Women in the Law

Depressed After 3rd Child’s Birth, Successful Partner Committed Suicide

Seemingly very successful both at work and at home, Catherine Bailey returned to work as a finance litigator around Christmas after the birth of her youngest daughter a little over six months earlier. But the 41-year-old partner in the London office of SJ Berwin apparently may have been suffering from…

Jul 28, 2009 11:57 PM CDT

Lawyer Survey Shows Differing Perceptions of Bias in NJ Courts

Do New Jersey courts treat lawyers the same, whether they are black or white, male or female? The answer differs based on the group answering that question, according to a fall 2007 survey of 851 lawyers and judges by the New Jersey Supreme Court Committee of Women in the Courts.…

Jul 24, 2009 1:00 PM CDT

UK Study Finds Only a Third of Women Lawyers Aspire to Partnership

A study of lawyer satisfaction in the United Kingdom finds that only about a third of women want to become law firm partners. A Legal Week survey of 4,000 solicitors below the partner level found that only 35 percent of women have a primary career goal of partnership within their…

Jul 23, 2009 4:09 PM CDT

Why More than 75% of Minority Female Lawyers Leave Law Firms Within 5 Years

Minority women lawyers find law firm workplaces so challenging that 75 percent leave within five years, a study has found. Minority women lawyers are the focus of unwanted or unfair critical attention, according to a report by the research firm Catalyst, and they experience institutional discrimination at their firms. The…

Jul 22, 2009 2:41 PM CDT

UK Report Says Legal Profession Is Too Socially Exclusive

The legal profession in the United Kingdom is too socially exclusive, drawing lawyers from well-to-do families and private schools, according to a report released today. The report found that lawyers are more likely than other professionals to have grown up in affluent families, Legal Week reports. Lawyers born in 1970…

Jul 21, 2009 5:56 PM CDT

Sotomayor Hearings Remind Women of Issues Female Attorneys Face

It’s not every day that columnist Kathleen Parker and a legal writer in the New York Times find themselves on the same page, so to speak, politically. But in their respective articles over the past few days both Parker and Times editor Jill Abramson offered a similar take on the…

Jul 20, 2009 9:54 PM CDT

Sotomayor’s Nomination: Today’s News

ABAJournal.com: “Sotomayor Hearings Remind Women of Issues Female Attorneys Face” Associated Press: “GOP, divided on Sotomayor, won’t drag out debate” CQ Politics: “Sotomayor’s Chances Looking Even Better “ Dallas Morning News: “Testimony by ABA official from Dallas counters Sotomayor’s critics” New York Daily News: “‘Stop the racial politics’ with Sonia…

Jul 20, 2009 9:50 PM CDT

Jack Welch: Women Take Time Off for Kids at Their Peril

Former General Electric CEO Jack Welch thinks women who take time off for family are making a risky career move. Speaking to Human Resource Management at its annual conference on June 28, Welch said women who take time off for family could be passed over for promotions if they are…

Jul 16, 2009 12:54 PM CDT

Too Many Women Lawyers are Like Oz’s Dorothy, Partner Says

Women lawyers looking for advancement would do well to study Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz, according to a law firm partner who founded the Opt-In Project. “Dorothy was a true leader,” writes Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe employment law partner Patricia Gillette in a post for the Am Law Daily.…

Jul 8, 2009 2:10 PM CDT

Doing “Work Necessary To Win”

Lambda Legal lawyer led fight for gay marriage in Iowa

Jul 2, 2009 12:50 AM CDT

Tips on Re-Entering the Legal Profession After a Hiatus

In a column this week posted at examiner.com, working mom and practicing New York lawyer Amy Impellizzeri writes about a Web-based company aimed at helping women re-enter the workforce after spending time rearing children. After interviewing a co-founder of the company iRelaunch, Impellizzeri posted several tips for women lawyers looking…

Jul 1, 2009 12:41 PM CDT

Ex-Bingham Associate Sues Firm Over Work Situation, Claimed Party Drugging

Although a Massachusetts state agency earlier dismissed an ex-associate’s complaint that Bingham McCutchen didn’t do enough to protect her from a fellow law firm employee who allegedly sexually harassed women workers and may even have drugged some, Michelle Moor is trying again. She filed a discrimination suit in state court…

Jun 26, 2009 11:55 PM CDT

O’Connor Digs at Gibson Dunn, Demos Byron White Handshake on Letterman

In an appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman on Tuesday night retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor took a playful shot at the firm who offered her a legal secretary job after she graduated third in her class from Stanford Law School in 1952. She doesn’t…

Jun 26, 2009 1:00 PM CDT

Would-Be Attorney Headed to Harvard Grew Up in Homeless Shelters

Growing up in California, Khadijah Williams had to take an unusual amount of responsibility for running her own life, under highly daunting circumstances. Williams’ mother, who is only 14 years older, encouraged Williams and told her she had the ability to be a major success in life. However, she couldn’t…

Jun 23, 2009 8:27 PM CDT

S.C. Prosecutor Who Handled State’s Most ‘Notorious’ Cases Has Died at 40

The death of one of South Carolina’s most dogged prosecutors has left the Palmetto State in disbelief. Jennifer Evans, who headed the state attorney general’s criminal section and was the chief prosecutor for the state grand jury, died suddenly across the border in North Carolina over the weekend. She was…

Jun 23, 2009 11:03 AM CDT