Intimidation and the culture of avoidance: gender issues and mentoring in law firm practice.

• Author: McManus, Elizabeth K.
• Position: Professional Challenges in Large Firm Practices

1. MENTORING AND WOMEN'S ADVANCEMENT IN LAW FIRM HIERARCHY

   While women are gaining equal access to the legal profession at the ground level, they have yet to achieve similar entree to the upper echelons of law firm practice. Women currently constitute almost fifty percent of J.D. enrollment in ABA approved law schools (1) and women in law firms nationwide represent 42.4 percent of associates. (2) Yet they represent only 16.3 percent of partners (3) and five percent of managing partners in large firms: The increased number of women law students and new women associates creates the mistaken belief that "'the women problem' has been solved" (5) and that women in law firms are on equal footing. (6) What is clear from these numbers, however, is that "[i]n law, as in life, women are underrepresented at the top and overrepresented at the bottom." (7)

   Many factors challenge women's progress in law firms, including family issues, time commitments, lack of bona fide "part-time" options, sexual harassment, gender stereotyping, "rainmaking" difficulties, and lack of mentoring. (8) Many well-researched studies help explain the difference between the number of women in law school and the number of women advancing in big firm practice? Because the possible explanations are so vast and varied, this essay does not exhaustively treat all the issues confronting women in big firm practice, nor does it explore the even more difficult path encountered by minority attorneys in the workplace. (10) Instead, the purpose of this essay is to explore how the presence or absence of a mentor impacts both quality of life and potential for success in a law firm, especially for women lawyers.

   The reality is that "[w]omen who are not mentored are in fact less likely to advance." (11) Without mentoring,

    [f]emale lawyers remain out of the loop of career development. They aren't adequately educated in the organization's unstated practices and politics. They aren't given enough challenging, high visibility assignments. They aren't included in social events that yield professional opportunities. And they aren't helped to acquire the legal and marketing skills that are central to advancement. (12) 

   This exclusion results in a negative cycle, where women who do not advance are more likely to leave law firms and "[t]heir disproportionate attrition then reduces the pool of mentors for lawyers of similar background, and perpetuates the assumptions that perpetuate the problem." (13) The fewer women who are mentored, the fewer of them there are to rise to the top to act as mentors to new women associates. (14)

   Mentoring opportunities are a necessary part of adequate career development. A good mentor acts as an advisor, teacher, exemplar, and career advocate. A good mentor can also acquaint a new associate with firm culture and client relations, and can help groom the associate for partnership. (15) The road to success is often paved by a good mentor: "those in the legal profession who climb the ladder to success and those who are well integrated in the workplace proceed along tracks that are made available for them on courses that depend on assistance from experienced elders and gatekeepers." (16)

   An associate can benefit from a mentoring relationship on many levels. A mentor can listen to an associate's concerns and questions about assignments and work-life balance, and can discuss his or her own encounters with similar dilemmas. (17) In terms of career development, a mentor can give the plum assignments to his or her mentee and can ensure that the associate is exposed to a wide range of work experiences. This is especially critical as some junior women associates complain that they are not given assignments that place them firmly on a career track. (18) Finally, there is the validation that comes with knowing that someone you admire thinks that you are worth helping. (19)

   What goes on outside of the office is, perhaps, the most important part of the mentoring relationship. After the deal is closed or the case is settled, informal mentoring takes place over dinner or drinks. (20) In such settings, senior attorneys and their mentees can truly get to know one another and find common interests. Informal settings also provide mentees with a place to interact with clients outside of the firm and learn about client relationships from experienced attorneys. (21)

   Despite the importance of informal interaction, this is where women suffer most from lack of mentoring. (22) In a survey taken by the New York State Bar Association, "96% of the male respondents but only 69% of the female respondents for whom it applied, agreed that opportunities to engage in activities out of the office (i.e., social or sporting events) were equally available for women and men." (23) The issue becomes a question of why--why are women being excluded from informal mentoring opportunities and why aren't more partners reaching out to provide this vital aspect of legal training? Before answering this question, it is important to address why law firms should be concerned about mentoring and what incentives there are to ensure that adequate mentoring exists.

2. WHY SHOULD BIG FIRMS WORRY ABOUT MENTORING?

   Mentoring helps women advance in law firm hierarchy. (24) There is, however, an alternative way to express its value: diversity in the upper echelons of law firm partnership and management may help firms bring in or retain business.

   The general counsel of Wal-Mart, the largest retailer in the United States. (25) has made clear to its top 100 law firms that "at least one person of color and one woman must be among the top five relationship attorneys that handle its business." (26) Other big businesses have followed suit: Visa International, Del Monte, Pitney Bowes, and Cox Communications now require outside counsel to "demonstrate that there are substantive numbers of women and minority lawyers in the upper levels of their firms." (27) When big businesses like Wal-Mart spend up to $200 million per year on outside legal services (28) and demand that women be present at the top, there is more than simply an altruistic incentive to ensure that women stay and excel in law firms. If the opinion of Wal-Mart's general counsel and the recent trend in other corporations is any indication, law firms have even more incentive to mentor women associates as lack of women in top firm positions may ultimately hurt a firm's business prospects. (29)

   Wal-Mart's initiative is one example of how businesses pressure law firms to increase the number of women and minority lawyers at their upper levels. Another source of pressure comes from women who have left large law firms to work as in-house attorneys and are now in the position to purchase legal services. (30) Women who work in-house can steer where work goes and are likely to send business to women in law firms because "[flew female attorneys fail to perceive the plight of women in the legal profession, especially the plight of women in private firms." (31)

   In addition to wooing clients, mentoring women can be financially beneficial to law firms by helping them retain current associates. Junior associates who are not mentored miss out on an important aspect of their training and many respond by leaving their current firms. (32) Lack of mentoring has a negative impact not only on associates, but on firm finances as well:

    Firms commonly complain that "greedy" associates train at the firm's expense for three years and then leave, taking with them the firm's investment in their development. For their part, dissatisfied junior and midlevel associates claim that they feel abandoned, untrained, and unappreciated by their law firms,

   and with no personal connection to their firms or colleagues, willingly change jobs solely for better pay. Attrition costs firms

   between $200,000 and $500,000 per associate, including lost revenues, lost training expenses, lost institutional knowledge, and replacement costs. (33)

   The losses incurred by departing associates provide even more financial motivation for firms to aggressively encourage mentoring as part of associate retention plans. But this begs the question: if mentoring makes financial sense and is a key part of associate training, where has all the mentoring gone?

3. THE INTIMIDATION FACTOR AND A CULTURE OF AVOIDANCE

   Young women associates are not adequately mentored because lawyers are...