From the welcoming remarks by GT Law professor Elizabeth “Ginger” Hayes Patterson, who put things in perspective in terms of how far women have come and how for they still need to go, to panels on “Women in Cyber Security” and “Why Women Don’t Ask” and “Is In-House Counsel Women’s Work?” to the awards presented to outstanding women alumnae, it was an action-packed day full of thought-provoking dialogue and inspiring stories from the women honorees.  Here are some of my favorite take-aways:

• You must take risks with your career plan and be open to opportunities.  You need to think about yourself as the client and ask what YOU want and how you can get it;
• Do not be afraid to ask for what you want and do not take rejection personally;
• You must create a “brand” for yourself and what you want your career to look like.  You must be true to your own personal style in developing that brand;
• You must be visible and stake out territory that will make you more visible;
• Be ambitious.  It is not a bad thing.  Your main goal is not to be liked;
• You must create value in your early years of practice to have bargaining power to get what you want in later years.  Your goal should not be to act like a man but to create value as a woman and use that value to accomplish your career goals; and
• You must be your own best advocate.

And more!  Tune in to Thursday’s blog for more wisdom from the participants in the GT Women’s  Forum.  You will be glad you did.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Peter F. Drucker

By the time that you have graduated from college and are applying to graduate school, you have lived a lot of places and have had a lot of jobs.  If you are like me, you had a different residence every year of college, and you often had other residences during the summers.  The same was true for jobs.  Yes, you say, so what?  Here’s what.

Every one of those addresses—-and a contact at the leasing company—-and information about past employers can become information that you need for graduate school applications.  That becomes exponentially true after you graduate from law school and are applying to sit for the bar exam.  The bar examiners want to know EVERYTHING about you.  And it does not stop there,  When you pass the bar exam—and you will—the bar association wants to know EVEN MORE about you when you apply for membership.  And then, when you are applying for jobs and receive an offer of employment, it starts all over again.

It becomes a big pain in the neck to garner all that information on short notice.  The solution, of course, is to keep good records as all of this happens.  Buy yourself a small spiral notebook—like the one I carry in my bag at all times because I must write EVERYTHING down at this point in my life—and keep a record of your prior residences, including addresses and zip codes, the name of the person you dealt with at the leasing company, your employment information, and any other important details that you might need to access later for what will seem like top security clearance applications related to becoming a lawyer.

Fortunately, you all have cell phones these days, and your cell phone numbers rarely change.   At least you can get in touch with your former roommates, who might remember more about your past than you do.  However, keeping your own records is so much easier and tends to annoy those former roommates a lot less.

Other information that can go in that handy-dandy spiral notebook includes bank account types and numbers.  Have you ever been on hold with a bank trying to get that information when you cannot remember your pin number or your grandmother’s maiden name?  Trust me, you do not want to go there……  The spiral notebook is SO much easier.

I hope that my starts and fits with information gathering seem a little more serious to you now.  It is frustrating and exhausting and does absolutely nothing for a positive self image.

Do not do as I do!  You can do so much better.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

This popular networking event for Washington DC area business women will be held on Thursday, June 13, 2013 from 6 to 7:30 PM at the Sofitel located at

806 15th Street, NW
Lafayette Square
Washington, DC 20005

Join Us For Cocktails + Connect this Thursday!
Find out how to define your own success
With Susan Smith Blakely

Register on line at http://www.womensweekly-wdc.com.
$50 per person includes complimentary, first-ever signature WOMEN’S WEEKLY cocktail, wine, or beverage & truly timeless French hors doeuvres with a contemporary twist.

WASHINGTON WOMEN’S WEEKLY is an e-publication that shares news, knowledge and networking events to connect and build alliances among professional women. Sign-up to receive news and invitation: www. womensweekly-wdc.com

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/coach-me-network/id477516284.

Just scroll down to the June 4, 2013 show and listen up!  It’s free!

Hope you enjoy listening!

Women’s Initiatives and Diversity Committees were first introduced in law firms at about the same time that corporate clients began demanding more diversity from the law firms that served them as outside counsel.  Many large corporations signed a Call To Action in 2004, which pledged them to efforts to encourage more diversity and inclusion from their legal representatives.  That Call To Action was initiated by companies like DuPont, Walmart and Sarah Lee and has been signed by hundreds more companies to date.  The interest by corporate clients soon led to Women’s Initiatives and Diversity Committees at law firms, in recognition of the serious demands for inclusion and diversity by clients and, presumably, the advisability of focusing on these issues to advance the careers of minority lawyers.

At first, the Women’s Initiatives flourished in law firms across the country, but, now, ten years later, many of those initiatives have lost momentum. Why?  What has made the difference?  What can we do to breathe life back into some of the foundering Women’s Initiatives?

These subjects were addressed at the Women Legal Conference in NYC last week.  Both corporate in-house counsel and law firm leaders agreed that these initiatives often lack the right focus and have not been utilized in ways that assure the best results for women in the law firms.  It was universally agreed that these Women’s Initiatives should not be “gripe” sessions focusing on negative experiences and assigning negative motives to management.  Rather, these initiatives should be positive and should be focused on advancing women and equipping them to be successful lawyers and effective law firm leaders.

Here are some of the suggestions voiced at the conference:

• A successful Women’s Initiative should focus on advancing women lawyers within the context of the overall goals of the law firm.  The mission of the Women’s Initiative should be tied to law firm goals to assure conceptual buy-in from law firm leadership and management and the funding that is necessary to produce the programs and events to accomplish the mission.  This generally starts with a Proposal to leadership and management outlining the mission and measurable goals of the Women’s Initiative and how those goals are consistent with the goals of the law firm.
• A successful Women’s Initiative should focus on training young women lawyers to understand the business of law and the metrics that are used to evaluate individual attorney performance and the overall economic success of the law firm.
• A successful Women’s Initiative should include training young women lawyers to network, develop clients, ascend to leadership positions, and take risks and operate outside individual comfort zones; and
• A successful Women’s Initiative should include a mentoring program, which includes both male and female mentors for young women lawyers.

This is just the beginning.  Once the law firm leadership and management stop wondering what is going on “behind the closed doors” of the Women’s Initiative, there is so much that can be accomplished by these groups to help young women develop satisfying and successful legal careers at law firms.

Including the men in the effort is critical to success, and being exclusive will not be helpful in reaching the goals of a Women’s Initiative.  Women have been critical of being excluded by men in the past, and women today cannot expect men to react positively to being excluded.  The issues of inclusion and diversity are law firm problems, and the male lawyers should be included in the decision-making and the planning for best results.  There also is great potential for including clients in some of the programs and soliciting client input into the program planning.

So, take a look at your law firm’s Women’s Initiative and see if it needs some new life breathed into it.  If your firm does not have a Women’s Initiative, become part of the effort to establish one.  The recession has caused funding for some of these programs to suffer, and now, as the economy appears to be showing signs of improvement, may be the perfect time to assess the needs of your Women’s Initiative and help revive it.  This would be a good use of your time and an opportunity to demonstrate leadership—-especially if you are able to show an understanding of the law firm’s goals and how helping women achieve their professional goals also can help the law firm.

Go for it—-and let me know how it turns out!

Swedish Proverb

Thomas Jefferson