Documentary About Women And The Law Reveals How Far We Still Have To Go

From Above the Law authored by Kathryn Rubino :

 

“The signs are everywhere — from the Biglaw lawsuits, the law school lawsuits, to the horror stories too many women are able to tell and every woman who has ever practiced law knows it is true — the legal profession still suffers from gender discrimination.

While the solutions to the issues plaguing women in the profession are very much a work in progress, there is a new documentary from lawyer and filmmaker Sharon Rowen which delves into the issues facing women lawyers. Rowen’s film, Balancing the Scales, has recently been picked up by American Public Media and over 260 public television stations will be broadcasting the movie beginning next month. As Law.com reports, the interviews conducted by Rowen are a who’s who of prominent female attorneys and provide an opportunity to tell the story of women lawyers in America:

“This is like the only thing out there where they get a firsthand experience from all these women speaking honestly about what their problems are,” she said. “It kind of lets the men in on the problem.”

She said she hopes that winning such a large public television audience will enable her to make a statement about a wider societal problem. Discrimination against women applies to woman in every profession and field, she said.

“Women are going to feel some common bond with it,” Rowen said. ‘The idea women lawyers have the same problems as everyone else in terms of gender equality is enlightening to people.’”

Read the full story by FOLLOWING THIS LINK.

Share this:

3 Things Law Firms Must Understand To Increase Gender Diversity

From Above the Law authored by Renwei Chung :

“Last week, the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) revealed some surprising statistics from its most recent research regarding gender diversity in the workplace.

BCG surveyed roughly 17,500 employees and interviewed more than 200 senior executives at companies in various industries across 21 countries, seeking their perspective on 39 specific diversity initiatives.”

Read the full story by FOLLOWING THIS LINK.

Share this:

Sheila Michaels, Who Brought ‘Ms.’ to Prominence, Dies at 78

From The New York Times  authored by Margalit Fox:

 

“Sheila Michaels, who half a century ago, wielding two consonants and a period, changed the way modern women are addressed, died on June 22 in Manhattan. Ms. Michaels, who introduced the honorific “Ms.” into common parlance, was 78.

The cause was acute leukemia, said Howard Nathanson, a cousin.

Ms. Michaels, who over the years worked as a civil-rights organizer, New York cabdriver, technical editor, oral historian and Japanese restaurateur, did not coin “Ms.,” nor did she ever claim to have done so.

But, working quietly, with little initial support from the women’s movement, she was midwife to the term, ushering it back into being after a decades-long slumber — a process she later described as ‘a timid eight-year crusade.’”

Read the full story by FOLLOWING THIS LINK.

Share this:

The Day Before The Bar Exam Dos and Don’ts

From Above The Law  authored by Kerriann Stout:

“I say this with equal parts joy and terror: the bar exam is exactly one week from tomorrow. One of the questions I get asked most frequently is “what should I do the day before the bar exam?” My go to answer is “absolutely nothing.” For some inexplicable reason, my students seem dissatisfied with that response. So, I consulted with my friends. What did I learn? People have some really strong opinions on this topic. What else did I Iearn? It is my article, so I get to present you with the ones I think are the most effective!”

Read the full story by FOLLOWING THIS LINK.

Share this:

The Top Five Reasons We Love Being Female Lawyers

From Law Practice Today authored by Shayda Zaerpoor Le and Iris K. Tilley:

“Do a casual Google search on “females in the legal profession” and these issues are ubiquitous in the results. With such discouraging reviews, statistics, and stereotypes (if we assume that the stereotypes tell the whole story, that is) it is hard to imagine why a woman would want to join the legal profession.

However, luckily for us ladies, the pendulum is swinging toward change. We see this change in universal pay scales; we see it in the option for some to work remotely; but most of all, we see it in the choices many law firms make available to all of their professionals—the choice to push oneself and dominate as a big-billing rainmaker, and to pump the brakes at times, making “non-traditional” roles more traditional, all while still being perceived as adding value.

Although our profession still has much room to improve, and likely will continue to need to do so as times and values change, we wanted to take a moment to highlight the top five reasons we love being female lawyers. We have come a long way, and law is a great place to be today.”

Read the full story by FOLLOWING THIS LINK.

Share this:

Alaska Cops Defend Their ‘Right’ to Sexual Contact With Sex Workers Before Arresting Them

From Glamour authored by Lily Dancyger:

“There’s a heated debate going on right now in Alaska between the police department and sex workers’ rights advocates over a bill that would make it illegal for police officers to have sexual contact with sex workers before arresting them. If Alaska passes this bill, they’ll become the first state to outlaw any sexual contact between police and the people they’re investigating. Only two months ago, Michigan became the last state in the U.S. to make it illegal for police officers to sexually penetrate sex workers in the course of an investigation.

