FAWL Women & Leadership Virtual Seminar

This interactive session will analyze obstacles that women lawyers face when seeking leadership positions and propose strategies for overcoming those obstacles.

Since 1995, women have accounted for at least 40% of all law school graduates, and women now comprise 47% of all law firm associates. But, according to the National Association of Women Lawyers 2020 Survey on Retention and Promotion of Women in Law Firms, women make up 31% of law firm non-equity partners, just 21% of equity partners, and an even lower percentage – 19% – of firm-wide managing partners. Women of color, including Black, Asian/Pacific Islander, Hispanic/Latinx, Native American/American Indian, and mixed race women, represent only about 14% of female equity partners and about 3% of all equity partners.

The choices of individual women are not responsible for this underrepresentation. Instead, the underrepresentation is caused by gender-based practices within many firms and organizations, including sidelining, shortlisting, unequal distribution of emotional and administrative labor, reliance on work wives, defensive glass ceilings, and the creation of glass cliffs. The Covid-19 pandemic has exacerbated these practices while also creating new barriers for women seeking to gain influence within organizations.

After analyzing these phenomena, this session will turn to strategies for change at both the structural and individual level. Structural strategies include various practices designed to root out gender and racial stereotypes during promotion decisions, greater intentionality in all phases of lawyers’ development, and the Mansfield (or Rooney) Rule. Individual strategies include the development of sponsorship relationships, new approaches to salary and promotion negotiations, and techniques for supporting other women, even in virtual environments.

LOG IN INFORMATION WILL BE PROVIDED TO REGISTRANTS SHORTLY BEFORE THE EVENT.