Women Lawyers Must Retain the Law Profession’s Foundational Values
By Susan Smith Blakely • January 15, 2019 •Careers, Firms and the Private Sector
In case you missed my recent article in the ABA Journal, I am including some of it here. The content is very important to all women lawyers as women rise in the profession to levels of supervision and management. They must be cheerleaders for each other, and they must not give into temptation to right the sins of the past leveled by male practitioners against women in the profession. To do so would be to unwise and shortsighted. Here is some of what I wrote in the ABA Journal article: The senior women need to remember the words of former U.S. Secretary of…
Be Aware of Warning Signs of Instability in Young Lawyers
By Susan Smith Blakely • November 15, 2018 •Careers, Firms and the Private Sector
The facts shared this week in an open letter from the widow of a Sidley lawyer were shocking and heartbreaking. The suicide of a 42-year-old partner in the LA office raised many issues of our responsibilities as lawyers to our colleagues. It was discovered too late that this suicide victim suffered from a form of perfectionism that created so much pressure, anxiety and insecurity that the only way out seemed to be to take his own life. If those facts came as a complete shock to everyone around him, that would give those of us in the profession some relief. It…
LSAT Haters: Listen Up!
By Susan Smith Blakely • October 29, 2018 •Law School, Pre-Law
Everyone hates the LSAT, and that is the way we like it. Hating people is not good --- in fact it is very, very bad --- but hating tests is OK. So many former LSAT takers are very happy hating this ridiculous test (which only predicts success in the first semester of law school), and we want our bad memories left in tact. But, now we are told that the LSAT has a benefit beyond giving some people an edge toward law school acceptance. The benefit approach is just plain not fair or productive in the hating process. Here's the scoop. …
Women-Owned Law Firms As Practice Options
By Susan Smith Blakely • October 17, 2018 •Careers, Firms and the Private Sector
Have you considered the option of a women-owned law firm? Even if it is not appropriate for this time in your career, you should file the information away for a time when it might make more sense. I have written about women-owned law firms before, especially in my second book, Best Friends at the Bar: The New Balance for Today's Woman Lawyer(Wolters Kluwer/Aspen Publishers, 2012). In that book, I devoted part of the discussion about alternatives to traditional law firms to the concept of women-owned firms because I recognized the importance of that option to those women who found traditional law…
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…
What Do RBG and Millennial Lawyers Have in Common?
By Susan Smith Blakely • September 20, 2018 •Careers, Other Career Issues
RBG. You have to love her! And I do. I loved the documentary about her life, and I love how relevant she continues to be. I first saw Justice Ginsburg speak more than a decade ago when she was addressing an audience of law students and young lawyers. Yes, her scholarship and her role as a breaker of glass ceilings amazed me, but it did not stop there. Her sense of humor and her humble way of speaking was surprising for someone at her high perch, and it was heartwarming. She knows how to get attention without hitting the listener…
A Young Woman Lawyer Looks to the Past to Inform the Future
By Susan Smith Blakely • September 17, 2018 •Careers, Firms and the Private Sector
I have to share with you the story of a remarkable young woman lawyer. I do not know her, although I wish I did. It would be a pleasure and an honor. Lina Khan is the kind of dedicated and passionate young lawyer who, undoubtedly, will make her mark on this world. I read her story recently in an article in the New York Times, and it inspired me. Not because I know anything about anti-trust law. Not because I have a secret agenda involving busting monopolies. Just because I admire the intellectual journey and passion of this young woman. She is…
Women Lawyers Are Not Equal
By Susan Smith Blakely • September 05, 2018
Women lawyers are not equal — at least not in the private sector. Plain and simple. I know that you do not expect to hear this from me nor do you want to hear this from me, but it is true. Equality is defined as “the state of being equal, especially in status, rights, and opportunities.” If you compare private sector female lawyers to private sector male lawyers on issues of status and opportunities, you begin to see the inequality. (“Rights” are derived from constitutional law and legislation and are not addressed here. But, if you want a history of women’s rights in America,…