Planned All-Male Bar Panel on Women Lawyers' Skills Draws Female Fire
Updated: As part of an upcoming program at the New York State Bar Association’s annual meeting later this month, an all-male panel was initially organized to offer “specific skill-building advice” apparently intended to help an audience of women lawyers address gender-related issues:
“A distinguished panel of gentlemen from the legal field will discuss the strengths and weaknesses of women in the areas of communication, negotiation, mediation, arbitration, organization, and women’s overall management of their legal work,” explains the program for the event (PDF), which is sponsored by the NYSBA’s Committee on Women in the Law. Panelists include partners from two major law firms and a senior lawyer for the state’s trial department.
But, after the program description drew fire from potential attendees, that plan changed.
In an e-mailed statement today, the bar association announced a revised version of the program, including a new title: “Sharing Their Points of View: Tips from Both Sides.” (The original title was “Their Point of View: Tips from the Other Side.”)
The new program description explains that “a distinguished panel of attorneys, comprising women and men, will engage in a dialogue about the challenges faced by women in the workplace in the areas of communication, negotiation, mediation, arbitration, organization and management of work, as well as the role of mentoring,” recounts the NYSBA statement. “The panel will give specific skill-building advice for women to consider in order to strengthen their practice in the above-mentioned areas.”
It concludes with an invitation to attend the program on Tuesday, Jan. 26, and provides a link for those interested in registering online.
Earlier, at least one local lawyer called for fellow feminists to forgo the event:
“I call for all members of the NYSBA to boycott this panel discussion,” writes Bridget Crawford on the Feminist Law Professors blog.
“Yes, the speakers have a right to speak, but we don’t have to go and listen. Men have been telling us FOR YEARS how we don’t measure up,” she says. “To have a panel of men, endorsed by the New York State Bar Association, discussing our ‘strengths and weaknesses,’ is a regression and an insult to all women in the legal profession.”
Others complained anonymously to Above the Law.
Going a step further from her earlier post and apparently addressing what may be simply an issue concerning the way the program was advertised to potential attendees, Crawford offered her own effort at a revised description, earlier today, in a second Feminist Law Professors post:
“Historically, the legal profession has been less than receptive to ‘outsiders’ such as women of all colors and men of diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds,” it begins, going on to describe a program that “aims to foster constructive dialogue between men and women about their professional roles generally and how women and men can ‘cross-mentor’ each other.” (For Crawford’s complete description of a program “that I’d be interested in attending,” read her full post.)
Updated at 5:15 p.m. to include and accord with information from NYSBA statement.
