Success Strategies for Women Lawyers

8/8/2019 Success Strategies for Women Lawyers

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LAUREN STILLER RIKLEEN

IN ASSOCIATION WITHPUBLISHED BY

Success Strategies for Women Lawyers


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IN ASSOCIATION WITHPUBLISHED BY

LAUREN STILLER RIKLEEN

Success Strategies forWomen Lawyers


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III

Contents

About the author................................................................................................................ V

Introduction: Womens advancement is our professions imperative ...................................VII

Contributing factors to an individuals success.......................................................................VIII

Chapter 1: Developing a niche practice and understanding the link between your brand

and your niche ................................................................................................................... 1

Listen to your instincts ............................................................................................................ 2

Be dedicated ........................................................................................................................ 3

Understand your skills and motivators ..................................................................................... 7

Be alert and flexible .............................................................................................................. 8

Chapter 2: Develop your leadership skills then use them to make a difference .............. 11

Womens unique skills as leaders ......................................................................................... 12

Draw on your personal qualities ........................................................................................... 13

Look outside your workplace ................................................................................................15

Find opportunities to engage ............................................................................................... 17

Integrate personal and professional success ..........................................................................20

Seek and provide support ....................................................................................................24

Women as Managing Partners .............................................................................................25

Learn from the corporate sector ........................................................................................... 31

Chapter 3: Mentors and champions ................................................................................. 35

Opportunities for male versus female lawyers ........................................................................ 35

The mentor-mentee relationship ........................................................................................... 38

The special role of female mentors....................................................................................... 40

Maximize the relationship .................................................................................................... 42

Benefits and rewards of being a mentor................................................................................43

Chapter 4: Networking begins at birth ............................................................................. 47

Think differently about networking ........................................................................................ 47

Chapter 5: Generating business ....................................................................................... 51

Identify what works for you ..................................................................................................51

Achieving success in rainmaking ..........................................................................................52

Set goals and make a plan ..................................................................................................54


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Contents

IV

Link business development and career development .............................................................. 55

Build lasting relationships ....................................................................................................57

Work on your reputation...................................................................................................... 61

Nine tips for successful rainmaking ...................................................................................... 62

Credit where credits due..................................................................................................... 64

Chapter 6: Advocate on behalf of your accomplishments and own your future ................. 67

Make the most of self-evaluations ........................................................................................68

Learn effective self-advocacy ................................................................................................ 69

Keep a record of successes and achievements ...................................................................... 71

Chapter 7: Family matters ................................................................................................ 73Effective time management .................................................................................................. 74

Work with your firm to achieve balance ................................................................................74

Manage your family life ....................................................................................................... 76

Maintain perspective ........................................................................................................... 78

Chapter 8: Creating a better workplace for the next generation ....................................... 81

Find a mentor ..................................................................................................................... 84

Talk to peers you can trust ...................................................................................................84

Network ............................................................................................................................. 84

Take pride in your work .......................................................................................................84

Explore .............................................................................................................................. 84

Be open ............................................................................................................................. 84

Chapter 9: Reflections on a changing profession .............................................................. 87

Set your own path ............................................................................................................... 88

Believe in yourself ............................................................................................................... 89

Appendix: Contributor biographies ................................................................................... 93


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About the author

LAUREN STILLER Rikleen is the founder and Executive Director of the Bowditch Institute for Womens

Success, where she combines her unique qualifications and expertise to help law firms and other

business organizations create an environment for success. Lauren is frequently requested to appear

as a keynote speaker and to lead programs and workshops addressing gender and diversity,workplace issues, generational issues, and the topic of unexamined bias.

Lauren is the author ofEnding the Gauntlet: Removing Barriers to Womens Success in the Law, a

book which is highly acclaimed for its thoughtful insights about the management of todays law firms

and the related institutional impediments to the retention and advancement of women in the legal

profession. She is currently working on a book about the Millennial generation and its impact on a

multi-generational workplace.

Laurens background includes an extraordinary focus on issues relating to the legal profession. In

August 2008, Lauren began a three-year term as a member of the American Bar Association Board of

Governors, having completed a three-year term as one of twelve members of the ABA Commission on

Women in the Profession. She is also an appointee to the New York State Bar Associations Task Force

on the Future of the Legal Profession. As the former President of the Boston Bar Association, Lauren

established the Task-Force on Professional Challenges and Family Needs, which produced a nationally

recognized report entitled: Facing the Grail Confronting the Costs of Work/Family Imbalance.

As part of her commitment to the advancement of women in public leadership, she serves as

a member of the Board of Directors of the Massachusetts Womens Political Caucus, a founding

member of the Council for Women of Boston College, and a founding member of the Massachusetts

Equality Commission.

Lauren has been listed in The Best Lawyers in America, Chambers USA Americas Leading

Business Lawyers, and Massachusetts Super Lawyers.Among her many honors, Lauren has been

selected as a Leading Women honoree by the Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts, and was

recognized as one of the 2009 Women of Justice honorees by the Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly.

She is also the recipient of the 2007 Barbara Gray Humanitarian Award from Voices Against

Violence, the Boston College 2004 Alumni Award for Excellence in Law, the Boston College

Law School 75th Anniversary Alumni Award Medal, the 2005 Lelia J. Robinson Award from the

Womens Bar Association of Massachusetts, and the Athena Award in 2001.

Within her community, Lauren is the first woman to have served as chair of the MetroWest

Chamber of Commerce. In 1997, the Chamber named her Business Leader of the Year.

Lauren is a former chair and member of the Board of Directors of the Environmental League of

Massachusetts and serves on the Board of Trustees of the Boston Bar Foundation. She is also a Fellow

of the American Bar Foundation and a Trustee of the Middlesex Savings Bank. Lauren also served ten

years as a member of the Board of Trustees of Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts.

