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tlsadmin3

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Women Lawyers and Law Students

Post by tlsadmin3 » Wed Jan 13, 2021 7:44 pm

Share experiences and seek insight regarding your experience as a woman in the legal community here, or create a new thread.

pkeller

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Re: Women Lawyers and Law Students

Post by pkeller » Tue Mar 22, 2022 10:39 am

Princeton Review released their list of the ten best schools for women: https://www.princetonreview.com/law-sch ... -for-women

AuthorDWRandolph

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Re: Women Lawyers and Law Students

Post by AuthorDWRandolph » Sat Dec 24, 2022 12:28 am

Women law students and attorneys will find a lot of useful info in the book Big Law Confidential about the experience of being a woman and seeking a job in, or working in, Big Law.

Among other topics covered in the book that may be of interest to women law students and attorneys:

- How women are often treated differently from men in Big Law firms, with stories of numerous women summer associates and attorneys in Big Law, as well as resources and tips for dealing with some of these difficult situations (e.g., steps to consider taking if you've been sexually harassed or bullied). This includes discrimination based on pregnancy, battles to get a fair proportion of origination credit for client business, being excluded from firm sports teams and practice group events, not being invited to client pitches unless you're "available" (i.e., single and childless), being sexually harassed by a colleague or client, and more.

- The pay disparities that often exist between men counsel/partners and women counsel/partners, details on compensation, and tips to maximize comp. Associate pay is often lockstep and disclosed publicly by Am Law 100 law firms. In stark contrast, there is little to no transparency when it comes to counsel or partner pay at Big Law firms. According to the New York Times, "Researchers say transparency is important because keeping salaries secret reinforces discrimination." (Kristin Wong, Want to Close the Pay Gap? Pay Transparency Will Help, Jan. 20, 2019). To cite just two examples:
(1) I have a diverse woman income partner friend at an Am Law 100 law firm who found out she was being paid about one-fourth the annual salary that a white male income partner at the same firm, even though she worked 800 more billable hours and generated over $1 million more in client business than he did during the same year. He had some political connections that she didn't, but those didn't translate into client business originations (or, seemingly, other tangible benefits for the firm), and didn't seem to justify that great of a pay disparity. On the available facts and financial metrics, it's difficult to think of reason for the pay disparity unless it's due to discrimination.
(2) I know of an Am Law 100 law firm (ranked between #50-100) where two income partners lateraled to the same firm within a short time of each other: one was a diverse woman with a ~$1.5 million annual book of portable business who was offered ~$400K starting salary, and the other was a white man with a smaller book of portable business who was offered a $650K starting salary (firm management deemed him more likely to be successful at developing business). In other words, the diverse woman who was bringing more client business to the firm was offered $250K less per year than the white man. On top of that, firm management asked the woman lateral partner for lots of documentation, reports, references, etc. to support her assertions about the size of her book of business, but took the man lateral partner at his word, with no documentation or references required.
Unfortunately these sorts of stories are still pretty common, even in 2022.

- How to find a sponsor/mentor, and watch out for other attorneys who might try to "stab you in the back." Unfortunately, there is a well-documented phenomenon of some women bullying, harassing, or trying to "screw over" other women in Big Law firms. Some women in Big Law are wonderful, helpful, and supportive to each other, but there are plenty who are not.

While the number and proportion of successful women attorneys in Big Law firms is increasing, ever so slowly, over time, there's still a ton of work left to be done until women are equally represented along with men in Big Law (particularly in the equity partner ranks). Big Law Confidential provides inside info on Big Law firms in an attempt to ensure equal access to information and a level playing field for all law students and attorneys.

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