One Blogger’s Viewpoint: Taking Generous Maternity Leave and Never Coming Back is Theft
By Katie Chaine • July 07, 2011 •Firms and the Private Sector
My firm, like many top law firms, offers extremely generous maternity benefits of 18 weeks paid leave! (I say "generous" because it was 6 weeks at my pre-law school employer.) Many associates take advantage of this. A junior associate in the business department of my office recently went out on maternity leave and the rumors in the office were almost immediate that she wasn't going to come back. When somebody would tell that to me I would ask how the person knew that and they always just said that it was something they "heard" or they "anticipated." I frequently told people that they…
Can you hear the stereotypes when they are verbalized?
By Katie Chaine • September 22, 2010 •Sexism, Sexual Harassment, and Other Forms of Discrimination
Ladies, I may very well be the most unenlightened feminist you'll ever meet. Some may think that I am deaf or dumb or both but I have seriously lived the past 15 years or so oblivious to the constant gender stereotyping that occurs in my current chosen profession or my last. I've always said that I've lived my professional life as a man and I pride myself on a (perhaps naive) view that my professional success has absolutely nothing to do with my gender. Part of convincing myself of that fact has been married with convincing myself that my colleagues…
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…