Lauren can be contacted on 508-416-2411 and at: [email protected].

V


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VII

Introduction: Womens advancement

is our professions imperative

FOR THE past decade, I have been

exploring issues relating to womens

retention and advancement in the legal

profession. My interest initially followed myown sense of isolation that emerged from

watching many female colleagues and

friends leave their law firms. Some left to go

to different work environments, others left the

profession entirely.

In almost all instances, these departures

came after years of trying to succeed, to fit

in, and to act in a way that would maximize

the possibility of assimilation into a male-

dominated work environment. Each and

every departure had a story, and underlying

most of the stories were efforts to achieve

equality in a work environment where

that goal remained elusive, despite years

of dedicated and excellent client service.

And, in most instances, the stories were not

shared with the firms they left behind.

As attrition soared and advancement

lagged, questions emerged without answers.

And these questions only grew along

with the number of women entering the

profession. How could it be that women

were attending law school in increasing

numbers, yet the traditional measures of

success equity partnership, appointment

or election to key committees, and even

longevity in the workplace showed minimal

improvements over the years? Why were

women leaving law firms in significantly

higher numbers than their male colleagues?

How is it that the gender-compensation

gap widened, becoming an impassable gulf

as compensation decisions became more

discretionary with seniority?

And the questions continued unanswered

over more than two decades of dramaticchanges in the profession. Law firms grew

significantly in size, as they frantically

responded to the demands or, at least,

how they perceived those demands of

a globalized economy. Law firms rushed

into mergers, competing to keep pace with

everyone elses perceived growth, but often

did so without an appropriate degree of due

diligence to determine whether there would

be a cultural fit among the merged entities.

At the same time, profits per partner

became the metric by which success was

measured and the yardstick by which firms

compared themselves to each other. That

meant firms focused on profitability above

most other variables to define success. And

they were aided by the growing numbers

of publications which ranked firms by their

profitability statistics, further driving an

intensely competitive culture to improve

these published metrics without paying

sufficient attention to other critical attributes,

which also make institutions strong.This heightened focus on profits per

partner has contributed to a chain reaction

that has significantly impacted the profession

overall. The more law firms focus on

increased profits, the more they push to

increase revenues even further. Over the

past decade, expected annual growth rates

for law firms have far exceeded budgeted

profitability in many other corporate sectors.

VII


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VIII

Introduction

Profits per partner have become the

gold standard of the legal industry and the

basis for rampant lateral movement. Billable

hours have become the primary measure

by which associates are evaluated and

promoted. With time measured in six-minute

increments, notions of quality and quantity

become intermingled, with insufficient

attention paid to untangling the impacts of

these evolving professional norms.

And as the pressures on the profession

intensified, so too, did the gendered impactsof those pressures. By the turn of the 21 st

century, women were approximately half of

the first-year law school population. And for

the nearly two decades leading to the turn

of this century, women were graduating in

sufficient numbers in the pipeline to warrant

a proportional increase in women partners.

But this has not happened.1

Over time, these statistics caused

increasing concern among a number of key

stakeholders in the legal profession. For

example, female law students questioned

whether they would have equal opportunities

to succeed, once they graduated and

entered a profession where the statistics

did not bode well. And clients began to

recognize that, in a global economy, diverse

voices at the table ensured better outcomes.

As a result, diversity became a hot

topic in the profession, and a deluge

of articles and books followed. Many of

these offered a variety of best practices

and offered detailed recommendations for

firms to implement to advance women and

minorities towards partnership.

Even with the increased attention to

diversity in the profession, however, there

has been little appreciable impact on

womens advancement. For example, women

comprise only approximately 18 percent of

law firm partners less than a three percent

increase since 2002. The percentage of

women equity partners is even smaller.

Moreover, women comprise only 15 per cent

of the highest governing committee members

in law firms, and that percentage has not

changed over the past four years.2

Yet, even as the numbers show too little

progress, there are reasons to be optimistic

about the future of the legal profession.

There is a growing awareness that the

business case for creating a workplace,

where women can succeed is real and

compelling, and more stakeholders areusing their leverage to develop specific and

practical action items to drive change. In

particular, in-house counsel and law students

are becoming more engaged in these issues

which means that critical constituencies are

being heard.

When I wrote Ending the Gauntlet:

Removing Barriers to Womens Success in the

Law, I interviewed a Managing Partner of a

global law firm who stated that the statistics

would not change much for women until

someone cracked the code and figured

out the answer. The code, however, has

long been cracked, and the answers have

been available to all of us.

These answers lie in the experiences,

the articles and the books which have long

made clear that the blueprint for developing

an inclusive workplace where everyone can

succeed requires concentrated efforts from

both the institution and the individual. Only

with the focused commitment and attention

of both will we see significant progress.

Contributing factors to an

individuals success

From the institutional perspective, the most

important thing for law firms to do is recognize

in a sophisticated and meaningful way, that

they are not, nor have they ever been, true

meritocracies. Rather, they are organizations in

which numerous factors subtle and otherwise


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IX

contribute to an individuals success. These

include, for example:

The quality of assignments and degree of

oversight provided to associates;

The internal power and authority of the

attorneys giving those assignments;

The opportunities for associates to be

exposed to different lawyers;

The relative importance and profitability

of the practice group to which associates

are assigned;The internal networks which

contribute to the development of

informal relationships;

The opportunities for young lawyers to

develop mentors and champions;

Whether associates have opportunities

to work directly with clients, or are

relegated solely to research projects or

document reviews;

The commitment of a firm to implement

stigma-free, transparent, and fully-

accessible policies and practices that

enable both men and women to meet their

work responsibilities and family needs;

The types of messages sent by the firm

regarding the interplay between billable

hours and business development;

The extent to which the firm meaningfully

encourages professional growth and

development by recognizing the time

spent on such activities and encouraging

ongoing participation;

Whether the firm has articulated core

competencies which mark important

stages of a young attorneys career

development; and

Whether the firm has transparent

guidelines which articulate a path

to advancement.

