Undercover: The Secret Lives of Women Supporting Women
By Erin Wiley • October 31, 2010 •Firms and the Private Sector
The first week of my law school career, I went to my school's 'Clubs Night' and signed up to be involved with the Women's Law Association. Thus began my involvement with women's affinity groups , and this involvement has not stopped since.I now work at a large New York law firm as a corporate lawyer. I have been a member of the women's affinity group at my firm since being a summer associate and I recently took on a role in the group's leadership. Our group is very active, hosting different networking, speaker and professional development events. My first meeting was wonderful, full of…
Canada’s First Woman Supreme Court Chief Justice, Beverley McLachlin, Celebrates Her Tenth Year as Top Judge
By Erin Wiley • January 29, 2010 •First Women
"I have always wanted to be known as a good jurist, as a serious jurist," said Canadian Supreme Court Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin in a recent interview with the Globe and Mail, marking her tenth year as top judge. It appears that she has, without a doubt, succeeded. McLachlin has presided over thousands of cases in a 29-year career on the bench. Lately, the Court has tackled difficult press freedom and free expression issues. And McLachlin still feels the pressue of making difficult decisions. "They are all really, really important issues at this level," she said. "One does ponder them,…
Getting Inside the Male Mind: Lessons from ‘The Male Factor,’ by Shaunti Feldhahn
By Erin Wiley • January 05, 2010 •Women and Law in the Media
In her new book 'The Male Factor: The Unwritten Rules, Misperceptions, and Secret Beliefs of Men in the Workplace,' author Shaunti Feldhahn asserts that in order for women to really get ahead in the workplace, they need to think like a man. In a recent interview with Canada's 'The Globe and Mail,' Feldhahn walks readers through the major points of her theory: 1. In fields that are still male-dominated, where men tend to be gatekeepers for upward career movements, there is a significant impact on women if they do not understand the internal male culture. 2. Women need to recognize…
‘The Mismeasure of Women’ - Joanne Lipman Advocates a Change in the Conversation About Women
By Erin Wiley • November 03, 2009 •Sexism, Sexual Harassment, and Other Forms of Discrimination
In her recent article for the New York Times, Joanne Lipman, a former deputy managing editor at The Wall Street Journal and founding editor in chief of Conde Nast Portfolio magazine, makes the case for re-assessing the way that we measure the progress of women. With the recent release of the Shriver Report, finding, among other things, that mothers are the major breadwinners in 40 percent of families, all indications point to the fact that women have truly made major advances. Lipman argues, however, that "women haven't come nearly as far as we would have predicted 25 years ago." She…
The Paradigm Shift of the Power-Lawyer Mom and the Stay-at-Home Dad: The American Lawyer Reports
By Erin Wiley • October 01, 2009 •Other Career Issues
The American Lawyer has reported on a major paradigm shift in some American families - the rise of the Power-Lawyer Mom and the Stay-at-Home Dad. With recent lawyoffs in the legal sector, layoffs that have hit men harder than women according to The American Lawyer statistics, many male former lawyers are opting to stay at home with the kids, allowing their wives to pursue their 'power' careers. For some women, however, this is not a new phenomena. For Barbara Becker, a partner at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, the arrangement makes sense because she knows the kids are taken care of,…
Getting More Women on Corporate Boards: The DirectWomen Board Institute
By Erin Wiley • September 30, 2009 •Firms and the Private Sector
In an effort to get more women on corporate boards, DirectWomen, an initiative by the American Bar Association's Business Law Section and the women's business group Catalyst, will be hosting the 2009 DirectWomen Board Institute on October 29-30, in New York City. This group is designed to help prepare women lawyers to serve on corporate boards. For more information about the DirectWomen Board Institute click here.
Creating a Cohesive Unit: Networking with Women Attorneys
By Erin Wiley • September 23, 2009 •Other Career Issues
In a recent 'The Press-Enterprise' article, attorney Laura Crane, founding member of the Inland Empire Legal Association of Women describes a particular problem for women lawyers that she has recently noticed. When she entered a courthouse, she noticed a few women lawyers among the crowd of male civil litigators. "It was not a good thing that I didn't know any of these women," said Crane, a real estate attorney based in the Ontario office of Best Best & Krieger. With so few women attorneys, "We should at least know one another." Another founding member of the association, and its first…
AmLaw - Bad Economy: A Boon for Women Lawyers?
By Erin Wiley • September 21, 2009 •Other Career Issues
Reporting on an event marking the 2009 edition of 'Working Mother' magazine's "50 Best Law Firms for Women," AmLaw Daily is questioning whether the recession has been a means to bring about change for women in the legal profession. AmLaw concludes: "It's optimistic to believe that most large law firms are rethinking the work/life balance equation during these hard times." The article then goes on to say: "From where we sit, covering women in the profession for almost a decade, we don't see a revolution on the horizon. That said, increasingly--albeit slowly--some women have been able to stake out a…
Ex-Big Firm Attorneys Open First Female and Minority-Owned Multi-Office Global Law Practice
By Erin Wiley • September 08, 2009 •Firms and the Private Sector
Two women lawyers have opened a U.S.-based, global law firm, Dziire & Bangudi, focusing on immigration law, international law and global business law. One of the women, Patrice Dziire, is American, and the other, Mayabanza Bangudi, is from Africa, lending diversity to the new firm's leadership. The two women, former DLA Piper colleagues, decided to open their own firm in order to be able to practice law in a manner that reflects to a greater degree their diverse experiences as mothers, internationalists, immigrants and young leaders. "The reason I wanted to start the firm was really to get back to…