Law Students

Jacqueline Harounian on Work-Life Balance

Posted on January 06, 2009
Jacqueline Harounian, Esquire of Wisselman, Harounian & Associates, P.C. penned a great piece at The Glass Hammer. Her article, Raising the Bar: Balancing Professional and Personal Choices, includes some "inspirational anecdotes and advice related to the challenges of balancing professional and personal choices...

Dawn Johnson, Assistant Attorney General

Posted on January 05, 2009
In addition to his nomination of Elena Kagan for the position of Solicitor General, Barack Obama recently tapped Dawn Johnsen to be an assistant attorney general in his administration. Johnsen is currently a Professor of Law and Ira C. Batman Faculty Fellow at the Indiana University School of Law?Bloomington...

Book Review: Lipstick Jungle

Posted on January 05, 2009
As I've posted about before, I am a fan of the NBC series "Lipstick Jungle".  Sadly, rumor has it that the series has been cancelled and this Friday's "Season Finale" is actually the end of the show forever.  Looks like my lot in life is to have the network dramas that I really like get cancelled...

On a Tightrope

Posted on January 05, 2009
In her New York Times piece, The Tightrope of Managing a Law Office, Anita J. Cicero discusses the challenges of being an office managing partner. Watching management issues unfold each week is like watching TV when someone else controls the remote...

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Elena Kagan, Solicitor General

Posted on January 05, 2009
President-elect Obama announced key Department of Justice posts today, including the nomination of Elena Kagan for Solictitor General. Currently the 11th Dean of Harvard Law School (and the first woman in that post), Kagan served in Bill Clinton's White House from 1995 to 1999...

5 Things I Wish I'd Known Before Becoming a Lawyer, Mother

Posted on January 03, 2009
On the first day I reported to work as a summer associate, my employer handed me a copy of Maria Shriver's Ten Things I Wish I'd Known Before I Went Out into the Real World.  I quickly gobbled up the pages, hoping to discover the secret sauce to success in the law and life lying somewhere in the pages; I figured it had to be there, after all, a seasoned big-firm veteran had handed it to me with explicit reading instructions...

Ms. JD Weekly Roundup: Week Ending January 2, 2009

Posted on January 02, 2009
Women Partners Weigh in on Chief Justice Controversy Memorial Service Scheduled for Attorney Pamela Dunn Salem Author Traces the Path of Women in Legal History Holly J. Fujie to Chair Judicial Selection Group for Senator Dianne Feinstein The Height of Feminism?  Or do High Heels Demean Women as Sex Objects? read more

Justice Judith Kaye in the New Yorker: Special Kaye

Posted on December 30, 2008
Jeffrey Toobin penned a piece for the New Yorker this month on Justice Judith Kaye. The "Talk of the Town" profile, Special Kaye, reflects on a variety of Kaye's accomplishments, from the renovations of Foley Square courthouse that she championed to her promotion of jury service...

Unity Dow, First Female Judge of Botswana's High Court, Also an Author

Posted on December 30, 2008
Unity Dow, Botswana's first female High Court judge, "considers that in writing novels she is 'reclaiming the voice' to speak out on human rights and women's issues."  Dow has published three novels to date: Far and Beyon', The Screaming of the Innocent, and Juggling Truths...

Ms. JD Weekly Roundup: Week Ending December 26, 2008

Posted on December 26, 2008
Indian President Patil Speaks About Women Empowerment at National Conference of Women Lawyers and Law Teachers on Justice for Women Ann Rieger Ready for Challenge of Leading Davis & Kuelthau SC Single Mother Latina Alston Perseveres to Earn Law Degree Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer to Female Lawyers: Wear High Heels, Embrace Your Femininity Study: Female Partners in D...

Will BigLaw Embrace Grade-Less, High-Pedigree JDs?

Posted on December 22, 2008
p emEd. note: The following article comes to Ms. JD courtesy of author Michael Estrin and bitterlawyer.com.  They interviewed a number of hiring partners at major U.S. law firms, who expressed concern about decisions by Harvard and Stanford law schools to switch to a pass/fail system...

Q & A with Managing Partner Brigid Higgins

Posted on December 22, 2008
Brigid Higgins, Managing Shareholder, Gordon Silver, rose from associate to managing partner in less than ten years. In her interview with In Business Las Vegas, Higgins discusses what is like to be a female managing parter, how she balances her duties, and how she made such a rapid rise to the top...

Single Mother Perseveres to Earn Law Degree

Posted on December 22, 2008
The Witchta Eagle rencently ran an inspriring story about a single mother who overcame adversity to become the eighth African-American member of the Wichita Bar Association. Latina Alston is not yet 30. She has three children out of wedlock with three fathers, two of whom have not helped much with the kids...