These are only some of the ways in which

the internal culture of a firm impacts a

young attorneys path to success. Merit

matters, to be sure. You will not achieve

any of your goals without excellence in your

craft. But a large number of other factors

wield tremendous influence. Understanding

and then addressing these factors is a key

part of cracking the code.

Another key aspect of cracking the code

includes the need for women to take ownership

of their own career success. That means

developing clear goals and then implementing

a strategy to achieve those goals.The research on this topic is clear. Women

too often believe that if they work hard at

their desks each day, their merit will be

appropriately recognized and rewarded. As

the above list of factors indicate, advancement

in the profession does not operate so simply.

Working hard and producing excellent results

is but one aspect of a complex equation that

results in advancement and leadership.

This publication provides valuable tips

from successful women around the world

women who have achieved leadership roles

in their workplaces, in their communities and

in their profession. Their accomplishments

are significant, but their varied paths to

success are accessible ones. And that is the

most important lesson: every woman can

achieve her goals.

It is also important to acknowledge that no

woman has ever achieved her goals without

anxiety, insecurity and worry. Nor, for that

matter, has any man. The question, however,

is whether these moments of doubt becomemessages to ignore or barriers to success.

The advice and guidance provided in

this report are designated to show how to

ignore those insecurities and discomforts

and, instead, triumph beyond them. Each

of us has more power and control than we

think to crack the code on behalf of our

own success. And when we work collectively,

those opportunities will increase even more.


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X

Introduction

It is important to stress that the road

to career success frequently offers detours.

The road will be lined with unexpected

opportunities and delightful encounters along

the way. Do not hesitate to linger at those

for a while. A single-minded preoccupation

with achieving ones goal means that other

opportunities may be missed. The reality

is, life is a continuum of experiences, some

planned and some not so much.

It is, therefore, important to be open to

all of lifes opportunities. We should all striveto achieve the success and fulfillment that we

want for ourselves, rather than respond only

to the expectations of others. This requires

that each of us take the time to know and

understand our own definition of career

success as well as career fulfillment. Only

then can a realistic plan be developed to

achieve these goals.

The following chapters provide helpful

tips from wise women. Their words are

frequently inspirational as they remind us of

the positive aspects of building a career in

this still noble profession.

I am deeply grateful to these women who

took the time and effort to offer their tips for

success, their stories and their insights into

the practice of law. Their contributions are

invaluable. Their profiles can be found in the

appendix of this report.

I also wish to thank Laura M. Faulkner,

a candidate for a Masters of Public

Administration at Clark University, for her

detailed organizational assistance anddedication to this project. Her hard work

demonstrates why we should all be excited

about the talents which the Millennials are

bringing into the workplace.

References

See, for example, data in Rikleen, Lauren1.

Stiller, Ending the Gauntlet: Removing Barriers

to Womens Success in the Law, Thompson/

Legalworks, 2006. See also, Henry, Deborah

Epstein, Law & Reorder: Legal Industry

Solutions for Work/Life Balance, Retention

Promotion & Restructure, American Bar

Association, 2010.

Report of the Fourth Annual National Survey2.

on Retention and Promotion of Women in Law

Firms, The National Association of Women

Lawyers and the NAWL Foundation,

October 2009, pp2 and 5.


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1

Chapter 1: Developing a nichepractice and understanding the link

between your brand and your niche

THOSE OF us who entered the profession

two or three decades ago had far simpler

choices to make about our careers. In the

days before the internet, before e-mail,before PDFs, before high-speed copiers and

dare I say it before the fax machine, one

could be a generalist in the practice of law.

Although most large firms and large

back in the day could mean those with

maybe as many as 100 lawyers had the

standard Corporate, Litigation, Real Estate

and Estate Planning Practice Groups,

lawyers within those groups had widely

divergent practices. For solo and small

firm practitioners, there were numerous

opportunities to practice across a wide range

of issues and substantive areas without

feeling as though one would be risking

malpractice at every turn.

Today, however, the generalist lawyer

is either an individual near retirement or a

distant memory. Most practice specialties

are governed by evolving complex statutory

and regulatory schemes that make it nearly

impossible to be truly an expert in more than

a few areas.

And even specialties have sub-

specialties. For example, in the 1970s

and 1980s one could be considered an

environmental lawyer with expertise

crossing a wide range of issues. One day

that lawyer could be working on a plants

smokestack emissions and the next would

bring attention to a wetland matter involving

endangered species. Today, the young lawyer

seeking to specialise in the environmental

field is an air or a hazardous waste or a

water lawyer, who works primarily in one

medium, and must be an expert in thousands

of pages of applicable federal, state andlocal laws, and thousands more pages

of related regulations and governmental

guidance documents and policies.

Todays knowledge economy presents

a compelling case for lawyers to develop

their own niche areas in which they can

excel. Becoming an expert in a particular

field provides an important opportunity to

become the go to lawyer in a specialty.

This, however, requires an understanding of

the link between developing a niche area,

and then undertaking focused business

development activities.

When it comes to developing a niche

specialty, the most important piece of advice

you will ever receive is this: find an area that

truly interests you. Nothing matters more to

your overall mental health as a lawyer than

doing what you enjoy. It is no accident that

each of the experts who have contributed their

wisdom and advice to this publication have

stressed the importance of loving what you do.

