What Women and Millennial Lawyers Need to Know — Courtesy of Bast Amron in Miami

Posted on November 13, 2019

Last Friday I was a panelist at a Business Advantage Forum hosted by the Bast Amron litigation and business law firm in Miami. What a treat! The day-long program provided candid and refreshing conversations about the state of business and law in the age of #MeToo and multi-generations in the workplace. I enjoyed the opportunity to meet and dialogue with dynamic business leaders and attorneys in the Miami area, and I learned a lot — always an important criterion for a successful program.

What made this experience so unique was the recognition by firm leaders that a culture of assisting clients, collaborating with colleagues and giving back to community is a winning combination. It did not surprise me to hear that on Monday mornings the lawyers and staff at Bast Amron meet to review last week’s work and give recognition for work well done.

Bast Amron clearly knows that best practices includes building a powerful and welcoming workplace, which encourages growth and gains an edge on the competition. The folks at Bast Amron also are master marketers, who know how to engage clients and audiences on cutting edge issues.

Here are some of the subjects addressed by the panels:

Why more women are succeeding as entrepreneurs and business leaders;
Why hiring and advancing women in leadership roles attracts top talent and improves company and law firm cultures;
Why inter-generational team building is valuable for recruiting and also leads to creative solutions for complex problems; and
The importance of social responsibility and community involvement by law firms and companies and how those roles enhance business.

Although I was a panelist in the discussion about millennials and inter-generational team building, you can image that I also took a deep dive during audience participation for the panel addressing women in the workplace. The discussion of issues surrounding #MeToo and appropriate treatment of women were especially lively and lead to an improved understanding of the responsibilities of all parties, including the responsibility to call out bad behaviors. I also enjoyed the comments by panelists about how women succeed by turning disadvantages into advantages —- very valuable lessons to learn early in careers.

The program concluded with a presentation by an expert on Predictive Index Behavioral Assessment as a tool for determining behaviors and assisting in hiring. It was fascinating until I had to run to catch a plane back to DC.

Thank you, Bast Amron for a thought-provoking day and the opportunity to engage with progressive minds. Keep up the good work!

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Are Civility and Respect Gone from Our Profession? Can Young Lawyers Make a Difference?

Posted on November 6, 2019

If you have read my new book about and for millennial lawyers, you know how much emphasis I put on civility and respect in law practice. I believe that it is at the core of what sets us aside as professionals, and we have a responsibility to protect it.

Sadly, we have seen a lot of civility and respect sacrificed on the altar of money and power in the last decades, and law practice has changed. Those changes are critical to who we are as professionals and what society thinks of us. They are also important to who we want to be as people. How we want to live our lives. What we want to think of ourselves.

As I wrote in What Millennial Lawyers Want: A Bridge from the Past to the Future of Law Practice (Wolters Kluwer/Aspen Publishers 2018), I see a pathway back to the days of greater civility and respect, and young lawyers have a critical role in achieving that goal. It was a bit of an epiphany when I discovered that the values of millennial lawyers are a mirror image of the values of Greatest Generation lawyers of mid 20th century America, who were my role models. And it gave me hope. It is why I wrote the book, and it is what I spend a lot of time explaining to law firm leaders and other audiences. It is hard to disregard the teachings of the Greatest Generation.

Take a look at this post on Above the Law for more on this subject. Hopefully you will remember the anecdotes shared there and delete the behaviors described from your lawyer repertoire. It is not necessary. It is not civil. It is not respectful. And it does not dignify you.

That post made me think about a conversation I had with my Dad, a Greatest Generation lawyer, when I was in my first years of litigation practice. I described to him my difficulty in scheduling a deposition because opposing counsel was being so uncooperative. My Dad was dumbstruck. His questions were so fundamental. Why should that be a problem? Can’t you just agree on a day and get a court reporter there? Are you sure there is not some misunderstanding?

Nope, Dad. No misunderstanding. Now everything is a power struggle. And we don’t go to lunch together afterward either.

Push back has become a major league sport in the law. Yelling, too. And, as pointed out by the writer in the ATL post, it rarely changes the outcome.

What it changes is us. It makes us less human. It makes us less professional. And it makes us less likely to respect ourselves.

