MAKING IT ON THE INSIDE Interview by Sue Van Der Hout
Thriving in a firm. It can be done. Lauren Stiller Rikleen, is a senior partner at the law firm Bowditch & Dewey and author of the book "Ending the Gauntlet: Removing Barriers to Women´s Success in the Law." She´s married to a lawyer and has two children. Both have faced the challenges of achieving family/work balance. In a hard-driving profession in one of the toughest marketplaces in the country, she has focused her sights on what women and the profession need to do to make the practice of law one in which women are not an exception, but a "rule of law".
Most of the reports on women in law are negative. What do you see as the challenge? Is it unrealistic expectations? The training method? The challenges of practice? That billing creates a premium on hours? All of the above?
Although women and men face similar challenges in what has become an
increasingly difficult professional environment, women still face additional
barriers based on their gender. Women I interviewed for Ending the Gauntlet
described a variety of issues which impeded their career success, for
example, the types of cases they are assigned, difficulties in business
development, unexamined gender biases that impact how they are perceived,
etc. When women become mothers, they face even greater challenges. Firms
do not see how hard women work to juggle both their work and family
responsibilities, so they incorrectly conclude women are less "committed"
based on false assumptions.
Large corporations manage to groom people and yet only reward a few with the top jobs? Can law firms groom people, build teams and yet earn the big bucks?
The way in which "success" is defined by, essentially, becoming an "owner"
(that is, a partner) has become an antiquated measure in today´s business
and economic climate. Just as corporations have flatter structures and more
management and other opportunities to advance, law firms need to rethink
their structure and find more and better ways to broaden the definition of
success. Too many talented women are leaving - at a huge cost to the firms
themselves. Firms pay too little attention to the tremendous economic costs
of attrition. A better management model is likely to yield greater economic
success, not less.
One of our goals in creating the Bowditch Institute for Women´s Success is
to offer firms a confidential assessment of their own workplace culture - to
work with them, through confidential interviews and reviewing their
policies, etc., in identifying their own institutional and cultural barriers
that impede women´s success, and to make recommendations for positive
change. Firms could benefit greatly by looking within to their own unique
challenges, and by being willing to create an environment that promotes
positive change.
No-one can thrive in any job all of the time. What are the factors that contribute to a thriving legal environment? What detract from it?
People thrive in a job that challenges them intellectually and provides an
environment where they feel their work matters and is appreciated. Law
firms generally pay too little attention to the management needs of their
talent - that is, the people doing the work. A service business exists
because of its human capital. To create an environment where this talent
can thrive requires focused attention to the management side of the house -
developing enthusiasm for the work, providing challenging assignments,
creating an environment where people work as teams and not as competitors,
and recognizing that dedicated professionals should be provided the
flexibility needed to juggle their myriad family responsibilities as well.
What makes the difference between winning and losing environments?
In her terrific book, Confidence - How Winning Streaks and Losing Streaks
Begin and End, Rosabeth Moss Kanter looks exactly at that issue, analyzing
the common elements of a winning environment. She explores examples of
winning and losing streaks, and reaches fascinating conclusions about the
importance of building an environment that creates confidence, that
cultivates collaboration, and that inspires initiative and innovation. Of
course, underlying these elements is the importance of leaders dedicated to
building a winning environment.
Another of my goals in creating the Bowditch Institute for Women´s Success
is to work with law firms and women in law firms to help create strategies
for success. Women are looking for ways to navigate their own career
success, and law firms are wise to commit the resources and create the
environment that helps all of their attorneys succeed, because the costs of
continued skyrocketing attrition is just too high.
How can a woman realize her desire to be an excellent lawyer and a loving partner and mother? What kind of partners at work and at home does she need to get there?
Every woman I interviewed expressed their concerns about this dilemma. And
we are hardest on ourselves in our own judgments about how we are doing.
For me, a critical aspect of this is flexibility. Sometimes we need to
spend the afternoon at the pediatrician´s or at our child´s school,
necessitating our getting our work done at night. We have to create work
environments that respect these issues in people´s lives. I also recommend
that we not lose sight of the importance of our families as we try to meet
the day-to-day challenges of our work. Our children grow up too quickly,
and I often think of the important words attributed to the late Speaker of
the House, Tip O´Neill (from the great state of Massachusetts): "No one
ever said on their deathbed that they wished they spent more time at the
office."
06.11.2007
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