LAW + WOMEN = POWER Interview by Sue Van Der Hout
Vicki Donlan is successful and she wants women throughout America to share that success. Her book - HER TURN, Why It’s Time For Women To Lead in America is available now. In it she turns her journalistic eye on lawyers. So we asked her to comment about the state of the union in relation to female lawyers. The formula is simple: Law + Women = Power.
Why does Law + Women = Power?
We all agree that the legal profession and those in it hold the power in America. Did you know that 24 of our 43 presidents have been lawyers? Corporations depend on law firms across the country to keep them in compliance with major legislation such as Sarbanes Oxley and even our nonprofit and charitable organizations must rely on the legal profession to guide them. You can’t get married or divorced, be born or die, buy a house or sell a piece of property, or even give a substantial sum of money without consulting a lawyer.
Is this powerful profession really open to women?
The management system at most law firms across America has not kept up with the societal changes in our workplace and culture.
Women are 30.2 percent of the legal profession and comprise nearly 50 percent of all law school classes in America today – an amazing change in the past 87 years from when the legal profession was completely closed to women.
The average law firm requires between 2000 and 2300 billable hours per year and with the potential for a 24/7 work week most lawyers, male and female, are feeling burnt out. Many choose to go in-house as general counsels at a client firm assuming that the work/life balance may be more attainable. Others choose public service and other areas of legal work in avoidance of the law firm structure – better named straitjacket – that often comes with the position.
But whether men or women decide to stick with the rigorous law firm schedule and choose the path to partner, women still find the path bumpier. Women are less likely to be given the opportunities of partnership as too often it is assumed she isn’t interested in the extra client work, the travel, the long hours and a number of other conjectures that go along with being moms and/or wives. And if that isn’t enough, a female lawyer’s pay differs from her male counterpart by $20,500. Even if she makes partner, she finds she an $80,000 annual pay disparity between herself and her male equity partner, according to the 2006 National Survey on Retention and Promotion of Women in Law Firms.
So how do women help each other in the legal professional and more important help the profession bring greater diversity to the law?
Every woman at every law firm must advocate for work/life balance – not just for women but for men. The demands of our 24/7 technologically-advanced world doesn’t work any better for men then women. Face time at the office doesn’t translate into better work for the client or greater productivity.
What will it take for women to lead in the law?
You need to hire a woman, promote a woman, and yes vote for a woman. We have a very good chance of having our 44th president be a lawyer and a woman – it’s time!
06.11.2007
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