With the recent headlines about alleged discriminatory pay practices brought by an accomplished female partner at Chadbourne & Parke, on the one hand, and Donald Trump’s comments that Hillary Clinton doesn’t “look Presidential,” on the other, I’ve started to have flashbacks about some of my experiences as a woman lawyer in a historically male-dominated profession. While women have come a long way in the profession (and society) since I started practicing law in 1993, these headlines are an important reminder to all of us that we aren’t at the finish line yet.
At the beginning of my career, most of the lawyers who hired me had just turned 50 or were about to turn 50. None of those lawyers were women, and like many lawyers of my generation, I never had the opportunity to regularly work on matters generated or managed by a woman lawyer. As I approach my 50th birthday next year, it has been gratifying to recognize that, despite obstacles along the way, and no consistent female role models in my midst (other than Katie Couric, and her female successors, on the “Today Show”), when I take stock of the matters with which I have been entrusted, and the revenue I have been able to generate, it appears that, somehow, I am getting to the same place as were those lawyers who hired me at the beginning of my career. Of course, this required a lot of hard work and help along the way. Because of a dearth of female role models, it wasn’t always clear that it was possible for me, as a woman lawyer, to get to this point.
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