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Susan Smith Blakely

PLI Webinar

“Overcoming the Challenges for Women

Lawyers”

March 30, 2016

Today I Will Talk About:

S The Grim Retention Statistics for Women in the Law;

S Why women leave and why law firms should care;

S The responsibility of law firm leaders to provide

effective leadership and contribute to the solutions for

women lawyers;

S What constitutes effective leadership for women

lawyers; and

S What women lawyers must do to remain in the

profession and advance to leadership positions.

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About Susan Blakely

Practicing lawyer with experience including law firm

partner and Chief of Staff in public service;

Retired from practice in 2006 to found

LegalPerspectives LLC and Best Friends at the Bar;

Married to a private practice commercial litigator and

the mother of two --- a daughter, who is a lawyer in

NYC, and a son, who is a 3L; and

Author of Best Friends at the Bar books, speaker,

blogger, career coach and consultant on issues

related to women lawyers.

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The Best Friends at the Bar

Project

S Books AND More --- In the US and Abroad

S Blogs

S Speeches

S Newsletters

S Career Coaching

S Webinars

S Law Firm Women’s Initiatives

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Troublesome Statistics

50% of law school grads today are women;

33% of all lawyers are women;

Approximately 40% of women lawyers leave

the profession mid-career --- two to three

times as many as male lawyers;

Fewer than 20% of law firm partners are

women, and women are underrepresented

on law firm management committees;

75% of women law grads leave their first

firms after five to six years.

Recent Studies and The Need

for Change

S National Association of Women Lawyers (NAWL) Report on

Retention and Promotion of Women In Law Firms,

November 2015: Rate at which law firms promote women

to equity partnership has not changed in nine years since

NAWL started reporting the annual survey; and

S Austin Manifesto, Women’s Power Summit on Law and

Leadership at University of Texas Law: Data on women in

positions of leadership have been discouraging and show

much less progress than had been anticipated.

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Historic Perspective

S Many women lawyers dropped out of law practice during

the 1980’s and the 1990’s as they started families;

S The work-life struggle and the male definition of success in

the law were on collision course;

S The promises of the Women’s Liberation Movement had

failed them;

S Women lawyers continue to drop out at alarming rates; and

S Leaving jobs in a weak economy with escalating costs of

living is risky business.

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S Women lawyers represent a large pool of

talent that is expensive to replace;

S Corporate clients are demanding diversity in

their legal representation;

S Law firm succession plans rely on retaining

talent in the middle of the firm; and

S Best Practices in the legal profession depends

on a diverse workforce.

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Why Law Firms Should

Care about Retaining Women

Why Women Leave

S Work-life challenges;

S Gender discrimination and unintentional bias

resulting in limited and unequal opportunities;

S Toxic or dysfunctional environments that

offend the values that women bring to the

workplace;

S Unappealing role models; and

S Failure to find meaning in the work.

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The Having It All Myth:

What Does it Mean?

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The “Lean In” Myth

“Lean In” may not be realistic for women

lawyers who bill by the hour and have both

family and professional responsibilities; and

Having an upward career trajectory at all times

should not be the exclusive definition of

success. 11

“STAY IN” Is the Answer

STAY IN --- one way or another --- to preserve

future career options and opportunities;

Anticipate your needs and the kind of practice

that fits you and your family best; and

TAKE CONTROL OF YOUR CAREER!

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Myth: We Will Return to Pre-

Recession Law Firm Practice

S The changes in the economy since 2008 have

permanently changed law firms;

S Some of the changes present opportunities for women

lawyers; and

S Taking advantage of those opportunities will be key to

success.

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A Winning Strategy for Women

Lawyers

S Realistic expectations about careers and what

it means to be “successful”;

S Commitment to careers and plans in place to

deal with the unexpected; and

S Law firm leaders taking the challenges to

women lawyers seriously and participating in

solutions to those challenges. 14

The New Balance for Today’s

Woman Lawyer

The New Balance is Work/SELF/Home and Family;

No REAL balance --- the best you can hope for is that it

evens out in the end;

Balance that works for your circumstances and includes

attention to you and your physical, emotional and

psychological needs; and

REMEMBER: You cannot be good for others if your are

not good for yourself. 15

Finding the NEW Balance

S Identify what you really love to do in the law;

S Be serious about doing it;

S Maintain your personal identity;

S Take care of your personal needs;

S Get the help you need --- at home and at the office; and

S Maintain and nurture your friendships.

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Practice Choices for Women

Lawyers

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S Full-time and partnership track in law firms;

S Part-time and flex-time (may or may not include

partnership track) in law firms;

S Solo practice, virtual law practice, and law consulting;

S Academia, in-house counsel, public interest, not-for-profit,

public service and others;

S OWN your career path and your career decisions!