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Why Young Lawyers Need Business Plans

Posted on October 30, 2019

As a young lawyer, a business plan may be the farthest thing from your mind. Billing hours, making your numbers, trying not to look stupid to the partner and, well, just surviving in law practice in the early years are what occupy you. I understand and remember.

But, don’t dismiss having a business plan as some other-worldly exercise that is not worthy of your time. It is more than worthy.

I have been preaching — yes, preaching — to young women lawyers about the importance of career plans for over a decade, and business plans are the same thing. All of you, male and female lawyers alike, need to have them. It is pretty simple: Where do you want your career to go, and how do you intend to get there?

Over the years I have emphasized creating career plans based on values. You have to identify the things that you value and do not want to sacrifice on the altar of a workaholic lifestyle, for example. Those values include questions about family, children, making a difference in your community, and doing work that interests you. Your plan needs to contemplate what legal setting works best with your values.

Your career plan — or business plan — is not going to look like anyone else’s. It is unique. It reflects who and what you are, and having it gives you confidence. It will be tweaked many times over the years, and that is the beauty of a plan that allows for flexibility and change. Once you have it, put it aside and concentrate on being the best lawyer you can be. That will give you valuable bargaining chips down the line. And from time to time revisit your plan and revise it as needed. Nothing is written in stone.

Now, my preaching is validated in an article that I want all of you to read. It is part of a series of articles by Lateral Link. As the name implies, the professionals there specialize in lateral movement among lawyers. But, even if you are not looking to switch jobs, the concepts addressed in the article are worth reading about. Here are some of those concepts:

Why a good business plan takes time;
How your business plan can be designed to highlight a key skill or specialty;
The role of substance and business development skills in your business plan; and
Uses for your business plan — now and in the future.

These are all important things to think about. Sure, the objective of the article is to attract young lawyers to the Lateral Link mantra, but the advice can be used more widely to get you in the right mindset for taking your career seriously.

Planning is just that. It is not taking action. It is planning for action and getting all your ducks in a row to act in your own best interest and protect your future. It is serious business, but it does not have to be taken seriously to the point of creating stress. Relax and start to think about your future in a strategic way.

Have fun with it.

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A Case of Outrageous Advice for Women In Business

Posted on October 23, 2019

Consider this advice for women in business:

Women’s brains absorb information like pancakes soak up syrup so it’s hard for them to focus. Men’s brains are more like waffles. They’re better able to focus because the information collects in each little waffle square.

Surely this would be from some gender-insensitive and stereotype-infused speaker or handbook of yore. That is what you would think. And you would be wrong.

And then imagine me as so completely shocked, dismayed and outraged when I read this quote in a recent article in Huffington Post Business that I let out a primal scream. For over a decade now, I have labored under the belief that accounting firms like Deloitte and EY continue to lead the way on issues of diversity and opportunities for women. After all, that is the way it was when I started the Best Friends at the Bar project in 2008 and when I routinely used practices at those firms as examples for law firms to follow.

Well, let me be clear, what you will read in the article is nothing that any law firm should follow or model. Not by a long shot. And certainly not today in the 21st Century when the subjects of gender bias , harassment and discrimination have been so thoroughly vetted that business leaders should know which subjects are definitely off limits.

Instead Ernst and Young chose, in 2018, to offer a program for its employees on the proper attire and behavior for women employees — specifically how to dress and act nicely around men — with some of the advice couched in terms of the negative influence of improper female attire and behavior on male employees.

Those poor, poor men, who cannot pay close attention unless women’s skin is completely covered. Rather than debunking the harmful stereotypes about women, female employees at Ernst and Young were being asked to learn how to live with those stereotypes.

No, I am not going to spoil the read for you. It is too unbelievable and therefore delectable to do that. I want you to savor each nugget of bad judgment on your own and, at the same time, wonder at the ineptitude of the mostly male leaders of business today. We only can hope that this particular affliction does not find its way into the hallowed halls of law firms — or that someone with real brains and business acumen will recognize it for the bad idea it is.

Shaming and blaming women is so yesterday. Continuing to make women the scapegoats for the shortcoming of men is something that is exhausting even to contemplate. Let’s get on with creating effective business and law firm leaders and using the talent of the males and females among us without the distraction of this kind of nonsense. Honestly, I thought I had heard the last of something so antiquated and harmful.

