The Myth Of CEO Work-Life Balance

From Forbes authored by Amy Nelson:

“The New York Times, we need to talk.

I often read your column “My Workout” to learn tips on how other CEOs stay on top of their game. I’m always searching for advice from visionaries who are disrupting industries and making a difference, both in business and beyond. But as I read the latest column titled “How One Silicon Valley CEO Masters Work-Life Balance,” it became clear that the article was about so much more than Evernote CEO Chris O’Neill’s workout habits. This was something else.

The column begins, “It’s no surprise that Chris O’Neill . . . is pretty good with time management. Mr. O’Neill, 45, exercises regularly, sleeps seven hours a night, devotes Saturdays to his children and even gardens. Feel inadequate? Maybe you should stop reading.”

The article starts with a highlight of O’Neill’s workout routine and the details of the brands he loves, like the ultra-hip Allbirds shoes. Chris meditates early in the morning, waits for at least one of his two pre-teen children to awake before 6 am, and takes on the task of dropping off one child before heading to the country club to workout. We learn how Chris organizes his day into three neat and simple tasks. We also hear that he frequently misses dinner with the children, travels a lot, and attempts to keep Saturdays sacrosanct.

But what the article fails to address is a fundamental question that working parents everywhere must answer every day:  How does all this magic happen? Where are the children when you are at work (or the gym, or on the road, or sitting serenely in a meditative state on a pillow)?  As a working mom, this tension-filled question is at the center of every hour of every day. The New York Times doesn’t even mention it.  It’s almost like the paper wants us to suspend reality.”

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How To Break The Maternal Wall, Brick By Brick

From Forbes authored by Amy Nelson:

“I remember the day when I told colleagues and friends that I planned to stop practicing law and start building a business. The puzzled looks and furrowed eyebrows were tell-tale signs that they didn’t understand how a woman with a thriving career and two children would want to leave a career she’d so passionately pursued for a decade. They hadn’t seen the pushback I faced in trying to attend doctor appointments or stay home with a sick baby. They also didn’t see how I was passed up for career-advancing work because it wasn’t clear to my superiors – most of whom were male – that I’d be up for the challenge because they made an assumption that I couldn’t devote the time.

My story isn’t as uncommon as you’d think, but it’s one that is only starting to pick up steam in the press and in everyday conversation. The New York Times recently published its  investigation into pregnancy discrimination. The statistic that 43% of highly trained women with children will “offramp” from the workforce at some point in their career seems unsurprising when you read the stories of the women profiled who were pushed out of blue collar jobs and white collar corporate America.

And the discrimination continues well after your child is born. The “motherhood penalty,” as Cornell University sociologists have described it, is shown in the increasing pay gap between women and men after female employees come back from maternity leave and mothers being less likely to be hired for jobs and more likely to experience demotions. Mothers are also more likely to be flat out fired.”

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Don’t Underestimate the Power of Women Supporting Each Other at Work

From Harvard Business Review authored by Anne Welsh McNulty:

“Don’t underestimate the power of women connecting and supporting each other at work. As my experiences from being a rookie accountant to a managing director at an investment bank have taught me, conversations between women have massive benefits for the individual and the organization. When I graduated college in the 1970s, I believed that women would quickly achieve parity at all levels of professional life now that we had “arrived” — I viewed the lack of women at the top as more of a “pipeline” problem, not a cultural one. But the support I expected to find from female colleagues — the feeling of sisterhood in this mission — rarely survived first contact within the workplace.”

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‘Extreme Part-Time’ Lawyer-Moms Flock to Freelance Firms

From The American Lawyer authored by Angela Morris:

“After having her second child, Southern California litigator Erin Giglia worked part-time for law firm Snell & Wilmer, but fellow associate Laurie Rowen had different plans for work when her baby girl was born 16 days after Giglia’s daughter.

Rowen always knew she wanted to be a stay-at-home mom, while continuing to do legal work on an extremely part-time basis. It took nearly a year for Giglia to jump on board, but when she did, the pair co-founded Montage Legal Group, a new legal business model especially attractive to women.

Montage and firms like it have proven a good match for all sorts of lawyers who want to set their own work terms, but they have become particularly popular with lawyer moms who want to dramatically reduce their hours after they give birth, but who also want to stay in the legal game. The part-time experience at these kinds of firms also eases the transition back into the profession full time, if they choose to, when their children get older.

About 85 percent of Montage’s 300 freelance attorneys are lawyer moms who average 10 hours of work weekly, Giglia said. ‘It’s a very sought-after way to go about keeping a hand in the legal field while not having the punishing schedule.’”

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Lawyers Say They Face Persistent Racial and Gender Bias at Work

From The New York Times authored by Karen Zraick:

“Women and people of color in the legal profession continue to face barriers in hiring, promotions, assignments and compensation, according to a study released Thursday by the American Bar Association.

The survey, which proposes strategies for employers to eliminate the barriers, was conducted by the Center for WorkLifeLaw at the University of California, Hastings College of the Law, for the bar association’s Commission on Women in the Profession and the Minority Corporate Counsel Association.