It is easy to be lured by discussions andarticles about the hot new areas. But no

matter how often, for example, you may be

reading about the important legal issues

raised by the internet as a critical new

practice frontier, if the topic of cyberspace

leaves you bored and daydreaming, you will

never be able to be engaged and fulfilled

in your work. And a lack of engagement

will adversely impact your ability to develop


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Chapter 1

2

the kind of practice you want. True, a smart

person can learn anything, but clients want

lawyers who display a sense of excitement

and enthusiasm for their work. You cannot

fake interest in something that bores you.

Accordingly, an essential element in the

development of a niche practice area is

passion for the topic, which leads to a desire

to learn as much as possible. In-house

counsel Dale Skivington describes how this

mix of engagement and commitment fueled

the growth of her expertise in the emergingprivacy area:

While niche practices arent always readily

apparent to a young lawyer, my experience

is if you find an area about which you

are passionate, you should treat it as an

avocation as well as a vocation.

My background is in constitutional

law and civil rights, and as a result of an

opportunity I had at Kodak to be assigned

to a project in Europe, I became interested

in the developing civil rights area of privacy.

I connected with trade associations, experts

and academics who were working on

developing public policy regarding privacy.

Much of this I did on my own time as it was

of significant interest to me.

By having made those contacts and

developing this area of interest, when I

returned from Europe I was appointed as the

Companys first Chief Privacy Officer. While I

am no longer in that role, I stay connected to

the privacy community and the developmentsrelating to privacy law and look for projects

in my current role where I can use the skills I

developed relating to privacy.

Listen to your instincts

Remember, only you can define the type of

work that engages you the most. Connecticut

attorney Elizabeth Stewarts development of

a niche practice reinforces the importance

of listening to your own instincts about what

constitutes interesting work:

I represent policyholders in insurance

coverage litigation. I started as a general

commercial litigator and fell into insurance

coverage litigation when I was a senior

associate. My original reaction was:

Insurance. How boring. Since then, I have

found that this work is great because you

deal with all sorts of interesting factual

situations and engage in the intellectuallychallenging work of maximizing an insurance

recovery based on those facts.

I have had all sorts of great briefing

opportunities and trial experiences. Early on,

my firm positioned itself as the leading firm

in my state that was willing to be adverse to

insurance companies, and it has enabled us to

attract many significant engagements directly

and as referrals from the many firms that are

conflicted out of suing insurance companies.

Once I realized that this work could be

interesting and enjoyable, I began to write

articles and to speak both within my state

and at the national level. Even though my

practice is reduced while I serve as Managing

Partner, I still make it a point to make a few

speaking or panel presentations each year. I

also worked hard to raise the consciousness

of my firms lawyers that there are insurance

issues everywhere and that many times they

can result in a recovery for their clients. In

my experience, clients appreciate when you

successfully defend them, but they really like itwhen you can recover money for them.

Malaysian attorney Janet Looi emphasizes

the element of passion and shares her

advice on developing a successful niche

practice at various stages of your career:

The key to a successful niche practice is

passion passion for learning, because the


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3

area of law excites you, passion for details,

because little things do matter, and passion

for hard work, because your clients success

depends on you.

Building up a niche practice begins with

building a strong foundation of law, followed

by a focus on your areas of special interest,

always laced with a determination to acquire

the knowledge to equip yourself fully in the

niche area.

Early in your career, attend talks,

read widely & write articles, learn fromsenior practitioners.

Mid-career, seize secondary

opportunities, learn all that you should know

about the practice as opposed to the theory,

give talks, exchange ideas with other experts

in the area, and start to cultivate existing and

new clients.

Partner level have a focused

business plan for development of clients

in the niche area, keep up with all new

legal developments, share them with your

clients, give talks to their Boards and senior

management, develop friendships and

network on a social level as well with clients

in your niche area. Be a good advocate

for your client by understanding their

business strategy, expound their strengths at

appropriate forums and provide them cross

referrals and networking opportunities.

Above all, make sure you enjoy every

second of it!

Once you have identified the niche that mostengages you, the next step is to develop

your expertise. To be successful in doing so

requires breadth that goes beyond substantive

knowledge. An article described the

accessibility of information that can assist you

in this work: To be credible as a provider

of legal services in a niche market, it helps

immensely to be conversant in the goings-on

in that market. Thanks to modern technology,

following virtually any conceivable niche

market is simply a matter of investing

some reading time. When you can speak

knowledgeably about the latest news or issues

that are the talk of the market, you earn

credibility that cannot be overestimated.1

Ohio attorney Heidi Goldstein stresses the

importance of skill-building as a predicate to

growing a niche practice:

I believe the most important thing youcan do as a young lawyer is to learn your

substantive practice. You need to be good

at what you do or you will not have the

essential platform on which to build a

successful practice.

Once you have this foundation, you

can make yourself even more valuable by

focusing on a niche within your practice that

will make you the go to person on such

issues. Many times these niche opportunities

may find you based on client demand or

the types of matters you handle, but you

certainly can drive your niche based on your

own interests and by obtaining as much work

as possible in that area.

Be dedicated

Think of developing a niche as you would

a recipe: mix together part adventure, part

passion, part instinct, and then combine

with a large portion of dedication and

commitment. Consider the inspiring lessons

learned from Minnesota attorney Barbara

Gislasons literal and figurative journeys:

When I decided to be a lawyer, I was

presented with a unique challenge. My

father, grandfather and uncle were well

known, successful and respected in the legal

field, so as I entered, I had the pressure of

living up to the family name. Even so, early

on in my career, I noticed that the women


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Chapter 1

4

lawyers I knew with great leadership skills

often did not make it in law firms where men

were uncomfortable competing with them.