But, without being a spoiler, I do want to shed light on the defense that Ernst and Young raised when confronted with knowledge of the program contents. Typical responses were that quotes and facts had been taken out of context. Although that sometimes happens, all you have to do is read the following to dismiss the defense as inept. How many opportunities for misunderstanding can there be to the following quotes?

Don’t flaunt your body — sexuality scrambles the mind (for men and women); and
If you’re in a conversation with a man, cross your legs and sit at an angle to him. Don’t talk to a man face-to-face. Men see that as threatening.

And there was plenty of other red meat in the 55-page presentation.

Shame, shame. And not on women.

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How Women Lawyers Are Perceived: The Double Bind

Posted on October 16, 2019

Perception can be more important than fact. I learned that when I was Chief of Staff for an elected official. Politics is ripe for misperception, but the applications go far beyond that setting.

Women often are the unfortunate recipients of misperceptions. And that is especially true of women lawyers. For example, women lawyers often are judged in a harsher light than their male counterparts when they display assertiveness, self-promotion or anger, according to a survey conducted by the Center for WorkLife Law at UC Hastings College of Law for the ABA Commission on Women in the Profession and the Minority Corporate Counsel Association.

The survey asked male and female lawyers whether they felt free to express anger at work when it’s justified, whether they are rarely interrupted at work, and whether they felt penalized for assertive behavior.

Their answers differed based on gender and sometimes based on race and generated the following findings:

Fifty-six percent of white male lawyers felt free to express anger, compared to only 40 percent of women lawyers of color and 44 percent of white women lawyers;
Two-thirds of male lawyers said they were rarely interrupted, compared to half of the women lawyers; and
Sixty-two percent of white male lawyers said they are not penalized for being assertive, compared to only 46 percent of women lawyers of color and 48 percent of white women lawyers.

A separate study led by Arizona State University psychology professor Jessica Salerno looked at anger in the courtroom. The study, published in Law and Human Behavior, was summarized by Psychology Today, U.S. News & World Report and ASU Now.

In that study, nearly 700 people watched videos of male or female lawyers delivering closing arguments using angry tones, and study participants were questioned about whether they would hire the lawyers. The participants used positive aspects of the angry closings to justify hiring male lawyers but referred to negative aspects of anger to justify not hiring the female lawyers.

The male lawyers, who demonstrated anger, were perceived as commanding, powerful, competent and hirable. By contrast, the women lawyers who showed anger were identified as less competent, shrill, hysterical, grating and ineffective, according to the ASU Now article. Professor Salerno concluded, as reported in U.S. News, that the study demonstrated that female lawyers can be penalized for showing the same characteristics as male lawyers.

As a result of these studies, women need to think twice about how they present themselves at the office and in the courtroom. At the office, the reward is acceptance and promotion. In the courtroom, the reward is to win.

One female trial lawyer, who is also a former judge and prosecutor, acknowledges the double standard and accepts the challenge. However, she also has the following advice for women lawyers in the courtroom: Wear dresses, low heeled shoes, little to no jewelry, smile a lot but don’t appear to be laughing.

The courtroom double standard is also examined in an Atlantic article by University of San Francisco law professor Lara Bazelon, a former public defender who interviewed more than two dozen female trial lawyers about their experiences. Bazelon says that women lawyers have to deal with sexism and biases by judges, lawyers, jurors and clients.

She begins by citing a 2001 report concluding that women lawyers face a double standard/ double bind in which they must avoid being seen as too soft or too strident, and too aggressive or not aggressive enough. To test the thesis, she interviewed women lawyers and concluded that the double standard still exists today. All of the women interviewed agreed that abandoning traits associated with being female can severely hinder delivery of a zealous defense in particular.

Bazelon says she tells her law students that “their body and demeanor will be under relentless scrutiny from every corner of the courtroom [and] that they will have to pay close attention to what they wear and how they speak and move.”

Other women lawyers take a broader view and see it as a likability/confidence issue that affects women in any leadership role. One sees the tradeoff as signaling that women need to be assertive enough to command confidence but not assertive enough to be seen as abrasive. Another describes an effective strategy as being “relentlessly pleasant.”

Still another woman lawyer cautions against choosing a strategy such as deference, which could undercut an assertive message and also may compromise effectiveness or authenticity. She is joined by a colleague who emphasizes the importance of authenticity and earning the trust of the judge and jury to show them that their stereotypes are wrong.

