THE CAREER JOURNEY OF
A FEMALE LAWYER
Anglia Ruskin University Law Society presents

STRUGGLES FACED DUE TO
GENDER
AS A LAWYER:

AS A LAWYER, I DEALT WITH:
• Colleagues making unprovoked comments, engaging in unprovoked
touching (e.g. putting a pen down my dress, putting arms around me),
and not taking a female lawyer as seriously as my male counterparts.
• Having to pack and/or plan a full wardrobe for multi-day events like
depositions or mediations. All men wear boring suits, but if a woman
wears the same outfit two days in a row, everyone will notice.

AS A LAWYER, I DEALT WITH:
• Being asked by a white male lawyer if I was a family member in a multi-
million dollar mediation because I was the only woman there.
• Being asked by a white male lawyer to get him coffee right before a
deposition started because I was the youngest in the room and the only
female, so I was presumed to be an assistant.

AS A LAWYER, I DEALT WITH:
• Never being promoted (in title or in salary) at my first job but learning
that soon after I left a younger, less-experienced, and far inferiorly
skilled white male lawyer was promoted.
• I was only offered a competitive salary once I quit.

AS A LAWYER, I DEALT WITH:
• The expectation that – as a woman – you are not worth as much as a
male hire because you will leave to get married and/or procreate.
• Having children and bearing the responsibility for raising them, which
forced me to leave the profession for part of that time, putting me (and
many other women) at a serious trajectory disadvantage.

AS A LAWYER, I DEALT WITH:
• Not getting an equal opportunity to try cases (or even sit in court at the
counsel table) because at that time federal judges in Texas could be
sexist.
• Some judges still are sexist / very conservative and require women to
wear skirts and pantyhose (no pantsuits).

EXAMPLES OF MALE LAWYER
ADVOCATES
AS A LAWYER:

AS A LAWYER, I WAS PROUD
TO SEE:
• A name partner tell a young, shy female associate that she was not
obligated to give a creepy, much older, and very married referral
attorney her cell phone number just because the firm did millions of
dollars in business with him and he asked for it.
• At a business development event my firm hosted, having a name
partner observe an inebriated male lawyer put his arms around me. The
partner walked over and pulled me aside to ask if I was okay and to
remind me that I do not have to let anyone touch me as part of my job.
He also offered to let the man know this if I wanted.

AS A LAWYER, I WAS PROUD
TO SEE:
• One of the best trial lawyers in the world introduce me as his law partner
to people who would not otherwise have paid attention to me as a
younger, MUCH less well known female attorney.

STRUGGLES FACED DUE TO
GENDER
AS A MARKETER:

AS A MARKETER, I SEE WOMEN ATTORNEYS
STRUGGLE WITH:
• Branding language and taglines: women must make sure the language
they use in marketing materials is innuendo-free and non-suggestive.
• Headshots and professional photos: women must consider a variety of
factors that will be scrutinized and judged that men don’t, including how
much makeup to wear, how to pose, how much cleavage to show, the
“trendiness” of the outfit, what jewelry is appropriate, and more.
• Professional biographies: men mentioning
children is often a badge of honor, while as a
woman, mentioning children can be seen as a
detriment or hinderance to their potential
performance. I am routinely told by female
lawyers to exclude any reference to a family from
their marketing.

AS A MARKETER, I SEE WOMEN ATTORNEYS
STRUGGLE WITH:
• Business development: many traditional business development
activities – golf, hunting, playing or attending sporting events – are male
dominated and women are often intentionally excluded.
• Client relationships: many lawyers socialize both with each other and
with clients surrounding alcohol. Women attorneys having drinks alone
with males can lead to perception issues and unwanted advances, even
when entirely unfounded.

AS A MARKETER, I SEE WOMEN ATTORNEYS
STRUGGLE WITH:
• Booking speaking engagements: most legal industry panels and
presentations are still very white male dominated, and those looking for
diversity often add speakers based on “characteristics” instead of
quality.
• Even events focusing on diversity and gender equality often have all
white male panels, even when women are planning the events, as many
people are conditioned to believe that men are the “experts.”

TRENDS FOR WOMEN LAWYERS
LOOKING AT THE DATA

SEXISM IN THE COURTROOM
• Law schools now have gender balance in their student bodies, so
women seem to be as interested in practicing law as men; but, as law
student gender balance has equalized, career attachment for females
has decreased.
• This could be because approximately 70% of female attorneys surveyed
by the Defense Research Institute reported experiencing gender bias in
the courtroom (e.g., being called “honey”). Sexism infects every kind of
courtroom encounter, from pretrial motions to closing arguments,
making it clear how difficult it will be to eradicate gender bias not just
from the practice of law, but from society as a whole.

AN EXODUS OF WOMEN
LAWYERS
Unemployed or Under-
Employed
Women in the best position to advance
gender equality are leaving full-time
employment at very high rates. About
30% of female lawyers are unemployed
or under-employed (working less than
20 hours per week) during their prime
career-building years—ages 35–40.
Childcare Leave
While a greater portion of male
attorneys take childcare leave today
(3.2%) compared to the 1980s (0.8%),
the percentage of female attorneys
who take childcare leave has increased
even more, from 31.9% to 39.6%.
According to Harvard Business Review, law firm partnerships are still dominated
by men, but not as a direct result of women voluntarily leaving legal practice.

PLAUSIBLE EXPLINATIONS:
• Discrimination in hiring, promotion, salary negotiations, and case
assignment.
• Self-selection based on cultural, biological, and other such reasons.
• Asymmetrical cultural pressures, such as men being expected to work
for most of their lives while women are given more leniency to choose
whether or not to work if finances aren’t an issue – in this way, men are
more constrained than women and benefit from it in their careers.
• Family obligations, as many women are biologically predestined to be
pregnant, give birth, and deal with the lion’s share of the early childhood
responsibilities of their offspring.