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Sports Law Resources - On the Field: Women in Sports Law
By Tatum Wheeler • October 28, 2018 •Ms. JD, Writers in Residence, Careers, Firms and the Private Sector, Law School, Issues, Women and Law in the Media
My Fellow Sports Law Enthusiasts: In doing research for this column and talking to sports lawyers, fellow students, and my career counselor, I've come across some helpful resources for those interested in SportsLaw. Here, I've compiled those resources, as well as a brief summary of what they provide. Industry Insights Leveling the Playing Field podcast hosted by Bobbi-Sue Doyle-Hazard provides in-depth interviews with women in the sports law industry, including upper-level management, CEOs, and journalists. The Players' Tribune: Online media platform with articles and videos that focuses on athlete-created content. Uniquely presents issues from the athletes' perspective. The White Bronco: Written by a team…
First Generation Success Story: When Life Gets In The Way
By Shirlene Armstrong • October 27, 2018 •Writers in Residence, Issues, Balancing Private and Professional Life
I want to address a very important topic that doesn’t always seem to correlate with law school: life. Despite popular belief, life continues on even when you enter law school. Your personal life does not cease to exist outside of the law school. People grow, things change, and life-altering events still happen. However, as a law student, you are stuck inside the four walls of your school just trying to survive each week. It is very easy to put yourself in a ‘law school bubble’ in which you focus all your time and energy studying (believe me, it is…
Thank You For Attending LaddHer Up
By Janee • October 22, 2018 •Ms. JD, Conference, Careers, Firms and the Private Sector, Issues, Balancing Private and Professional Life, Mentoring and Networking
Thank You for Attending LaddHer Up With Ms. J.D. On October 18-19, 2018, Ms. JD brought over 30 women general counsel and 50 early career associates together at the Silverado Resort & Spa in Napa, California for its inaugural LaddHer Up retreat! LaddHer Up’s unique program provided great general counsel networking opportunities, interesting expert workshops, small group recreational activities and 2:1 career meet-ups where each general counsel informally provided career advice to associates. Avery Blank gave great advice on negotiating your career effectively during her "PowHer Up to Negotiate Your Career" discussion. There are many misconceptions about the…
Making My Own Path: A Woman in Private Criminal Defense
By Stefanie Murphy • October 18, 2018 •Careers, Firms and the Private Sector, Issues, Balancing Private and Professional Life
From an early age, I knew I wanted to go to law school, but not for the reason most people go. I wanted to go into law school to go into law enforcement and become a special agent. I was applying for jobs in while in law school and received an offer as a special agent in my second year, but turned down the job in order to finish law school. In my third year of law school, I met a private attorney and was asked if I wanted to work for his criminal defense law firm. I started off…
How to Deal with Microaggressions as a Female Attorney
By Claire Parsons • October 15, 2018 •Ms. JD, Writers in Residence, Issues, Sexism, Sexual Harassment, and Other Forms of Discrimination
“Are you the court reporter?” After 3 years of law school, 2 bar exams, and a little over 1 year of practice, that was the question I received upon arriving at a deposition I was set to defend. It also happens to be the same question many other female attorneys get at depositions. The question in my case was, I believe, an honest mistake. Yet, the frequency with which it and questions like it are asked suggests to me that it is not just a mistake. Indeed, I have also been asked whether I “work for” an attorney, I am…
In Praise of Lawyer Moms
By Susan Smith Blakely • October 11, 2018 •Issues, Balancing Private and Professional Life
I am a lawyer/mom. Although my children are grown now and have become lawyers themselves, the memories of struggles as a lawyer/mom are still very vivid for me --- as well as the joys and the successes. It is not an easy "row to hoe" as my own mom would have said. So, when I read several articles about another lawyer/mom, including one on Above the Law by Grover Cleveland, author of Swimming Lessons for Baby Sharks, I surely identified with it. I found, however, that my identification with Michelle Travis, the woman lawyer/professor of law/mom in these articles, ran deeper than…
What All Young Lawyers Want: Effective and Caring Mentors
By Susan Smith Blakely • October 11, 2018 •Issues, Mentoring and Networking
I just finished reading a memoir by one of my favorite writers, Dani Shapiro. Her book, Hourglass, is an exploration of relationships and how people interact and treat each other over the span of time. She is a wonderful writer, and I highly recommend her books to you. Hourglass explores what individuals need on the road to satisfaction, and it includes the following quote, "Be who you needed when you were younger." In my own writing and in many of my remarks to young lawyers and law firm leaders, I often say, "You cannot be who you cannot see." It makes the case…
Pushed & Pulled: The Kavanaugh Effect
By Katherine Macfarlane • September 30, 2018 •Writers in Residence, Careers, Legal Academia, Politics and Government, Issues, Balancing Private and Professional Life, Sexism, Sexual Harassment, and Other Forms of Discrimination
It was not an easy week, last week. I don’t have it in me to tell you how my disability affected my work, because though it certainly did, as it always does, I was pulled in multiple directions by something else. I was both teacher and witness, professor and person. It was not an easy week to be all of those things. It was not easy to decide what to do on the day of the hearings. Should I cancel class, encouraging my students to watch history unfold, a history that speaks to their future as members of the legal…
When School Districts Undermine Title IX - On the Field: Women in Sports Law
By Tatum Wheeler • September 28, 2018 •Ms. JD, Writers in Residence, Issues, Sexism, Sexual Harassment, and Other Forms of Discrimination, Women and Law in the Media, Other Issues
In my hometown’s backyard, some girls were momentarily robbed of their opportunity to pursue sports. With a budget deficit looming overhead, the Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) cut ten high school sports programs, affecting roughly 500 students. The sports include bowling, girls’ badminton, girls’ lacrosse, golf, boys’ volleyball, swimming, and wrestling. Such cuts affected nearly twice as many girls as boys. Following the announcement, lawyers such as Elizabeth Kristen, Director of the Legal Aid At Work’s Gender Equity & LGBT Rights Program, have been working on Title IX cases against OUSD. There has also been an outpouring…