Success Strategies for Women Lawyers

LAUREN STILLER RIKLEEN

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 Success Strategies for
Women Lawyers
LAUREN STILLER RIKLEEN

PUBLISHED BY IN ASSOCIATION WITH

Contents

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

Introduction: Women’s advancement is our profession’s imperative ...................................VII

Contributing factors to an individual’s 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
Women’s 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

III
Contents

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

Build lasting relationships .................................................................................................... 57
Work on your reputation...................................................................................................... 61
Nine tips for successful rainmaking ...................................................................................... 62
Credit where credit’s 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 ................................................................................................ 73

Effective 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

IV
About the author

LAUREN STILLER Rikleen is the founder and Executive Director of the Bowditch Institute for Women’s
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 of Ending the Gauntlet: Removing Barriers to Women’s Success in the Law, a
book which is highly acclaimed for its thoughtful insights about the management of today’s 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.
Lauren’s 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 Association’s 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 Women’s 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 America’s 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
Women’s 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: lrikleen@bowditch.com.

V
Introduction: Women’s advancement
is our profession’s imperative
FOR THE past decade, I have been
exploring issues relating to women’s
retention and advancement in the legal
profession. My interest initially followed my
own 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 dramatic
changes 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 else’s 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
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 impacts
of those pressures. By the turn of the 21st
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
women’s advancement. For example, women
comprise only approximately 18 percent of
law firm partners – less than a three percent
increase since 2002. The percentage of
VIII
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 are
using 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 Women’s 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
individual’s 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

– contribute to an individual’s 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 attorney’s 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
Success Strategies for Women Lawyers
young attorney’s 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 become
messages 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.
IX
Introduction

It is important to stress that the road Legalworks, 2006. See also, Henry, Deborah
to career success frequently offers detours. Epstein, Law & Reorder: Legal Industry
The road will be lined with unexpected Solutions for Work/Life Balance, Retention
opportunities and delightful encounters along Promotion & Restructure, American Bar
the way. Do not hesitate to linger at those Association, 2010.
for a while. A single-minded preoccupation 2. Report of the Fourth Annual National Survey
with achieving one’s goal means that other on Retention and Promotion of Women in Law
opportunities may be missed. The reality Firms, The National Association of Women
is, life is a continuum of experiences, some Lawyers® and the NAWL Foundation®,
planned and some not so much. October 2009, pp2 and 5.
It is, therefore, important to be open to
all of life’s opportunities. We should all strive
to 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 Master’s of Public
Administration at Clark University, for her
detailed organizational assistance and
dedication 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
1. See, for example, data in Rikleen, Lauren
Stiller, Ending the Gauntlet: Removing Barriers
to Women’s Success in the Law, Thompson/

X
Chapter 1: Developing a niche
practice – 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 plant’s
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 and
local laws, and thousands more pages
of related regulations and governmental
guidance documents and policies.
Today’s 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 and
articles 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
1
Chapter 1
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 emerging
privacy area:
“While niche practices aren’t 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
Company’s first Chief Privacy Officer. While I
am no longer in that role, I stay connected to
the privacy community and the developments
relating 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 Stewart’s development of
a niche practice reinforces the importance
2
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 intellectually
challenging 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 firm’s 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 it
when 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

area of law excites you, passion for details,
because little things do matter, and passion
for hard work, because your client’s 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 from
senior 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 most
engages 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,
Success Strategies for Women Lawyers
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 you
can 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
Gislason’s 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
3
Chapter 1
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 business
because I was, at the time, the lawyer
for a women’s 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 interested
in going into the book publishing business
and spent considerable time speaking at
writer’s 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.
4
“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 an
Icelandic 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 42,000
members, 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.

“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 recruited
and 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 one
specialty. 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
Success Strategies for Women Lawyers
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.
Liebenberg’s 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
5
Chapter 1
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 plaintiffs
and 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 Roberta’s
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 Yabar’s
list of tips highlighted her own engagement
in professional development opportunities as
a foundation for building a niche practice.
6
For example, she reports her involvement in:
 Expanding the firm’s 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 didn’t, especially
if it’s 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. It’s 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 one’s life is to have one’s own clients.
Virginia Woolfe may have needed ‘a room of
one’s own’ in which to ply her trade; what we
need is a ‘client of one’s own’ to ply ours.

“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.”
Beth’s 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 of
factors 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
Success Strategies for Women Lawyers
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, there
may be geographical differences which can
impact your choices:
“It’s 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 that
you 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:
7
Chapter 1
“Naturally, in anyone’s 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 today’s ever changing legal environment,
it is imperative that attorneys are able to
adjust their practices. As such, one’s 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
8
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 focused
almost 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:

“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 impact
your 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
Success Strategies for Women Lawyers
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 client’s 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 acutely
aware 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 client’s 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 can’t 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 –
don’t do this or you will get sued. Businesses
9
Chapter 1

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 their
preventive 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
1. Parks, J. Manly., ‘Branding Yourself:
Seven Thoughts About Niche Marketing,’
Law Practice Today, Law Practice Management
Section, December 2009.
2. Canter, Rachelle J., ‘Competitive Advantages:
Tips for Outpacing the Competition’,
Law Practice Magazine, January/February,
2009.

10
Chapter 2: Develop your leadership
skills – 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 O’Connor
could 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
Women’s Leadership, which analyzed the
state of women’s 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 of
law 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 women’s 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 Woman’s 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;
11
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.”
Women’s unique skills as leaders
There 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 women’s
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.
12
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
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