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Advancing Women In The Law

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10 Sure-Fire Ways To Lose A Client

The Complete Lawyer
Volume 2, Number 2
June 2006

Women lawyers face significant challenges in business development. Nevertheless most women lawyers have the potential to become "rainmakers."

As noted by many writers on the subject:

Women are typically excluded from informal "old boys' " networks
They are too overburdened with billing and family demands to have time for business development
Many are uncomfortable directly asking a potential client for business
Typical business development activities seem alien because they are rooted in male culture
They have few models and are rarely provided with training in business generation skills
Women are not socialized to treat work as a "game" and to compete to win

Delegating: A Necessary Skill for Career Success

Lawyers Weekly USA
LWUSA 56
January 30, 2006

The most difficult challenge for lawyers who rise to managerial positions is learning to carve out time from their own individual efforts to foster the productivity of others.

You must genuinely believe that the time devoted to planning, delegating and coaching others is not only well spent, but essential. The mindset that helped you earn your promotion – “It’s easier just to do it myself” – just won’t fly anymore.

She Can Do Anything

The LegalTimes
Volume XXIX, Number 4
January 23, 2006

Congratulations! You’ve joined the small, elite force of women law firm partners. Your perseverance, fortitude, and political savvy helped you wind your way through the law firm equivalents of Scylla and Charybdis. You’ve stayed afloat in the swirl of endless, exhausting, deadline-driven hours and created a reputation for yourself as nonfungible despite how easily women disappear into anonymity in the absence of powerful advocates and high-visibility assignments.

What Women Say When Men Aren’t Around

Speech given at the Women's Bar Association of the District of Columbia, Initiative on the Retention of Women
January 6, 2006

Today, I am the story-teller. Those of you who are litigators know that the facts themselves must be woven into a coherent narrative in order to have impact.

In my work as an executive coach and psychologist, I listen to stories - mostly those of women attorneys - and help them rewrite their own authentic narratives. Now that you’ve heard the research and the data from Catalyst and the Project for Attorney Retention, my task is to give the numbers and concepts a human face.

Women Lawyers & Business Development

The Complete Lawyer
Volume 1, Number 3
January 2006

Recently I held a free teleconference call for women lawyers interested in my "Making Rain Without Pain" coaching group. Participants called in from across the U.S. Their practices were diverse -- medical malpractice defense, trusts and estates, employment defense, commercial litigation, tax, biomedical patent law, bankruptcy, internet trademark law, and child neglect and abuse. The practice settings from which they came were equally wide-ranging -- from solo practices to mega-firms -- and everything in between.

As I listened, I was struck by how articulately these women described their expertise, competence, strengths and talents. All of the participants were able to clearly communicate their job qualifications.

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