Advocates of Alaska’s House Bill 73 and Senate Bill 112 say that police catching sex workers in the act by engaging with them sexually is a human rights violation, and Amnesty International has made an official statement supporting that claim: “Such conduct is an abuse of authority and in some instances amounts to rape and/or entrapment.”

“It’s incredibly traumatic to be tricked into having sex with someone who stops in the middle and puts you in handcuffs and takes you against your will to be locked up in a jail cell,” explained Terra Burns, one of the founders of Community United for Safety and Protection (CUSP), a group of current and former sex workers, sex trafficking victims, and allies working towards safety and protection for everyone in Alaska’s sex trade. ‘Women have told me that years later they still have PTSD symptoms when they see a police car.’”

Read the full story by FOLLOWING THIS LINK.

Share this:

Seven Business Lessons for Lawyers from Improv Comedy

From Attorney at Work authored by Bull Garlington:

“Good improv comics have an ability to walk onto a stage and connect with an audience effortlessly. It may seem like this is because of their innate acting talent, but that’s only part of it. Improv comedy training gives these actors a toolbox of learned skills that allow them to bring their talent to life on stage. These same skills work just as well on the business stage as they do in a theater.

Many businesses have turned to improv comedy schools like Chicago’s Second City to learn the applicable business skills one gets from making people laugh. That might be why the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business has partnered with Second City Works to study how improvisational skills can improve business decision-making.”

 

Read the full story by FOLLOWING THI LINK.

Share this:

‘Eloise At The Museum’ Tells The Story Behind The Beloved Mischief-Maker

From NPR authored by Jeff Lunden:

 

“For generations of children, the Eloise book series is a favorite. It tells the story of a 6-year old troublemaker who lives at New York’s Plaza Hotel. Now “Eloise at the Museum,” an exhibition at the New York Historical Society, looks at the creators of the series: author Kay Thompson, who died in 1998, and illustrator Hilary Knight, who’s now 90.

Eloise was the brain-child of the multi-talented Thompson who at various points in her life was a radio personality, a vocal arranger at MGM and a popular cabaret performer. Thompson amused her friends with the voice of a little girl called Eloise, and one of those friends thought the character might make a good children’s book. She lived next door to a young artist named Hilary Knight and introduced the two. It was the beginning of a close working relationship.

“We would get ideas and we would collectively paste them together,” Knight says. ‘You know, she would talk to me and I would draw them.'”

Read the full story by FOLLOWING THIS LINK.

Share this:

A Dozen Great Reasons: The Challenges and Triumphs of Starting Your Own Firm

From Law Practice Today authored by Fran Griesing and Jessica L. Mazzeo:

“If you scan this article to look for a dozen reasons why you should leave your big law safety net and take the leap to start your own firm, you will not see them. In reality, there are far more than just 12 reasons to take the risk, but just as many challenges to navigate as well.

When we thought about how we could share what we have learned with others, we looked around our firm and saw a dozen amazing women. Every day, we celebrate the leap we took in January 2010, and appreciate that it was well worth the sacrifices. A little over six years ago, we launched our own firm with barely more than a handful of clients, working out of 800 square feet of subleased space. Over these last six years, we have learned much about what works for us and what does not. As a result, our original three-person team has grown into a 12-person team including 10 lawyers, occupying over 8,000 square feet in a high-rise building in Center City Philadelphia.”

Read the full story by FOLLOWING THIS LINK.

Share this:

Men Join Corporate Boards With Less Experience Than Women

From Bloomberg.com authored by Laura Colby:

 

“More than three out of four new male company directors are rookies, appointed without any prior corporate board experience, according to a new study of the world’s biggest publicly traded companies.

First-time female board members are less common. When a woman fills a board seat, there’s a 32 percent chance she’s already served as a director at another company, the study found. When a man does, there’s a 23 percent chance he’s already held a seat. The gap suggests that women disproportionately face the old Catch-22: To get chosen to be on a board, they already have to be on a board.

The problem, says John Roe, managing director of ISS Analytics, which conducted the study of 105,000 directorships, is that most board members get hired on the recommendation of existing directors, who are mostly male and whose networks tend to consist of people who look like themselves. A PwC study last year found that 87 percent of boards relied on member recommendations, contributing to what it called the “same old, same old” effect.”

Read the full story by FOLLOWING THIS LINK.

Share this:

Are you a Girl Attorney?


Join the Directory!
SIGN UP