TODAY IS THE DAY! The new Best Friends at the Bar book is being released by Wolters Kluwer Law & Business today. Best Friends at the Bar: The New Balance for Today’s Woman Lawyer is a book that all young women lawyers should read, whether they are currently experiencing the work/life struggle or anticipating the work/life struggle that can result from the conflict of profession, home and family. The new book digs deeper into the work/life challenges and helps women lawyers achieve balance and have successful and satisfying careers.
Judith Areen, former Dean of Georgetown University Law Center and current professor at the Law Center, recognizes the value of the Best Friends at the Bar project in her Foreword to the new book:
“Susan Blakely wants to make success easier for today’s women lawyers. She understands work-life struggles and the challenge of being part of a male-dominated profession, and she refuses to accept the inevitability of very low retention rates for women lawyers. She has taken on the challenge in an impressive way … and she readily admits that she is on a mission.”
From Foreword by Judith Areen, Dean, Georgetown University Law Center
Best Friends at the Bar: The New Balance for Today’s Woman Lawyer continues the discussion of the low retention rates for women in the law and is full of practical information to assist young women lawyers find the help they need to achieve the balance they want in chapters like:
- You Really Need to Put Yourself First
- You Really Need to Gain Perspective
- You Really Need Time and How to Get It and
- You Really Need to Keep Your Options Open
The book also addresses transitions from one practice setting to another and includes profiles of twelve women lawyers who were successful in transitioning from law firm practices to alternative practice settings. These profiles include: The former General Counsel of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) and current professor at the University of Michigan Law School; the General Counsel of New York University; the Inspector General of the US Department of Education and Chair of the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board; the Managing Partner of a large international law firm; and a leading expert on negotiations and alternate dispute resolution and media contributor.
For more information or to order Best Friends at the Bar: The New Balance for Today’s Woman Lawyer, visit www.bestfriendsatthebar.com, where the book is available from the publisher, Barnesandnoble.com and Amazon.com.
Be the first to have it and to share it with the young women lawyers in your life!
Best Friends at the Bar is growing, and the message is catching on. If you have a personal definition of success as a woman lawyer that meets the needs of your personal life, you can have it all. You may not be able to “have it all” at all times in your life, but you can have some of it all of the time and all of it some of the time. That will be the true balance that is achievable and will lead to great professional and personal satisfaction.
You do not have to be a partner in a law firm to have a successful and satisfying professional life. Anticipate your needs, make choices and a plan that meets those needs, and bring balance to your life. Best Friends at the Bar: The New Balance for Today’s Woman Lawyer will help you to find that balance and make is sustainable.
Thanks to all of my supporters for staying true to the Best Friends at the Bar project and helping to make this new book a reality. It has been gratifying to see the project grow and to experience the positive effect it is having on so many young women lawyers. We are not finished. There is still much work to be done, and your support and enthusiasm encourages me each and every day.
Be a friend of Best Friends at the Bar and help spread the word about the books and the services. Make new friends for the project and help reverse the low retention rates for women lawyers and retain talent for the benefit of the profession. You will be glad you did!