Michele Coleman Mayes, former chairwoman of the commission, said she oversaw the report, called “You Can’t Change What You Can’t See: Interrupting Bias in the Legal Profession,” because she was dismayed by statistics on men of color and women in top positions — and the way that law firms and organizations were talking about diversity.

The most commonly used training materials and leadership courses focused on how individual lawyers could overcome barriers in the workplace, she said, rather than on removing those barriers.

“That’s only half of the equation,” she said. ‘We’re hoping that people can look at the systems, and not put so much weight on the individual.’”

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The Danger Of Being An Angry Woman Lawyer

From Above the Law authored by Kathryn Rubino:

“Women attorneys know the score. They know that despite what equality might demand, the reality of life in the courtroom means dealing with all sorts of sexist BS. And one way things just aren’t fair is how women and men are judged differently when they get angry.

The ABA Journal reports on a new study, to be released in September, performed by University of California at Hastings law professor Joan Williams and the Center for WorkLife Law for the ABA Commission on Women in the Profession and the Minority Corporate Counsel Association called “You Can’t Change What You Can’t See: Interrupting Racial & Gender Bias in the Legal Profession,” which describes the ways men and women are free to express anger as attorneys. They surveyed almost 3,000 lawyers and did a separate study of courtroom closing arguments, and found some disturbing results:

Fifty-six percent of white men felt free to express anger, compared to only 40 percent of women of color and 44 percent of white women.

Two-thirds of men said they were rarely interrupted, compared to half of the women. The results didn’t differ by race.

Sixty-two percent of white men said they are not penalized for being assertive, compared to only 46 percent of women of color and 48 percent of white women.

These results are augmented by another study, published in Law and Human Behavior. That study, led by Arizona State professor Jessica Salerno, found women are penalized when they show anger in the courtroom, which is the opposite of how men displaying anger are treated, as reported by ASU Now:

“A good attorney is expected to show traditionally male characteristics in court — anger, aggression, power. But what’s happening is that men benefit from this, while we are penalizing women for showing these same characteristics,” said Jessica Salerno, an ASU psychology assistant professor and lead researcher on the study. “We watch so many courtroom dramas where lawyers are expressing emotion, and there are fireworks in the courtroom. People expect attorneys to express themselves this way. This expectation sets men up well for success, but for women it backfires.”

In the study, ~700 people watched videos of male or female lawyers giving an angry closing argument. The study participants positively cited aspects of the angry closing in saying they would hire the male attorneys; conversely, those same characteristics were seen as a negative reason to not hire a female attorney.”

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Law, Order & Pantyhose: Law Firm Addresses Gender Parity Fairly

From Take the Lead authored by Michele Weldon:

“What’s fair is fair.

Christina Vander Werf, a partner with Gordon & Rees LLP, who works out of the San Diego, Los Angeles and Phoenix offices, says at her law firm, gender equity is a top priority.

“There is a very intentional effort to make the office more diverse and bring more women in,” says Vander Werf, the single mother of an almost five-year-old daughter. “I have a lot of flexibility, am on reduced time at 90 percent, and there is a lot of support for parents here.”

A partner at the firm since November 2017, after practicing at two other firms since graduating from University of Arizona law school in 2010, Vander Werf says she began at Gordon & Rees four years ago as an associate and moved up to partner.

Several efforts to ensure gender equity are in place at the firm, she says. For instance, the firm reimburses the cost of MilkStork, a service that ships breast milk home for traveling nursing mothers. The firm also has a Women’s Initiative with events, support programs and policies that help working mothers, parents and all women employees.”

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Lawyers on the Border Still Dealing With Fallout From Family Separations

From TIME authored by Maya Rhodan:

“When the Trump Administration started separating families at the U.S. border, Jodi Goodwin all but stopped working as a private attorney in Texas to do pro bono work for people who had been affected. Even though the Administration ended the policy over two months ago, her work isn’t finished.

In June, U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw ordered the Trump Administration to reunite the more than 2,000 families separated under a policy aimed at deterring illegal immigration. According to a federal filing last week, 565 children remain separated from their parents, some of whom have already been deported.

Goodwin has personally reunited 32 moms and dads with a total of 34 children, but at least a dozen of her clients remain in federal detention, separated from their children for various reasons: some have not passed the “credible fear” interview about conditions in their home countries, while others have not yet been granted bond. One case has been blocked because her client is the child’s aunt and legal guardian, but not her biological parent.

“I still spend half of the day doing separated parents stuff and follow up,” Goodwin told TIME.

While the political conversation has moved on from the now-defunct family separation policy, the real-world effects continue to be felt, and lawyers remain on the front lines of the fight, especially in border towns like McAllen, Texas. It’s a similar dynamic as other Trump policy changes, such as the travel ban, which were announced unexpectedly, leading to an intense scramble among private lawyers followed by months of follow-up work.”

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How Sexism Follows Women From the Cradle to the Workplace

From The New York Times authored by Jim Tankersley:

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Mel Mermelstein Survived Auschwitz, Then Sued Holocaust Deniers in Court

From Smithsonian.com authored by Patrick Sauer:

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