After five years of practice, I noticed I

was bringing in more revenue than three

of the partners at the firm where I worked

(which had an A rating by Martindale

Hubbell). When I decided to add art

and entertainment law to my family law

responsibilities, I started out on my own

as a solo. I had already recognized that I

had what it took to be in my own businessbecause I was, at the time, the lawyer

for a womens entrepreneur network and

recognized I easily had the same ability as

the women I represented.

After starting my own business a year

later, I started and got approval to be the

founding Chair for the Art and Entertainment

Section in the Minnesota State Bar

Association (MSBA), which proved to be the

first of two Sections I would start. This is the

equivalent of launching two specialties.

Early on I noticed that I excelled at bar

association activities, and I joined and gained

leadership roles everywhere I went, including

the Computer Law Section, the Bar Media

Committee and the Minnesota Intellectual

Property Law Association. I also volunteered for

the Minnesota State Law Day and the next year,

found myself the head for the entire state, and

did a unique program in 1985 on the subject

of international human rights issues, which

included the Nuremberg trials of the Nazis.

In the 1990s, I became more interestedin going into the book publishing business

and spent considerable time speaking at

writers conferences around the country,

and representing a handful of successful

authors. As much as I liked the business, it

was easy to see that the business was facing

a decline in a digital age, and not being

prepared to move to New York, I put that

business on the backburner.

In 2003, I had a premonition that if I

took a trip to China along the Yangtze River,

it would be a life-altering event. I booked a

cruise and kept my own company, curious to

see what direction the trip would take me. It

turned out that I was witnessing what Rachel

Carson had earlier described in her seminal

work of the 1960s, Silent Spring. This was

the second time in my life I had seen a

spring where the insects and other wildlife

were absent. The first time was on DDT

sprayed farmlands in North Dakota where anIcelandic family homestead stood in the Red

River Valley.

I got the idea to champion wildlife

and biodiversity, and founded the Animal

Law Committee in Minnesota in 2003,

a Committee that became a Section the

following year. In August 2004, based upon

my extensive leadership in the American Bar

Association (ABA), I was invited to a dinner

for the prestigious American Bar Fellows in

Minnesota. It was there that I networked with

Bob Stein, then Executive Director of the ABA

and the Honorable Cara Lee Neville, current

Secretary of the ABA, and asked for their

advice about where they thought I could start

an Animal Law Committee. Remember, back

in 2004, people talked about animal rights,

but little about animal law, a brand new

practice area.

By November 2004, by unanimous

vote, the leadership of the American

Bar Association Tort Trial & Insurance

Practice Section (TIPS), which had 42,000members, voted animal law into existence

in the ABA and made me its chair. This

committee, with the able successor chairs I

recruited, has won prestigious TIPS awards

for every year since its inception. In the

meantime, Dr. Phil helped my career by

calling me the top animal advocate attorney

in the country on his nationally-syndicated

television show.


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5

While I was still chair of the ABA TIPS

Animal Law Committee, Hurricane Katrina

made landfall in New Orleans and I became

focused on emergency management and

risk management pertaining to animals.

Together with Professor David Favre and ABA

House of Delegates Representative Jim Carr,

I spearheaded the passage of the Standards

for the Care and Disposition of Disaster

Animals Model Act, which was unanimously

approved by the ABA in February 2010.

In the meantime, I have been recruitedand appointed to an ever-increasing number

of leadership roles. In addition, I created

and convened the ABA Select Legal Panel on

Emergency Management Regarding Animals,

which included representatives of all major

stakeholders. I spoke at a variety of national

non-profit conferences on disaster subjects,

including the American Veterinary Medical

Law Association, the American Humane

Association and the Humane Society of the

United States.

From a business perspective, I have

been effective in having my leadership actions

published in a variety of legal publications

and have long received referrals from other

lawyers. I have also gained, along the way,

the status of Super Lawyer and Leading

American Attorney, which helps in attracting

business. This has helped me gain business in

addition to referrals from satisfied clients.

I have gone against the grain of

conventional wisdom that lawyers should

have traditional careers and stick with onespecialty. To me, life is an adventure and

the opportunity to make a difference, and I

decided it was more important to me to have

a legacy of public service than owning villas,

and the rest was easy.

I treat my life as both an internal and

external journey and I have been privileged

to know extraordinary people, like Temple

Grandin, Linda and Allen Anderson, and

German Shepherds, Golden Retrievers and

Labrador Retrievers along the way. I have

also attracted, and still have, the best legal

assistant on the planet, who shares my ideals

and makes what I do possible.

Philadelphia attorney Roberta D.

Liebenbergs development of a niche

practice demonstrates that tremendous

opportunities can flow from a willingness

to take risks, combined with a dedicated

commitment to excel:

Identifying a particular area of expertise and

developing a niche practice require foresight,

patience, a willingness to take

risks and volunteer for assignments outside

of your comfort zone. Let me explain how

I found my niche in the area of antitrust

law, which I have enjoyed practicing for

over 35 years.

As a brand new associate, I was

presented with the opportunity to handle

antitrust matters. This was somewhat

daunting because I had not even studied

antitrust law in law school.

I clerked on the United States Court

of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and, as

a result of my clerkship, I was exposed to

criminal law and procedures. In fact, in law

school, I had contemplated that I would

concentrate in criminal law, and one of the

reasons I clerked was to gain exposure to,

and expertise in this area.

