I: Introduction

During the uncertain times of World War II, Harvard University’s president was interviewed concerning the condition of the law school. He stated that it wasn’t bad as he had expected, given the war-time circumstances: “We have 75 students, and we haven’t had to admit any women.” [1]

One would think that the legal industry would have made giant strides towards remedying such primitive opinions. On the contrary, a recent Harvard Law survey of large corporate firms found that some male lawyers still drop pencils under boardroom tables as an excuse to look at women’s legs, and take clients to strip clubs where their female colleagues feel unwelcome. [2] Fortunately, not all firms tolerate such behavior. This article aims to examine the obstacles facing women and mothers in the field of corporate law, and what actions some firms are taking to alleviate their unique burdens. 

II: Is the Glass Ceiling Shatterproof?

Historically speaking, women have come a long way in the field of law. In 1975, large law firm populations were 85.6% male and graduating law school classes were 67% male. [4] In 2003, females made up 40% of the large law firm population, and women constituted 48.3% of graduating law school classes. [5] Women are more likely to work in the public sector for the government and the judiciary than their male counterparts. [6]  Even so, women that work in corporate law are more likely to leave private practice and less likely to become partners than men. [7] A 10-year study of first year associates from the classes of 1985 and 1986 revealed that 19% of the men made partner in 10 years, while only 8% of women made partner in the same period.  [8] In 2004, women constituted one-third of 8^th-year associates, but only one-fifth of that year's new partners. [9] Pay differences also reflect a gender disparity, as women are paid approximately 60% of men’s earnings. [10]

As it stands today, women comprise 44% of associates, and only 17% of all partners are women. [11] In recent years, women have had higher law school grades than men, on average. [12]  Studies have shown that discrimination towards women is no longer a significant factor in the hiring process; today, attrition is the real problem. [13]  Women are often penalized for devoting too much time to family. Such penalties include through lower salaries, slower promotions, or removal from the partnership track altogether. [14] Compounding that problem is the reality that societal conditioning has taught women not to ask assertively for what they want in a working world that has a preexisting bias against females, which further worsens their situation. [15]

When women wrestle with becoming the impossible – a combination of Super Mom-power attorney - the unfairness of being simultaneously a mother and a working attorney becomes apparent. Women are more likely than men to interrupt their careers to care for elderly parents, in-laws, and children. [16] Psychologically, women feel and tradition dictates that the burden of child rearing falls squarely on them. [17] Female attorneys must work harder to prove themselves than men to achieve an equivalent salary, and meeting the billable hour requirement is a daunting and sometimes insurmountable obstacle when raising a family. [18] The difference in societal attitudes towards women and men in the familial context becomes most apparent when children become a factor. A Women's Legal Defense Fund representative commented, "A woman who does less than everything for her child is seen as a terrible mother; a man who does more than nothing is praised as a wonderful father." [19] A prominent Washington, D.C., lawyer and 1960s graduate of Harvard Law describes the lives of her generation of women lawyers as: "We worked, we married, sometimes we divorced, we served our communities, had children, served their schools, tried to do it all, have it all, be it all; never forgetting, particularly, that we were supposed to be living greatly in the law, and that we were, in fact, just trying most of the time to stay alive." [20]

III: External Forces for Change

A. Legislation

Though women may walk a tougher road than their male counterparts, there are few law firms that dare to blatantly demonstrate their indifference to the plight of the female attorney. In today’s Title VII world, one will be hard pressed to find a law firm willing to test the litigious waters of obvious gender discrimination. For example, Dechert LLP was sued in 2000 for sex discrimination by one of their former partners after she returned from maternity leave. [21] The Pregnancy Discrimination Act, Title VII, and the Family and Medical Leave Act are all powerful weapons that a working mother can use in her arsenal against a discriminatory employer. [22]

