You now have had the chance to consider the challenge of the last blog:  How was being pregnant going to affect the greatest courtroom opportunity of my early but developing career?  If you did not read it before, here it is again.

Many of you will be pregnant at some time during your careers, and, just as the work-life struggle affects women lawyers with family responsibilities more than it affects male lawyers with families, even being pregnant can affect you adversely in the workplace, limit some of your opportunities and just plain cause you to be treated differently.  Most women lawyers want courtroom experience just as much as their male colleagues.  Getting it, however, can be a little more complicated for a woman, as you will see.

There was a lot riding on the case for our client, the product manufacturer, in this pioneering litigation.  (If you don’t know about Toxic Shock Syndrome, there are products involved.  Look it up!)  That is why I was so sure that I would be taking a huge risk by disclosing my pregnancy, and it was a real dilemma for me.

On the one hand, I weighed the benefits and the possible risks, and I knew that the conservative route would be to disclose the pregnancy and chance punting on a great trial experience.  On the other hand, our position was strong, I knew that there was a real possibility that the case would settle before any signs of a baby bump, and I REALLY wanted to see that case through. 

So … I kept my impending motherhood — and my serious morning sickness —  to myself until the case settled— when I was more than five months pregnant!  I made the announcement to my trial team as we walked away from the courthouse after the settlement!  What I would have done if the case had not settled is not clear.  But, it all worked in my favor, and I didn’t have to think about it.

Women should not be put in these kinds of situations, but sometimes it is unavoidable.  In those days, there was no open discussion about things like pregnancy.  Firms hadn’t thought through how to handle it, and women lawyers didn’t bring it up.

      Although things are different today and being a pregnant lawyer is hardly a problem these days, you will have your own similar and delicate challenges, and you will need to know how to handle them.  So, here is my best advice for achieving success in these kinds of situations:

• Be prepared for everything;

• Think like the lawyer you are—even if your hormones are raging;

• Be professional in the way you handle challenges;

• Put yourself in the shoes of your superiors and consider it from their perspectives;

• Don’t automatically assume that people are being unfair to you;

•  Look for challenging legal experiences that will take you to the next level professionally;

• Don’t forfeit good experience unless it cannot be avoided; and always
  

• Find good mentors and sponsors, and make sure that some of them are women who can teach you these things. 

          Best of luck.  My experience tells me that you will need it!

So, you already know from my last blog that I am excited about the new OnRamp Fellowship.  You also know that sit, sit, sit and talk, talk, talk is not my style.  I like programs that move the marker forward and achieve positive results.  The OnRamp Fellowship has the potential for all of that and more.

Caren Ulrich Stacy, a recruitment, development, and diversity veteran with 20 years of experience consulting to law firms, is behind the OnRamp Fellowship.  She envisioned a program to match experienced women lawyers, who wished to return to the profession, with a one-year paid training contract, AND, so far, she has sold the concept to four major law firms.  Baker Botts, Cooley, Hogan Lovells, and Sidley Austin are “all in” for the inaugural pilot program.  Bravo to Caren and the participating law firms.  It is about time.

This is how it works.  The women lawyers are assured complex legal assignments and ongoing feedback and support for their work.  In exchange, the law firms gain access to highly-qualified talent while also increasing gender diversity, which we all know clients are demanding more and more these days.  In-house counsel want to see women lawyers on their teams, and the law firms know it.  More than that, the general counsel have the clout to get it in today’s high competition for clients.

Carter Phillips, chair of Sidley’s Executive Committee, summarized it like this:  “[T]his valuable program … presents an excellent opportunity for talented women who left the practice of law to return to full-time practice on a partnership track.  We hope that the OnRamp Fellowship will create a viable, consistent pipeline of female lateral candidates, something that will benefit the legal profession as a whole, as well as our own firm.”

In other words, the concept behind the OnRamp Fellowship is a win-win for the women attorneys, the firms and the legal profession.  This trifecta sounds a lot like the mission to raise retention rates for women lawyers that I have been writing about and speaking about for years.  And, as it turns out, when I contacted Caren Ulrich Stacy to congratulate her on this exciting inaugural program, I discovered that she has been a fan of Best Friends at the Bar for years.  You know I like to hear that, and I hope we can join forces at some point to improve the future for women lawyers.

Of course, as you would expect, the OnRamp Fellowship program is competitive.  The threshold requirements for the candidates is at least three years experience in practice and a hiatus of at least two years.  The participating law firms will choose from among qualified applicants, who are required to complete a rigorous screening and interview process, which includes personality, skills, values, and writing assessments.  The lucky winners will have unlimited access to online CLE, training in areas of negotiations, business development and leadership, and one-on-one coaching by legal-career counseling experts.  Selected fellows are expected to begin work at firms between late April 2014 and early May 2014.

For more on the On-Ramp Fellowship, read the On-Ramp Fellowship Press Release.

Hat’s off to Caren Ulrich Stacy for the vision and to the participating law firms for the support and faith in the program.  They are singing the BFAB tune, and this is music to my ears!