Chart Your Own Course

S Start early in your career by developing a preliminary

PLAN;

S Involve the other stakeholders in your Plan;

S Tweak the Plan as your circumstances change; and

S Become the best lawyer you can be to create VALUE to

trade on when you need to change your plan.

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Achieving Your Goals

S Remember:

You cannot get further down the road UNLESS you are

ON THE ROAD!

S onrampfellowship.com

S relaunchingattorneyplatform.com

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Good Leadership Is Essential

to Lasting Solutions

S Progress for women lawyers requires effective

leadership;

S Effective leadership in a traditional profession

is challenging; and

S Effective leadership depends on

understanding who we are trying to lead and

a recognition and elimination of negative

behaviors.

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Effective Leaders MUST

S Communicate clear expectations and encourage open

dialogue;

S Lead by example;

S Identify and re-engage those who have fallen away

from the group;

S Champion, praise, reward and give proper

recognition; and

S Let others take the wheel and resist micro-managing.

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Effective Leaders DO NOT

S Talk more than listen and need to “win” every conversation;

S Insist on “adding value” that discourages dialogue;

S Judge others according to personal standards and beliefs;

S Withhold information to protect power;

S Speak when angry and make destructive comments;

S Blame others for their own mistakes;

S Play favorites; or

S Punish the messenger.

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Values-Based Leadership is a

Win-Win

S Values-based leadership is important to the retention

and advancement of women lawyers;

S Typical female values are: Sharing and teamwork,

interpersonal relationships, making a contribution,

having effort acknowledged and appreciated;

S Typical male values are: Money, power, ambition and

independence.

S A BIG DIFFERENCE!

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Key Talking Points for Leading

Women Lawyers

S The leader recognizes the value of women

lawyers and needs them as future leaders and

managers;

S Personal Definitions of Success are important

to achieving career goals and should be

supported whenever possible; and

S Achieving balance between personal and

professional lives is critical to success.

The need for many women to overachieve and

the risks in taking that approach;

S Achieving balance between personal and

professional lives; and

S Dealing with gender bias and stereotyping.

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Gender Bias MUST Be

Eliminated

S Women lawyers often do not fit the traditional

male stereotypes of success in the profession;

S Negative stereotyping can lead to intentional

and unintentional bias toward women; and

S Gender Bias is wrong, unlawful and must be

eliminated.

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Do NOT Listen for

Discrimination

S It is important to be a discriminating listener;

S BUT do not listen for discrimination.

There is a BIG difference. 26

Critical Messages for Women

Lawyers

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S Be professional in every way (including dress and

conduct);

S Pace yourself: A legal career is a marathon and not a

sprint;

S ASK for help and for work. ASK for professional

development and skills training. Master core

competencies.

S Find good mentors and sponsors; and

S Remember that leaving practice and trying to reenter

at a later date is very difficult.

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Women Helping Women

S Former Secretary of

State, Madeline Albright:

S "There's a place in hell

reserved for women who

don't help other women."

More Critical Messages for

Women Lawyers

S Have courageous conversations and advocate for yourself;

S Chose to be a leader, and do not be marginalized;

S Use your emotional intelligence and your excellent

communication skills to become an effective negotiator for

yourself and for others;

S Network, network, network to develop clients from Day One; and

S Stretch yourself and take risks that will help you grow as a

lawyer.

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CAVEATS!

Don’t be overly emotional in the workplace;

Don’t be too AGGRESSIVE in the workplace;

Don’t let others determine your direction;

Don’t let others take credit for your work;

Don’t always demand perfection of yourself; and

Don’t get carried away with spending that limits your

future opportunities and options.

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Effective Women’s Initiatives in

Law Firms

S Much more than “gripe sessions”;

S Include both male and female lawyers;

S Address the imperatives for women to advance in the law

firm setting;

S Be metrics-based and measure improvement and success;

and

S Address effective leadership for and by women lawyers.

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What to Look For in a Law

Firm

S Who controls the conversations and are women included?;

S Is there a respectful environment for women?;

S Are women represented at the management level?;

S Is there a Women’s Initiative and does the firm take it

seriously?;

S Are both men and women mentoring women?;

S Do the women of the firm support each other?; and

S Are the women getting quality work?

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Getting the Most Out of Your

Law Firm Experience

S Be the BEST LAWYER you can be from Day One;

S Get out of your office and meet and dialogue with as many

people as possible;

S Go to EVERY social event and approach it as an

opportunity to network inside the law firm;

S Take advantage of flexible work models if you need them;

and

S Embrace constructive criticism and feedback.

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Thank You!

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