               B. Market Forces

Not only is there governmental pressure for women to receive equal treatment regardless of decisions to have children, but large clients are increasingly putting the heat on firms to diversify their staff. [23] Wal-Mart, a company generating about $200 million of legal business annually, has stopped giving new business to some firms and withdrawn their business entirely from two others whose corporate teams did not meet their diversity standards. [24] Similarly, DuPont’s senior counsel stated that it “parted ways” with a firm that did not adequately support their diversity efforts. [25] Over 100 companies, including household names such as American Airlines, Boeing and General Motors, have signed a pledge to track and benchmark the numbers of minority partners and associates rising through the ranks of the law firms they employ. [26]  Some companies take it a step further, refusing to settle for a ‘beauty contest’ with ‘token lawyers’ on a working group, and insist on receiving billable hour reports for all lawyers, including minorities. [27]

            C. Female Clients

Women are also becoming a force to reckon with in the business-to-business arena, their legal services purchasing power skyrocketing along with the rates of growth for women-owned businesses. [28] More so than men, women business owners seek more long-term relationships with the law firms that they employ, and often demand that these firms employ women in high level positions. [29]  The National Association of Minority and Women Owned Law Firms, which advocates for those groups working in corporate law, hosted an expo late last year in which in-house counsels could interview the top minority and women-owned law firms nationwide. [30] As women continue to climb the corporate ladder in the business world, attorneys may have to update their client-wooing locales from sporting events and strip clubs to include spas and wine tastings.

IV: Changes From Within:

Many firms are mindful of the challenges faced by women in corporate law and have instituted programs to assist their progress and advancement within firms. [31] Additional initiatives designed specifically for working mothers in these forms take into account the countervailing pressures of motherhood and family life. [32] They recognize that to retain women’s talent, they must change their business strategy. [33]            

            A. Programs and Initiatives:

Networking, mentoring, retreats, and seminars on navigating law firm life as a working mother all help to create a more comfortable environment for women balancing their work and home lives. [34] For example, Nixon Peabody has instituted a formal mentoring program that requires that all young lawyers, regardless of gender, have one senior colleague to turn to. [35] Epstein Becker& Green, P.C. enjoys a 50% female attorney ratio, and 25% of its partners are women – one of the higher percentages in the industry. [36] A large percentage of their clients are high-level women general counsels, CFOs and CEOs. [37] The firm attributes part of their success to ‘professional women’ events such as wine, champagne and caviar tastings, self-defense and cooking classes, and golf clinics. [38] Chicago’s Sonnenschein, Nath & Rosenthal organized a trip to the Lincoln Park Zoo to allow a partner and the deputy counsel of Conoco Phillips to talk business while both women’s children played at the zoo. [39] Other Sonnenschein clients were also taken to such unorthodox locales as the Joffrey Ballet and a Madonna concert. [40]

Seminars held for women attorneys include tips and discussion groups on how to better manage their time, network, and develop business contacts. [41] Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney’s networking functions included an event which featured Republican Party’s Mary Matalin as a speaker.  [42] Others firms have professional development programs on speech and communication to help women level the male-oriented playing field of diction - to speak with more authority and confidence, without being overly aggressive. [43]

On-site daycare centers are also becoming popular within large law firms such as Arnold & Porter, whose Washington D.C. office’s daycare center stays open late and on weekends for their attorneys’ children. [44] Among unique initiatives for other large firms are breastfeeding lounges and summer child care that includes internships for support staff’s teens. [45]

            B. Work Time Flexibility

Telecommuting, flexible hours, and part time schedules are also helping women balance their equally demanding home and work lives.  Large law firms such as Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman and Covington & Burling have created programs where part time workers can still reach partner level, and have increased paid and nonpaid maternity leave benefits. [46] Attorneys at Dickstein Shapiro can reduce their hours to 50% or 80% of a standard work week, based on a 1,950 billable hour year; pay is prorated to the amount of hours worked. [47] If these attorneys work longer hours during a trial or deal closing, they can work fewer hours after the hectic time has passed. [48] Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom’s new maternity leave policy, FRM (Flexible Return from Maternity), allows attorneys to return to the firm in a reduced schedule. [49] New mothers and fathers can work shorter days for up to a year, coordinating with the firm to work out a flexible schedule – or they can switch to an indefinite part time schedule if they wish. [50] To ease separation anxiety, infants can be left with the child care center on the premises. [51] Weil, Gotshal & Manges’ press release in November of last year announced an unusual state of affairs – the majority of its partnership class for 2006 was female.[52] Two of those partners fall into the new category of “Flex-Time Partner,” which allows partners to work on a flexible schedule. [53] Allen & Overy provides maternity coaching support to help a new mother hand over her existing work to colleagues and to manage her return to the workplace at the end of her leave. [54] Another option that Allen & Overy provides is that of a 3-year career break, which pledges a best effort to rehire an employee at the same level at which they left.

