Women's experiences differ from men's-and affect their longevity in law, survey finds

• Author: Liane Jackson
• Pages: 64-64

on women than men.”

But there was one common

denominator: Men and women both

had comparable overall satisfaction

with the practice of law, a statistic

that researchers say underscores that

women don’t want to leave—they feel

pushed out.

“Just having the data is critical,”

said Roberta Liebenberg, co-chair

of the initiative’s advisory council

and senior partner at Fine, Kaplan

and Black in Philadelphia. “We

really hope to switch mindsets so

law fi rm leaders start understanding

the importance of retaining senior

women lawyers. Because if senior

women lawyers keep leaving the

profession, we are never going to

get over 20 percent equity partners

because we won’t have the bodies

to do it.” —Liane Jackson

Women’s experiences di er

from men’s—and a ect their

longevity in law, survey fi nds

Women in law already face unique

challenges, and a new study appears

to show that a large number of

female attorneys with more than

20 years of pratice are leaving the

profession.

That issue was highlighted dur-

ing the ABA panel discussion “Long-

Term Careers for Women in Law:

What’s Pushing Women Out and

What Can We Do to Keep Them in

the Profession?” during the ABA

Annual Meeting in Chicago.

Preliminary results from a sur-

vey of 1,300 respondents from the

nation’s 350 largest fi rms, con-

ducted in partnership with ALM

Intelligence, underscored the dispa-

rate challenges, stereotypes and bur-

dens female lawyers face compared to

their male colleagues, even at the

senior level. For example:

• 81 percent of

women say they were

mistaken for a lower-

level employee, but

this didn’t happen to

men.

• 60 percent of

women said they’d left

fi rms because of caretak-

ing commitments, com-

pared to 46 percent of

men.

• 54 percent of women

said they were responsible

for arranging child care,

as opposed to 1 percent of

men.

• 39 percent of women

said the task of cooking

meals fell on their shoul-

ders, compared to 11 per-

cent of men.

• 34 percent of women

say they leave

work for chil-

dren’s needs,

versus 5 percent

of men.

“Too

many

great minds are leaving the pro-

fession,” said JoAnne Epps, execu-

tive vice president and provost of

Temple University and former dean

of Temple Law School.

“Everyone needs to

care about that—not

just women, not just

men. I really believe

that what we bring is

valuable, and our loss

is signifi cant. If people

recognize it’s a crisis,

it’s a step in the pro-

cess to fi x this.”

FIX THE WORKPLACE

Dismal longevity

statistics for senior

female lawyers

prompted a groundbreaking focus on

the issue by the ABA under the lead-

ership of then-President Hilarie Bass.

Her initiative, “Achieving Long-Term

Careers for Women in Law” included

focus groups and research to deter-

mine best practices to promote suc-

cess for senior female attorneys.

“We don’t say ‘fi x the women;’ we

say let’s fi x the workplace so these

talented women have a good basis

for staying in the legal profession,”

said Stephanie Scharf, co-chair of

the presidential initiative’s advisory

council and a partner at Scharf Banks

Marmor in Chicago.

Joyce Sterling, senior researcher

for the presidential initiative and

emeritus professor of legal ethics

and the legal profession at the

University of Denver’s Sturm College

of Law, said: “The set of social con-

straints had a much larger impact

Roberta Liebenberg (left) and JoAnne Epps at “Long-Term

Careers for Women in Law: Wh at’s Pushing Women Out and

What Can We Do to Keep Them in the Professio n?”

Bryan Stevenson was keynote

speaker at the General Assembly

during the annual meeting. He

received the ABA Medal, the

ABA’s highest honor.

PHOTOS BY KATHY ANDERSON; KORNIAKOVA SVETLANA; JAMES PINTAR

Your ABA || ANNUAL MEETING REPORT

64 || ABA JOURNAL OCTOBER 2018