It is a big issue and one that can be outcome determinative in both the law firm and the courtroom. It requires sensitivity to your audience and a good bit of finessing.

Women lawyers can agree that it is not fair and should not be this way. But it still is.

We have to learn to deal with reality and hope for change.

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Young Lawyers Should Reach For Their Dreams: The Example of Belva Lockwood

Posted on October 9, 2019

This blog post is not only for women lawyers. It is for all young lawyers. It just happens that Belva Lockwood is one of the best examples of reaching for dreams of practicing law — because of the lack of opportunities for women during her lifetime.

So, you say, “Who is Belva Lockwood?” If you attend or attended George Washington University Law — where she graduated from a predecessor law school there and where the Belva Lockwood Society is very active — you would know. If not, it is much less likely that you ever have heard of her.

I am fortunate to be a guest at the Belva Lockwood luncheon from time to time (yes, they do let Georgetown Law grads attend!), so I have heard her story told by those who know it best. Here is that story for those of you who have not heard it before.

Like Belva Lockwood, all young lawyers need to follow their dreams. It is more important than ever because the profession has changed so dramatically so quickly:

Technology now has such a prominent role in law practice that young lawyers spend hours and hours each day in front of computer monitors isolated and doing work that does not feel remotely like what they thought was the promise of a hard-earned law degree;
Today there are so many layers between partners that control clients and entry level lawyers, especially in Big Law, that young lawyers are denied the mentoring experiences which are so meaningful to them and so important to developing talent and future law firm leaders; and
Today young lawyers in large private practice venues are being managed by associates more senior to them — associates who have no experience in management, supervision or positive reinforcement/motivation. Instead, those more senior associates are competing with more junior associates for the prize of partnership, which makes them unlikely and ineffective in mentoring roles.

Young lawyers deserve more. They deserve interesting work and helpful feedback to make their work as meaningful as possible. My recent blog makes that clear. If you missed it, I suggest you read it and know that there are people who understand your dilemma and are on your side.

My advice to you is: Don’t settle. If you are not getting what you need in your current practice setting, look beyond it. Get a copy of my book about balance where I explore a wide variety of practice settings and include examples of lawyers, who have left law firms and successfully transitioned into new venues.

To define your professional dream, you will have to value your talents and the best place to use them. Sometimes taking the long view requires getting the critical experience you need before moving on, but that does not mean that you should give up on your dreams. During that learning experience, remember that you deserve to have a professional life that satisfies you and also allows you to have a satisfying personal life. It is hard to be truly satisfied in either your professional or personal life without that kind of balance.

To keep your options open and follow your dreams, you also need to keep your spending in check. Make good business decisions and save money for a rainy day that may come while you are figuring it all out. That savings also will give you the flexibility to take a lower paying but more satisfying job at some point in your future.

Use the example of Belva Lockwood and her grit and determination. Don’t take “no” for an answer any more often than you must. “No” is discouraging. “I will find a way” is exhilarating. That should be your goal.

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Young Lawyers: Are You Addressing Your Workplace Wellness?

Posted on October 2, 2019

Wellness is a big deal in the legal world today. Not wellness as in healthcare law. Wellness as in the mental and physical health of lawyers.

We know that statistics support a concern about drug and alcohol addiction among lawyers, but until recently the effects of anxiety and depression had not gotten as much attention. It was a 2016 landmark study by the American Bar Association Commission on Lawyer Assistance Programs and the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation that revealed to me just how widespread and alarming the problems have become among lawyers.

Anxiety and depression experienced by law professionals are serious and frequent and, in some cases, have led to suicides. It is why law schools are joining the ABA and other bar associations in identifying wellness as a priority. A recent article in the ABA Journal addressed concerns by summer associates for their mental health, and it has been shown that much of the anxiety and depression starts in law school and follows young lawyers into practice.

And most recently some Big Law firms are taking the concerns to the next level. Firms like Reed Smith and Akin Gump have developed informational programs on wellness, and Latham Watkins is in the process of employing a Global Wellness Manager in its NYC office. And many other firms have signed on to the Well-Being Pledge, a campaign launched by the ABA in September 2018 that encourages legal employers to take steps to improve the health and well-being of lawyers.