V: Conclusion:

There is still much progress to be made on behalf of women in corporate law, but external forces and internal initiatives are combining to make the industry increasingly friendly and accommodating to women and mothers. Corporate law firms must assiduously monitor their newly implemented initiatives’ effectiveness, lest these programs become a short lived fad. [55]

Discouraging statistics on female promotion, salaries, and attrition may abound; however, one University of Michigan survey reveals an uplifting result: out of all the lawyers that graduated from that institution, it is women with children that rank highest in contentment. [56] The survey notes that these women are under constant pressure, but they are satisfied with how their lives have turned out. [57] The survey notes, "They enjoy their family lives. They enjoy their jobs. And to the extent each causes stress, each also provides respite from the other.” [58]

Endnotes:

[1] Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Associate Justice, Supreme Court of the United States, American Sociological Association Annual Meeting, (Aug. 11, 2006), available at: http://www.supremecourtus.gov/publicinfo/speeches/sp_08-11-06.html.

[2] Abdon M. Pallasch, Woman Laws, Chicago Sun-Times, Nov. 29, 2006, available at: http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/152912,CST-NWS-womenlaw29.article.

[3] Tina Liang, Mothers Need Not Apply: Obstacles Facing Women in the Hiring Process, U. Ill. J. Bus. L. Soc’y, Mar 6, 2007, http://iblsjournal.typepad.com/illinois_business_law_soc/2007/03/mothers_need_no.html.

[4] Diversity in Law Firms, U.S. Equal Emp.Opportunity Comm’n, Oct. 22, 2003, available at: http://www.eeoc.gov/stats/reports/diversitylaw/index.html. (hereinafter Diversity)

[5] Id.

[6] Id.

[7] Mary E. Corcoran & Mary C. Noonan, The Mommy Track and Partnership: Temporary Delay or Dead End?, 596 The Annals of Am. Acad. Pol. & Soc. Sci., 130, 130 (2004).

[8] Diversity, supra note 4.

[9] Elana Kagan, Dean, Harvard Law School, Leslie H. Arps Memorial Lecture at the Association of the Bar of the City of New York (Nov. 17, 2005), available at: http://www.law.harvard.edu/news/abnyspeech/.

[10] Id.

[11] Elizabeth Katz, Gender Influences Law Firm Hiring, Promotion, Sociology Professor Says, VA. L. News & Events, Feb. 17, 2006, available at: http://www.law.virginia.edu/html/news/2006_spr/gorman.htm.

[12] Id.

[13] Martin C. Daks, The Challenges Women Attorneys Still Face, 19 NJBiz 21, 1, May 22, 2006.

[14] Id.

[15] Joyce Gannon, Firms Teach Women Lawyers the Importance of Networking to Climbing Law Firm Ladders, Pitt. Post-Gazette, Oct. 18, 2006, available at: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06291/730772-28.stm.

[16] Id.

[17] The Honorable Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Remarks on Women's Progress in the Legal Profession in the United States, 33 Tulsa L.J. 13, 20 (1997).

[18] Lisa Elbecker, Arguing for Change: Rikleen Book Details Law Firms’ Failure in Helping Women Succeed, Telegram & Gazette, July 23, 2006, http://www.telegram.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060723/NEWS/607230462.

[19] Id.

[20] Id.

