter of the organization. Honestly, I had no interest then in a “specialty bar.” What I did have, however, was interest in meeting…
Trading SAHM for SWAT?
By Yes, Virginia • April 30, 2008 •Other Career Issues
There's a new article by Sue Shellenbarger in the Wall Street Journal that highlights an interesting trend:The decision among some highly educated women to stay home with children is sparking a countertrend: The rise of the mommy "SWAT team." The acronym, for "smart women with available time," is one mother's label for all-mom teams assembled quickly through networking and staffing firms to handle crash projects. Employers get lots of voltage, cheap, while the women get a skills update and a taste of the professional challenges they miss. This article seems mostly applicable to the MBA crowd, but similar things are…
Is Tattling On Yourself Admirable or Stupid?
By sintecho • April 19, 2008 •Other Career Issues
The other day, I made a mistake at work. It was the kind of mistake that my boss may or may not have ever noticed, the kind of mistake that doesn't have far-reaching consequences but is nonetheless wrong. Also important to note is that this was the kind of mistake that was already out there, and there was nothing anyone could do to change it or somehow make it less of an error. When I realized I'd made the mistake, I decided to email my boss right away and tell him what I'd done. He wrote back and acknowledged that…
Must Read: ABA Commission on Women - Oral Histories of Women Trailblazers in the Law
By jessie kornberg • April 09, 2008 •Other Career Issues
The ABA Commission on Women has compiled the testimonials of 17 remarkable women, including Professor Barbara Babcock and Judge Dorothy Nelson - both Ms. JD contributors, and Judge Betty Weinberg Ellerin - one of this year's Honored Guests at Ms. JD's Student Leadership Summit closing banquet. The transcripts make for a long but inspiring read, repleat with colorful anecdotes about the barriers to early women lawyers.
Women Blaming Women for Lack of Work/Life Balance
By lawblogger • March 23, 2008 •Other Career Issues
I was shocked to read Monique Doyle Spencer's article in the Boston Globe, Working women, where did we go so wrong? The title should give you an uh-oh feeling, but I was completely unprepared for Doyle's topic sentence: "I think we women ruined the workplace." In a nutshell, her argument is that wolmen responded to their opportunities to finally work in high-power jobs by working harder than their male counterparts without demanding salary increases when, according to Doyle, they should have worked the same hours as men and demanded equal pay. Consequently, her argument goes, women blew an opportunity to…
Is Long Hair Unprofessional?
By sintecho • March 19, 2008 •Other Career Issues
I'm not alone in wondering whether chopping your hair off is a prerequisite for a woman's success. From politicians like Hillary Clinton, Elizabeth Dole, and Nancy Pelosi to well-known litigators like Jamie Gorelich, Sheila Birnbaum, Amy Schulman, and Maureen Mahoney, short hair is the status quo. Does it have to be that way? I like my long hair. I've always received compliments on it; I like having the option to curl it or straighten it or put it up; and, I admit it, my long hair makes me feel feminine and attractive. But, is it holding me back?Susan Ehrlich Martin…