Concerning, yes. Surprising, no. Lawyers sacrifice their own mental and emotional wellness on a regular basis to meet sometimes unrealistic deadlines set by managing lawyers, courts and clients. The legal profession is high pressure by definition, and there is an overwhelming perception that practitioners have to be perfect. As a result, there is no reasonable expectation that the stresses caused by these kinds of pressures will be eliminated from practice, but learning how to manage and prevent them from elevating to serious anxiety and depression is key to survival and avoidance of professional burnout.

Some ways to attack improved wellness were offered by a concerned law professor in an article for Above the Law recently. Interestingly, the author uses a comparison that I have used so many times when she points out that managing wellness is a lot like dealing with low oxygen levels on an airplane. You have heard the flight attendants tell you over and over again to put your oxygen mask on first before you help others with theirs. In other words, if you do not take care of yourself first, you will not be capable of helping others. Not family, not friends, and not clients.

The author’s observation about inability to focus on the job and/or regrets about lack of happiness need to be taken particularly seriously, and also check out her suggestions about coping mechanisms to see what might be right for you. Not everyone wants to keep a journal or meditate, but there is plenty more to choose from.

And pay attention to the professor’s comments on seeking therapy. The stigma attached to mental and emotional therapy has become an unnecessary obstacle to wellness, and it must be overcome.

Hands down, my favorite part of the article is the 3Rs for those times when you feel on the verge of an anxiety attack:

Recognize that you are experiencing stress;
Relax by taking a break, walking your dog or participating in some other form of relaxation; and
Reroute your negative thoughts by challenging them and concentrating on a plan to move forward.

In other words, be kind, compassionate and forgiving of yourself. Be well.

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The Importance of Feedback for Millennial Lawyers

Posted on September 25, 2019

Millennial lawyers need feedback from supervising attorneys on a project basis — not just once or twice a year in scheduled reviews. That is well-established. People in positions like mine hear it all the time, and we know how important feedback is to junior lawyers — especially those who were raised with an abundance of feedback and mostly praise.

What does not get as much attention is the critical failure by law firms to revise review policies and mentoring efforts to meet the feedback needs of young lawyers. As I have stated to law firm and bar association audiences time and time again, that failing is very risky. Young lawyers travel light and will relocate over issues like failure to mentor — or just plain not showing enough interest in their career paths.

For those senior lawyers whose response is “don’t care” — and I have met some of them — my response is that they will care after they discover how expensive it is to replace talent.

Nicole Abboud hits the issue square on the head in her recent video on the subject. I like what Nicole is doing as a contributor to the Attorney at Work project, and I also like that she had me as a guest recently on her The Gen Why Lawyer podcast to discuss millennial lawyers. Check out the May 31, 2019 episode on The Gen Why Lawyer website to listen to our discussion.

Nicole is thoughtful and devoted to raising issues that are being glossed over by others in the profession. In this case, she uses her own experience as an associate lawyer to take a deep dive into what it is like to have your work product ignored. Take a look at the video. My guess is that you will be able to relate to the anxiety and damage to self-esteem and confidence about your career choice that result from this lack of feedback. And it is so unnecessary.

Times change. Law practices should do the same. What worked before, does not work now. Even if senior lawyers do not think that the degree of feedback millennials need is necessary, IT IS what millennials need. And the need won’t go away. Millennials were raised with an abundance of attention paid to them and in an age of instant gratification made possible by new technologies. They are the product of their times.

Often when I am addressing senior lawyers, who I know are challenged to understand or even appreciate millennials, I remind them of their contribution to the very thing about which they complain. Many of those lawyers are parents of millennials. Bingo! Bring on the March of the Helicopter Parents! They hovered, and they smothered and, yes, they made sure everyone got a trophy. Distancing themselves from the result now seems a bit silly and disingenuous.

Rather than avoid the issue, they should face it straight on and become the leaders we need for a better future. They should park their judgment genes on the office shelf and get busy training a new generation of lawyers who also will become a new generation of law firm leaders. Their numbers alone make that a certainty.

So I say to law firm leaders, pay attention to these young lawyers. Mentor them. Give them feedback. Show some real interest in them. Learn their names, and call them by name. Invite them to lunch. It will take a small amount of effort compared to the potential benefits. And you might actually enjoy doing for these young people what someone did for you in the day.

If you do your job right, it is an investment in the future of your law firm. And the young lawyers of today will be equipped to become the effective law firm leaders of tomorrow.