[21] Joanna Grossman, Pregnancy and Partnership: A Law Firm Partner’s Anti-Discrimination Suit, Findlaw, Dec. 19, 2000, http://writ.lp.findlaw.com/grossman/20001219.html.

[22] Id.

[23] Karen Donovan, Pushed by Clients, Law Firms Step Up Diversity Efforts, N.Y. Times, July 21, 2006, at C6, available at: http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/07/21/business/web.0721legal.php.

[24] Jonathan Birchall, Wal-Mart Presses Suppliers on Diversity, Fin. Times, Feb. 20, 2007 at 1.

[25] Donovan, supra note 20.

[26] Id.

[27] Id.

[28] Leslie A. Levin & Mary Mattis, Corporate and Academic Responses to Gender Diversity, Equal Opportunities Int’l, July 12, 2006 at 160.

[29] Id.

[30] Renuka Vishnubhakta, Minority, Women-Owned Firms: Hiring for Diversity, 29 Nat’l L. J. 15, 23 (2006).

[31] Wendy Davis & Lisa Pulitzer, More Than Just Talk: Law Firms Seek to Equip Women With Tools for Career Advancement, N.Y. L.J. Mag., Feb. 2007 at S14.

[32] Timothy L. O’Brien, Why Do So Few Women Reach the Top of Big Law Firms?, N.Y. Times, Mar. 9, 2006, available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/19/business/yourmoney/19law.html.

[33] Id.

[34] Davis & Pulitzer, supra note 31.

[35] Id.

[36] Epstein Becker & Green’s Women’s Initiative, Metro. Corp. Couns., May 2006 at 41.

[37] Id.

[38] Id.

[39] Abdon M. Pallasch, Woman Laws, Chicago Sun-Times, Nov. 29, 2006, available at: http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/152912,CST-NWS-womenlaw29.article.

[40] Id.

[41] Victoria Hurley-Schubert, Old-Girl Networks Reach Out to Extend a Hand, 20 NJBiz 4, 1, Jan. 22, 2007.

[42] Joyce Gannon, Firms Teach Women Lawyers the Importance of Networking to Climbing Law Firm Ladders, Pitt. Post-Gazette, Oct. 18, 2006, available at: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06291/730772-28.stm.

[43] Sally Rosenberg Romansky, Confident Communication Key to Success: Communication As a Strategy to Retain and Promote Women Attorneys, 12 Law Firm P’ship. & Benefits Rpt. 5 (2007).

[44] 100 Best Companies, Working Mother Mag., Oct. 2006, at http://www.parsintl.com/12274_elink.pdf.

[45] Molly Selvin, Career Moms Find New Ways to Make it Work, L.A. Times, Sept. 8, 2006; see also 100 Best Companies, Working Mother Mag., Oct. 2006, available at: http://www.workingmother.com/web?service=direct/1/ViewTopListingPage/dlinkCategory&sp=14&sp=77.

[46] Id.

[47] Wendy Davis & Lisa Pulitzer, More Than Just Talk: Law Firms Seek to Equip Women With Tools for Career Advancement, N.Y. L.J. Mag., Feb. 2007 at S14.

[48] Id.

[49] Id.

[50] Id.

[51] Id.

[52] Peter Lattman, Weil’s Partnership Class Has More Women Than Men: News?, The Wall Street Journal Online Law Blog, Nov. 27, 2006, http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2006/11/27/weils-partnership-class-has-more-women-than-men-is-this-news/.

[53] Id.

[54] Nikki Tait, Innovative Lawyers: Work/Life Issues are Hitting Home, Fin. Times Rpt. at 12, June 29, 2006.

[55] Donna Walter, Panel of Experts Tell Women Lawyers How to Conquer Gender Bias at Firms, Daily Rec. Kan. City, June 28, 2006.

[56] The Honorable Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Remarks on Women's Progress in the Legal Profession in the United States, 33 Tulsa L.J. 13, 20 (1997).

[57] David L. Chambers, Accommodation and Satisfaction: Women and Men Lawyers and the Balance of Work and Family, L. & SOC. INQUIRY 251, 282 (1989).

[58] Id.