Why A Blog for Women Lawyers?

Twenty-five years ago, I decided to go to law school to fight for justice for women. By the time I graduated three years later, I was willing to put on the “golden handcuffs” and accept a well-paying offer with a private law firm. The work had nothing to do with justice for women (and on occasion precious little to do with justice at all). Later I moved in-house as corporate counsel. I made good money, but ultimately the work deadened my soul. I never did fight for women’s rights while practicing law.

Fortunately, at this point in my life I spend a great deal of my day helping women, but in ways I could not have imagined when I was law student. I also have developed a very different understanding of what it means to fight for justice, and what I believe my role is in creating justice in the world.

These days I help women (and men, for that matter) develop their own personal power. Personal power arises from living your life from an authentic, core-driven sense self. When you know who you are, and you trust who you are, very little in life is beyond your reach. This is the kind of power that allows us to create what is needed in the world – justice for women, justice for men, justice for our children, and justice for our planet.

In the past year I have had the opportunity to speak with a number of women lawyers who have attended conferences or workshops where I have presented. And I’ve found myself wondering, how are we faring? Although some women lawyers seem content and successful, many others are not. For a variety of reasons, there is dissatisfaction, stress and angst. The reasons vary, sometimes based upon age or generation. Some of the issues faced by women lawyers have changed as the experience of women in the law have changed over the years. Other concerns seem universal – something almost all women lawyers, at all times, have had to deal with.

I have been struck by the reluctance of some women lawyers to self-identify as women lawyers, to say that there are issues that affect us solely as women. Perhaps this arises from a fear of being stigmatized. Or perhaps it is based a belief that in fact there is no difference to practicing law as a woman versus as a man. Although this may be the experience of some, my experience is that gender is not neutral – either in law or in any other aspect in life.

As a child and young woman, others named my gender as a weakness. I learned to deny that weakness. At this point, I want to be able to name the truth of my experience, of which gender is one aspect. And I have been fortunate enough to have learned in both my brain and in my heart that differences are simply that: differences. They make us neither better nor worse than others. They simply make us real.

So I am envisioning this blog as a place for lawyers who are women to have a conversation about their experiences in the practice of law and in life. From their 20s to their 70s, in private law firms, as solos, in corporate legal departments, non-profits, or the government, with or without spouses or partners, and with or without children. We have a lot in common and a lot in “difference”. I’ll blog about some topics that I think you might find of interest. And I invite you to suggest topics as well.

My hope is that this process will in some way contribute to the development of your personal power, and your ability to live from your own authentic, core-driven sense of self. And that this will create more justice in the world for women and all others.

Although I no longer practice law, I’m glad I’m a lawyer. And I’m glad that there are lawyers. It is our great fortune to live in a society that is based on law. The law can be a useful shield as well as, occasionally, a sword. I’m glad both the shields and the swords are held in the hands of women.