After my clerkship, I was hired as an

associate in the litigation department of

a large Richmond law firm. The firm was

creating a separate antitrust department

and was looking for lawyers with a criminal

law background to help handle several

significant criminal antitrust cases. I decided

to volunteer to become part of the newly-

created antitrust team. Because I had never

studied antitrust in law school, I read treatises


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6

and cases on my own time at night and

weekends, in addition to working on antitrust

matters at work.

I soon discovered that I enjoyed handling

antitrust matters, which are factually and

legally complex; involve both civil and criminal

aspects; require knowledge of economics and

statistics; often implicate constitutional issues;

and present the opportunity to learn about a

wide range of different industries. Antitrust law

enables you to work on civil as well as criminal

matters, and also to represent both plaintiffsand defendants.

I was very proactive in taking steps

to work on a variety of different antitrust

matters with different partners. I developed

goals for myself and attempted to hone my

legal skills to become as knowledgeable as I

could. I was fortunate that I was assigned to

high profile, complex matters and I had the

opportunity to work directly with the clients.

In addition, I also became active in

various bar associations on the national,

state and local level. Bar association

work enabled me to build a profile by

speaking and writing in the antitrust area.

Equally important, it afforded me excellent

networking opportunities.

Creating a niche for oneself is important

in that it will allow you to develop expertise in

a particular area and become highly visible in

both your firm and the legal community.

Another important lesson from Robertas

story is her willingness to immerse herself

in her new field, when the opportunity was

presented to specialize in antitrust law. Her

enjoyment of the work meant that she could

view her extensive efforts with excitement,

rather than as a chore.

Uruguay attorney Maria Eugenia Yabars

list of tips highlighted her own engagement

in professional development opportunities as

a foundation for building a niche practice.

For example, she reports her involvement in:

Expanding the firms professional

development function in those practice

areas related to her work;

Creating professional development

courses aimed at clients or potential

clients, corporate counsel and other

service firms; and

Developing methods and appropriate

training to work on projects more efficiently.

Developing a niche practice may present

difficult choices as you develop your

expertise. As Boston attorney Beth Boland

emphasizes, the projects that may offer you

significant billable hours may not provide

the best opportunities to develop a specialty

which will help position you to achieve your

future client development goals:

Understand that the only real calling card

you have is the actual experience you get

from your work. Please forget about billing

hours as a proxy for getting experience it

is not!!! A future client does NOT care that

you billed 2500 hours last year (and would

probably prefer that you didnt, especially

if its not on their case). What they do care

about is that you have the experience to

handle their problem effectively.

I see so many associates bargain away

getting good experience for getting lots of

hours i.e., they choose assignments for the

number of hours they will generate rather

than whether it actually furthers their learning

curve. Its short-sighted, and a terrible

investment in their own development.

At the partner stage, understand that the

only way to gain independence and control

over ones life is to have ones own clients.

Virginia Woolfe may have needed a room of

ones own in which to ply her trade; what we

need is a client of ones own to ply ours.


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7

The legal world is quickly devolving

into a structure where service partners are

merely glorified senior associates. If you

want control over your life and/or a voice

at the table with the big boys, you must

be focused like a laser on getting your own

clients. End of story.

Beths advice clarifies that identifying and

developing a niche is the way to achieve

independence as a lawyer. As you work to

develop that niche, there are a number offactors to consider, including the type of

assignments that you find interesting and the

type of client contact you prefer.

Understand your skills

and motivators

There are a number of questions you should

be asking yourself as you determine the type

of niche that best suits you. For example,

do you enjoy research and writing in a quiet

environment? Or do you prefer a fast-paced,

adrenaline-pumping series of deadlines? Do

you like solving problems of first-impression?

Or are you happiest sorting through centuries

of precedent and decades of legislation to get

to a likely result? Do you enjoy the complexity

of mega-projects involving teamwork and

organizational skills? Or would you prefer

handling matters that are smaller in scope?

Just as you want to be engaged by

the work you do, you should also strive to

ensure that the type of client interaction you

have best suits your personality and people

skills. For example, do you thrive on frequent

interactions with clients? Do you feel best

when clients seem most in need that is,

where they may be seeking one-part legal

advice to two-parts hand-holding? Or is

your preferred intellectual engagement

driven by research and writing, leaving

the client interaction to others? Would you

want clients who are well-versed in the

type of work you do and who can ask the

complicated questions, as is likely to be the

case when working with in-house counsel?

Or do you prefer clients without knowledge

of the law, who are more likely to depend

on your advice alone? If you understand

what motivates you to do your best work, it

becomes easier to develop a practice niche

that you will enjoy.

Thailand attorney Tiziana Sucharitkul,

clarifies that, even as practitioners around

the world face many similar issues, theremay be geographical differences which can

impact your choices:

Its a given that to be a successful

practitioner, you need to have the necessary

expertise. If a lawyer develops a niche

practice and is focused solely on this

practice, such expertise (and the ensuing

market reputation) is gained much quicker,

and a tight circle of pertinent contacts is

developed with greater ease. There are,

therefore, advantages to this type of focus.

However, there is also a lot to be said

for someone who has a broader practice with

various skill sets. Much also depends on the

legal market in the jurisdiction in which one

practices. For example, generally speaking, in

Thailand, although lawyers may spend more

time in one or two particular practice areas,

they tend to become involved in a variety of

practice areas and they are therefore able to

develop wide-ranging expertise.

What is most important in all of this is thatyou practice in areas that you find interesting

and that suit your skill set. If you enjoy the

work, you are more likely to be successful and

to find personal fulfillment in your career.

She also provides an example which

demonstrates that opportunities to develop

your career path can arise in unforeseen

ways, and can present difficult choices:


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Chapter 1

8

Naturally, in anyones career there are

sacrifices that are made. For me, the greatest

sacrifice that I made for career advancement

was to accept a position overseas, knowing

that I would be separated from my husband

(at that time we had only been married for

a few months). Initially I thought that I would

return home within one or two years maximum.

