Daily Journal – Wendy M. Behan
According to a recent study from the National Association of Women Lawyers (NAWL), females are still significantly underrepresented in law firm leadership roles. While females comprise nearly 35 percent of all attorneys, women account for just 15 percent of equity partners — a level that has not changed in over five years.
NAWL’s fifth Annual National Survey on the Retention and Promotion of Women in Law Firms, which began in 2006, tracks the status of women in the nation’s 200 largest law firms. The 2010 survey revealed an interesting, but not all together surprising correlation: Firms without women in their top 10 rainmakers have a much greater pay differential between male and female partners than other firms. In fact, according to the survey, overall women equity partners earn about 85 percent of what their male counterparts make.
As president of Lawyers Club of San Diego — a nonprofit organization whose mission is to advance the status of women in the law and society — I believe that empowering women to obtain jobs and advance within the legal community is key to closing the gender gap that stubbornly prevails in the legal profession.
One crucial way to empower women and help advance their careers is through mentoring. Exclusion from networks and lack of mentoring are among the most significant stumbling blocks to career advancement for many female attorneys. Many firms have tried to effectively tackle this issue by implementing a variety of mentoring programs, among them mentor-mentee programs, mentoring circles and group mentoring.
Mentoring can enhance career options on many levels. It can help a female attorney develop expertise, knowledge, skills and abilities and also help integrate them into the workplace. Lawyers whose mentors or role models help them learn the ins and outs of a large law firm or organization or provide behind the scenes information about organizational politics, benefit tremendously from this kind of one-on-one support. Mentoring also enables an attorney to have an advocate – a powerful and sage confidant who can provide important insight, support and advice.
In addition, non profit organizations such as Lawyers Club and the Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles as well as law schools offer mentor/mentee programs – for both career attorneys and law students who would like guidance and career advice from senior attorneys.
For high-level attorneys, it does not suffice to just sign up to be a mentor. It is much more fulfilling and productive to make a long-term commitment to a young attorney to make a marked difference in her legal career. To be an effective mentor is not as simple as it may seem. Mentoring is a multidimensional process grounded in the formation of a special relationship, according to Gregory S. Gallopoulos who authored, [“How Holistic Mentoring Benefits Lawyers.”] He believes that firms make a mistake when their mentoring programs focus solely on training. “Effective mentoring certainly does include help with technical skills, but, more important, it encompasses the cultivation of judgment. Judgment, not skill, defines the consummate professional.”
In the professional context, says Gallopoulos, successful mentors use every aspect of how they function professionally to engage every aspect of who the mentee is and how he or she develops as a professional. Gallopoulos concludes that “mentoring is the gift intended to keep on giving.” The mentee, having benefited from mentoring, has a duty to eventually become a mentor, passing the benefit on to another generation.
Indeed, we should all remember that lesson and donate our time as mentors. Even if you are not involved in formal mentoring programs, you can still reach out to the lawyers around you to help them succeed. It is vital for female attorneys to see other women succeed in their profession. To that end, mentoring is crucial in helping women thrive in the practice of law.
Some experts contend that another key to empowering female attorneys is to encourage them to remain in the workplace. Fueling inequality in the legal workplace is the alarming attrition rate of female attorneys. Indeed, studies show that within five years of entering a firm, more than three quarters of associates leave, and female associates are twice as likely to leave as males. This phenomenon unfortunately results in the continued low rates of female leadership in law firms and will not change unless more senior women attorneys work with younger women attorneys to help them become effective leaders and succeed in the profession.
At a recent event I attended, former State Bar President Holly Fujie took the rather controversial position that women should absolutely not leave the workplace to raise children. Her position was not exactly very popular with the room full of female attorneys — many of them mothers.
Rather, Fujie advocated that women should attempt to work with their employers to negotiate an alternative work arrangement instead of simply leaving their position. She contended that most law firms have invested time and energy into their attorneys and will do whatever it takes to keep them.
Her unequivocal opinion on this issue has come in part from seeing the harsh reality for women in the profession — the low percentage of women in partnership roles at law firms, especially as equity and managing partners. In fact, these numbers simply cannot increase if women routinely leave their firms for motherhood – even if they intend to return at a later date. Fuije’s counterpart on the panel was career management consultant, Amy Berenson Mallow, who argued that you can take a break for motherhood, but do not step away from the profession completely. She suggested staying in touch with peers, continuing to network, attend continuing legal education events, and volunteering time for both professional and community organizations.
Support at home can play a critical role as well. I recently read an interview with Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg about her life as a mother and attorney. When Justice Ginsberg was in law school, she already was married with one child. She later had a second child, and attributes to her daughter “the responsibility for why I was such a good law student. I went home, played with Jane, had dinner and then I was ready to go back to the books. It was the pause that refreshes.” Justice Ginsberg also credits her career successes to a supportive husband who was a very hands-on parent. “That’s my dream for the world. That a child should have two caring parents who share the joys and often the burdens. It really does take a man who regards his wife as his best friend, his equal, his true partner in life.”
However, not all women are as fortunate as Justice Ginsberg to have the support of a loving, hands-on husband or co-parent. For those women, it is even more essential to reach out for help and guidance from a role model or mentor.
Indeed, the key to either staying in the profession while working or returning after a break is to have role models and mentors for advice, support and – ultimately – success.
Wendy M. Behan is president of Lawyers Club San Diego and was recently named partner at San Diego-based Casey Gerry Schenk Francavilla Blatt & PenfieldLLP. She serves as a mentor to law students and new attorneys through Lawyers Club and Cal Western mentor programs, and is the mother of two young boys, ages six and nine.
