Women in the Law

Law partner creates SheStarts, a group to help female entrepreneurs

Women starting companies just don't get the breaks men do.

According to a 2014 Babson College study, startups with women on their executive team are three times more likely to get venture capital funding now than 15 years ago. However, 85 percent of businesses that received venture capital had no women on their executive team. Overall, startups with female chief execs got only 2.7 percent of investments.

Mar 1, 2015 6:15 AM CST

Silicon Valley agog as trial looms in high-profile sex-discrimination case against Kleiner Perkins

Ellen Pao’s resume includes a stint as an associate at Cravath Swaine & Moore as well as a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Princeton University and dual graduate degrees, in law and business, from Harvard University. But she didn’t have what it takes to succeed at Kleiner Perkins Caufield…

Feb 23, 2015 4:40 PM CST

After four-year decline, percentage of female associates ‘nudged up’ in 2014

The percentage of female associates “finally nudged up” in 2014, following four years of slight declines, according to the National Associated for Law Placement. According to a NALP press release (PDF), 44.94 percent of associates were female in 2014, compared to 44.79 percent in 2013. The 2014 number is still…

Feb 17, 2015 2:18 PM CST

Sarah Weddington on being a young, female lawyer in a watershed SCOTUS case that reverberates today

Sarah Weddington wasn’t the first to know that she’d won the landmark abortion-rights case Roe v. Wade at the U.S. Supreme Court. Giving the keynote speech at Saturday’s American Bar Foundation Awards Reception and Banquet, Weddington recalled a call her assistant received on Jan. 22, 1973. A reporter from the…

Feb 8, 2015 10:52 AM CST

Law dean calls out sexism in evaluation of female prof, tells students to forgo ‘fashion advice’

The vice dean of Rutgers School of Law-Camden says the “sexism” label isn’t one that he readily uses. But he didn’t hesitate to make the call concerning an evaluation of a female professor at the school. Submitting a public critique, “that explored, in some detail, the fashion stylings of one…

Jan 30, 2015 9:45 AM CST

Women who ask for raises tend to be disliked, while men may ‘get a pass on swagger,’ law prof says

One theory offered to explain why women make less money than men is that women don’t ask for raises. But University of California at Hastings law professor Joan Williams suggests wage inequality has another component, the New York Times Op-Talk blog reports. Research has found “that women who do ask…

Jan 27, 2015 7:38 AM CST

‘Life is not linear’: McDermott partner who left law practice in 1997 regains partnership

A partner at McDermott Will & Emery in Washington, D.C., who left the firm and gave up law practice in 1997 has regained her partnership. Sally Rosenberg joined the firm in 1987 and became a partner in the firm’s health law group in 1993, Legal Times (sub. req.) reports. She…

Jan 22, 2015 6:15 AM CST

At several DC firms, more women than men are promoted to partner

Though women lawyers are outnumbered by males in partnerships at large law firms, they made strides at several law firms in Washington, D.C., in recent promotions. Out of 35 law firms that announced the promotions of partners since October, 14 promoted as many or more females than men in Washington,…

Jan 22, 2015 5:45 AM CST

Does ‘martyr mentality’ of nonprofit lawyers keep salaries low?

Lauren Burke graduated from New York University law school, was named a Skadden fellow and made Forbes’ list of “30 Under 30” in 2013. But her salary at the nonprofit group she co-founded qualified her for public housing in New York City (available to those who make less than $47,000…

Jan 14, 2015 2:49 PM CST

Husband swears in wife as he retires and she takes his seat on the bench

Retired Ohio judge James Kimbler plans to spend more time making dinner these days, now that he no longer has to spend his days adjudicating cases. That makes a lot of sense, since his wife, Joyce Kimbler, has taken his seat on the Medina Common Pleas Court bench. Elected in…

Jan 12, 2015 5:45 AM CST

‘Notorious RBG’ biography in the works will be co-authored by blog creator

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who has forthrightly and humorously embraced her blog-given, hip-hop-based alias “Nortorious R.B.G.,” is the subject of an upcoming biography based on that meme. The Tumblr blog Notorious R.B.G regularly publishes updates like one on Tuesday linking to a Washington Post story that informs…

Jan 7, 2015 2:40 PM CST

1915-1924: Wilson, women and war

Against what was happening elsewhere in early 1915, a mid-January meeting in Washington seemed inconsequential, even if it was at the White House. France was losing ground against the Germans at Soissons; Italy had suffered a massive earthquake; and the rebel forces of Pancho Villa in Mexico were threatening the…

Jan 1, 2015 5:35 AM CST

Can a new breed of firms solve the attrition problem for women in the legal industry?

Earlier this year, The National Association of Women Lawyers released the results of its National Survey on Retention and Promotion of Women in Law Firms. This annual survey provides sobering news on the state of women at the 200 largest firms in the country, collectively known as BigLaw.

Dec 17, 2014 8:45 AM CST

Female law review authors are cited at a higher rate than men, study finds

The conventional wisdom is that scholarly research by women is cited less often than that of male authors. But that doesn’t hold true for legal scholarship, the National Law Journal (sub. req.) reports. Law review articles with at least one female author are cited at a higher rate than those…

Dec 12, 2014 5:45 AM CST

New mom will get stop-the-clock breaks to pump breast milk during bar exam

Told there was no procedure for appealing a decision by Illinois bar exam authorities not to provide stop-the-clock breaks when she needed to pump breast milk, Kristin Pagano nonetheless wrote a letter requesting reconsideration. On Tuesday, that request was unanimously granted by the Illinois Board of Admissions to the Bar.…

Nov 26, 2014 9:30 AM CST