However, altogether I stayed abroad for over

seven years before eventually returning home

to a very understanding husband.

Be alert and flexible

Even as you develop a niche practice,

you still should be nimble enough to

respond to changes in the legal landscape

that could impact your specialty.

Concomitantly, you should strive to

be conversant in key related areas, as

Wisconsin lawyer Billie Jean Smith notes:

In todays ever changing legal environment,

it is imperative that attorneys are able to

adjust their practices. As such, ones legal

career may takes many twists and turns.

Be nimble. Always have an eye toward

developing a niche practice for which you can

become known, but also continue developing

the business acumen needed to assist clients

in areas outside the niche practice.

Laurin Blumenthal Kleiman and Kathleen L.

Roach, who are partners in a global law firm,

stress that being alert to changes in the business

and regulatory climate can make a tremendous

difference in your practice development:

In many areas, the practice of law has become

highly specialized. Careers develop differently,

but often developing a niche practice depends

on being a keen observer for opportunities and

seizing them when they present themselves. A

new business or regulatory development may

significantly change a practice area. If you

take the time to learn about the area, you can

become an expert not only for clients but also

for other lawyers at the firm. You can develop

a reputation through writing and speaking

opportunities, including client events, both

within and outside of your firm or company.

The development of a niche practice can also

be thought of as a practice that requires focus,

discipline and flexibility.

Timing and seizing opportunities has had

a great deal to do with developing my practice.

For almost two decades, my practice focusedalmost exclusively on registered investment

companies and registered investment advisers.

At the turn of the 21st century, a confluence

of events took my career in a related, but

different, direction. The merger of two firms

introduced me to a universe of then essentially

unregulated funds and advisers. Regulators,

courts and attorneys general and Congress

became increasingly interested in these entities.

Suddenly the regulatory expertise and skills

I had developed as a mutual fund lawyer

became very valuable to hedge funds and

other alternative investment businesses. As a

result, while I still practice in the fund area,

I now spend significant time counseling,

writing and speaking about the rapidly

changing world of adviser regulation and

compliance. My success in this area is largely

due to recognizing a potential client need

and seeking and obtaining the support

and resources necessary to develop what has

become a key component of our investment

management practice.

There can be tension between developing a

narrow niche and retaining expertise across

a broad range of your practice area. It is

important to find the balance that works best

for you. For example, you may choose to

have a broader-based expertise within your

specialty, as Chicago lawyer Patricia Costello

Slovak observes:


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9

I have been a labor and employment lawyer

most of my career but have not developed

a niche within that specialty because I enjoy

doing a broad spectrum of work. Nonetheless,

I think niche building is a good idea because

it allows the lawyer to market herself internally

and externally as the go to person with

specific questions. The problem with too

narrow a niche, however, is that one loses the

opportunity for growth in other areas.

In addition, the size of your firm can impactyour range of specialization. For example,

Maria Krokidas, who practices in a small

Boston firm, emphasizes the importance of

developing breadth beyond the niche practice,

while offering advice for gaining exposure:

It is impossible to be an expert in all fields.

Our Firm is unusual in that many of us

practice in three or four areas at high levels.

Find an area or discipline that interests

you and focus your development and

learning on that area. Seek out potential

clients once you master the area.

You will be a more efficient and effective

lawyer if you have exposure to all sides on

an issue in an area of practice write articles

or sit on panels. You will get referrals from

other professionals if they know you are an

expert in an area.

Sometimes your niche can find you simply by

being alert to client opportunities. Tennessee

attorney Angela Humphreys emphasizes that

client service can help you find your niche

and expand your own practice:

I have found that many of my partners

have niche practices that have resulted

from novel projects that they were given

as associates. Look for opportunities to

volunteer to learn a particular area of the

law, even if it is not for a currently billable

project. You can quickly become the resident

expert and be the go-to person.

I think the most important thing you

can do is learn your clients business. If

you know what drives revenue, profitability

and strategic decisions with a company,

both internally and externally, you naturally

will be a better advocate for your client. I

have found that management teams are

acutely aware of the laws and regulations

that impact their business. Likewise, I think it

is important for lawyers to become acutelyaware of the business factors that can impact

their representation of clients.

You will find that developing and maintaining

your expertise in a niche area will make it

easier for you to differentiate yourself from

others. One commentator defines these

competitive advantages: They are not

subjective, adjective-laden claims about

yourself. They are factual themes about your

experience and accomplishments that you can

use to tailor your approach to a particular

opportunity.2 As the writer notes, an attorney

will gain a greater advantage by focusing on

specific legal experiences that directly relate

to a clients needs than by providing a list

of generalized credentials. The latter may be

important, but it will not be as determinative.

Accordingly, once you find your niche,

think practically. San Francisco attorney Patricia

Gillette stresses the importance of using your

knowledge to further your clients goals:

First, get a niche. This means that you have

to develop deep expertise in a particular

subject area, you cant dabble.

Once you have a niche, identify

practical applications of the fundamental

preventive practices that will help businesses

address those legal issues in a positive way.

Lawyers too often focus on the negative

dont do this or you will get sued. Businesses


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Chapter 1

10

want to know how to do things, and from

that they can figure out what not to do.

So be a problem solver for them. My

practice area, employment law, is particularly

suited to this approach. So, even though I

am a litigator, I built my practice by focusing

on how businesses could avoid litigation I

became the trusted advisor to my clients in

how to build business strategies that would

promote their objectives and avoid legal

issues. When they get sued, which they will

regardless of how well they execute theirpreventive strategies, I am the one they look

to for guidance and representation.

