March 20, 2008
 If there’s one question that I hear more than any other, it’s probably “What do women lawyers want?” I’ll admit that the question usually causes me to sigh, because the truth for me and, I suspect, for many others is that women lawyers want pretty much what any lawyer wants: a strong practice, good clients, interesting and skilled colleagues, and a personal life that works. Where that answer gets interesting for women (and for men, though they’re asked far less often) is in the tensions that exist between work and home, between being an “accomplished professional” and a “nice girl” and so on.
The latest issue of The Complete Lawyer addresses this question through the eyes of a number of authors. Time doesn’t permit me to highlight all of the articles that so richly deserve to be highlighted, but here are a few selections:
Holly English (president of the National Association of Women Lawyer) writes, “We’ve been talking about gender issues for 20 years. Enough already with cataloguing the problems! Let’s see some progress!” Progress would include equal pay, reasonable hours, and adequate numbers of women in leadership positions. The bottom line: “Increasingly, younger practitioners are voting with their feet, preferring a workplace that is sympathetic to lifestyle considerations rather than those that view young associates as replaceable widgets. This brings pressure on the profession as it attempts to attract and retain the best and brightest. The only way to do so will be to be responsive to these concerns.”
Paulette Brown writes, “Women Lawyers Want What Every Other Lawyer Wants: Success with all its attendant components.” So, what challenges stand in the way? “Consider three generally accepted principles for success: work ethic, presentation and relationship building. Long established vestiges of our society, such as traditional gender roles and expectations, the male/woman power dynamic and institutional biases, add another layer of complexity to these challenges. These factors are prevalent within society in general, but are particularly prevalent within the legal profession.”
My answer to the question is summarized quickly: Women lawyers want the whole enchilada. That means succeeding in the practice of law, doing so in ways that draw on their unique strengths and perspectives, and having the freedom to succeed and to make a professional contribution in a way that fairly honors their choices about whether to have a family and, if so, how to manage those demands.
I’d like to highlight other articles, and may do so in the next several days.  But if you’re interesting in what matters to women lawyers, you must read this issue of The Complete Lawyer.
Welcome back!
Holly has hit it right on the mark. Also this hit home for me after my latest post at Power of Attorney The younger lawyers aren’t shy about stepping out on their own or onto alternative paths and this has in the case of the more progressive firms and will in others undoubtedly lead to a reassessment of many of the traditional management/employment practices in the law work environment. For us to force more than dialogue on the issues some of us will have to do more than shatter the glass ceiling. We will have to burst the bubble of the old boy network. If we leave and keep leaving the whole shebang will crumble. Some managers are waking up to the future.