The bottom line is that your niche practice

must fully engage you intellectually, as you

will be spending a great deal of your time

with it. Find an area of practice you love,

develop your skills, and then showcase

those skills to existing and future clients. The

following chapters will help provide the tools

you need to showcase your expertise and

develop your client base.

References

Parks, J. Manly., Branding Yourself:1.

Seven Thoughts About Niche Marketing,

Law Practice Today, Law Practice Management

Section, December 2009.

Canter, Rachelle J., Competitive Advantages:2.

Tips for Outpacing the Competition,

Law Practice Magazine, January/February,

2009.


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11

Chapter 2: Develop your leadershipskills then use them to make

a difference

IT IS hard to imagine that, within the lifetime

of many women practicing law today, the

profession was once inaccessible to most

of us. The fact that Sandra Day OConnorcould not find a job in private practice,

notwithstanding graduating third in her class

at Stanford Law School, is a story that is

typical of its time and place even though

it was not that long ago. So, too, was the

difficulty of gaining law school admission,

and the openly hostile atmosphere most

women faced once they were admitted.

Decades later, life for women

practitioners is very different at the early

stages of their careers. Women are

welcomed equally into the study of law, and

even outnumber male applicants at some law

schools. They also join their male colleagues

in relatively equal numbers once they begin

their professional lives as new lawyers.

But the good news tends to diminish

where leadership opportunities begin. The

legal profession is not yet a place of equal

access for women as leaders.

The data of concern begins in law school

where law review offers a critical platform

for emerging lawyers to showcase leadership

skills. For example, a recent study by Ms. JD of

top law reviews found that female law students

represent only one-third of law review editors.1

Once in the profession, the leadership

gap continues. To put this in perspective,

consider the data presented by The White

House Project Report: Benchmarking

Womens Leadership, which analyzed the

state of womens leadership in ten different

fields. In its section on women lawyers,

the White House Project Report stated the

following: Despite being 48 percent of

law school graduates, and 45 percent oflaw firm associates, women make up only

18 percent of the general partners and 16

percent of the equity partners in private law

firms. In fact, in the legal sector, the line

tracking womens share of leadership roles

follows a straighter downward path as the

potential to assume a leadership role rises,

than in any other professional sector in

this report.2

This is particularly troubling data on two

levels. First, the fact that the legal profession

lags behind other professional sectors in

providing equal access for women speaks

poorly about an occupation which zealously

protects the rights of others. Second, the law

is a prominent institution in our society and

the modern law firm is a critical source of

power and influence.3 It is time for women

to dramatically change this trend line, and

to take their rightful place as leaders in all

aspects of our profession.

In her new book, Women on Top

The Womans Guide to Leadership and

Power in Law Firms, Ida Abbott lists critical

reasons why women should become leaders

in law firms:4

Leadership gives you control over

your career;

Leadership gives you new ways to excel;

Being a leader means you can be a

change agent;


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12

Chapter 2

Leadership provides an outlet for

your creativity;

Leadership means power to achieve

desired results;

Being a leader makes your work

more meaningful;

Leadership brings financial rewards;

The legal marketplace needs fresh

approaches to leadership; and

Your law firm needs you.

Womens unique skills as leadersThere is every reason to be confident and

inspired by the significant research and data

which demonstrates that women have the

requisite skills and according to some

studies, greater skills to perform with

distinction at a leadership level. Decades

of research comparing the leadership styles

of men and women demonstrate womens

competencies to lead effectively. For example,

a recent large scale study analyzed the

personality qualities and motivational factors

which underlie gender differences. The study

reported that: Women leaders are more

assertive and persuasive, have a stronger

need to get things done and are more willing

to take risks than male leaders.5

In addition, the study noted that: The

women leaders scored significantly higher

than male leaders in ego-drive (persuasive

motivation), assertiveness, willingness to

risk, empathy, urgency, flexibility and

sociability.6 The study reported that,

because women leaders exhibit strong

people skills, they can absorb information

quickly from all sides, and effectively address

concerns. Male leaders are more likely to

focus on their own perspective and position,

leading them to try to persuade others that

they are correct, whereas the data showed

women tend to lead people to a result

where they feel supported and valued in

their opinions.

The Center for Gender in Organizations

(CGO) at the Simmons School of

Management in Boston, Massachusetts,

published an analysis of a broad array

of studies which identified the significant

competencies women demonstrate as leaders,

for example:

Maintaining high productivity;

Producing high quality work;

Meeting deadlines and commitments;

Providing feedback;Motivating individuals and teams;

Modeling integrity, competence

and perseverance;

Moving projects forward;

Meeting milestones and commitments;

Operating with higher energy and

intensity; and

Setting higher expectations

for performance.7

Critically, the CGO Briefing also described

the paradox of success which results in

too few opportunities for women to exercise

these skills. The Briefing summarizes this

paradox as follows: While women are

succeeding in applying a broad range of

leadership skills to work and are achieving

positive results, they are having considerably

less success in being promoted to top

leadership positions.8

How does this happen? The CGO

Briefing reported that leadership concepts

are fundamentally masculine notions,

deeply rooted in organizational norms

and values. This can result in a disconnect

between how people articulate and identify

leadership competencies, and the implicit

beliefs people hold about what makes

someone an effective leader. Moreover,

gender norms also have an impact on

the leadership qualities that are recognized

and valued: Hence, when women excel


25/25

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Success Strategies for

Women Lawyers

Pages: 135Author:

Lauren Stiller RikleenHardcopy

Success Strategies for Women Lawyers

Documents

Transcript of Success Strategies for Women Lawyers