Equal Justice Works on Student Debt

Posted on December 22, 2008
Ed. Note: The following post will be of interest to Ms. JD readers entering law school, attending law school, or those readers already working.  Whether a student, an attorney at a private firm, or an attorney working for government or a public interest organization, the following links provide information to those readers about planning for student loan debt and the pay-back process...

Ex-Law Student Leads Landmark Battle Against Sexual Harassment in Egypt

Posted on December 18, 2008
p quot;A recent study by the Egyptian Center for Women's Rights found that 83 percent of Egyptian women and 98 percent of foreign women experience public sexual harassment in [Egypt]..., including explicit comments, groping, men exposing themselves and assault,quot; reports the Los Angeles Times...

Ms. JD Weekly Roundup: Week Ending December 19, 2008

Posted on December 18, 2008
p a href=http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/business/story/0,28124,24816016-17044,00.htmlAustralian Lawyers Told to Explain Male Stranglehold Over Rank of Senior Counsel/a /p p a href=http://www.bizjournals.com/dayton/stories/2008/12/15/focus1.htmlWomen Partners Slowly Increasing/a /p p a href=http://au...

Event Announcement - Hit the Ground Running: Practical Skills You Need to Succeed

Posted on December 17, 2008
p On February 7, 2008, the Law Student Project of the Women's Bar Association of D.C.  Initiative on Advancement and Retention of Women is hosting a day-long practical skills session entitled a href=http://www.wbadc.org/cde.cfm?event=240139Hit the Ground Running:  Practical Skills You Need to Succeed/a...

Does Looking Sexy Advance Your Career (and even if it does, should you care)?

Posted on December 13, 2008
Bitter Lawyer has a post by a very modest writer known at least to herself as "Law Firm 10" (yes, her nom de plume should give you a sense of where the article is heading) entitled Erin Andrews, Esq.  Erin Andrews, TV sports reporter, is, according to Law Firm 10, a "(reasonably) stylish, non-overweight, attractive woman," and consequently "men love her and, surprisingly, even respect her," which Law Firm 10 credits as the reason that Erin Andrews' "career is blowing up...

Ms. JD Weekly Roundup: Week Ending December 12, 2008

Posted on December 12, 2008
Parting Advice from New York's Top Judge, Chief Judge Kaye, but No Mention of Controversy Over Successor Nigeria: Female Lawyers Condemn Violence Against Women More Women Than Men Face Retrenchment in Legal Firms Daddy Daycare: Growing Number of Men Become Househusbands Excerpt from 'Michelle: A Biography' Chief Judge Kaye Says Goodbye at Brooklyn Bar Association's Annual Dinner read more

Columbia Law School Graduate Caroline Kennedy in the Senate?

Posted on December 10, 2008
The ABA Journal has picked up on an ABC News' The Note blog report that New York Governor David Paterson wants Caroline Kennedy, a 1988 Columbia Law School graduate, to replace Senator Hillary Clinton.  Earlier this week, Robert Kennedy Jr. apparently also told a New York Times reporter, Jonathon Hicks, that "Caroline Kennedy would be the perfect choice if she would agree to do it...

Part V in Series: A Junior Associate's Networking Plan

Posted on December 10, 2008
Part V in my 7-part series is Pro Bono work. I, like most junior associates, took on a pro bono client early in my law-firm career.  I took my first pro bono client/project based on typical factors: 1- a partner asked me to do it and 2- well, there is no second reason...

New York Governor David Paterson Rejects All-Male Judicial Appointment List of Candidates

Posted on December 08, 2008
On Wednesday, December 3rd, New York Governor David Paterson held a press conference where he critized a list of candidates for chief judge of the state Court of Appeals.  "I don't accept," he said, "that there wasn't a woman in this state that was qualified to serve on the Court of Appeals...

A false dicotomy: Husband-shopping vs. Serious Professional

Posted on December 08, 2008
There is a post from last week on a blog called "Hiring Partner's Office" that seemingly gives sage advice about building your law firm reputation.  The hypothetical is about two women associates.  One is "pleasant, cheerful" and career focused...

Ms. JD Weekly Roundup: Week Ending December 5, 2008

Posted on December 05, 2008
Lack of Women on List to Replace Retiring Chief Judge Judith Kaye Criticized Qatari Women Aspire to be Legal Eagles Travis' First Women Prosecutor, Edith Roberts, 76, Died Monday After a Pioneering Legal Career Hunton & Williams LLP Appoints Mary Nash Rusher Raleigh Office Managing Partner Lawyer M...

Celebrating the Career of Chief Judge Judith Kaye

Posted on December 03, 2008
The New York Law Journal is celebrating Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye's career in a variety of posts over the next several weeks: Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye has written hundreds of opinions hewing closely to the state's legal traditions at the same time they seek to anticipate changes in society...

Ms. JD Weekly Roundup: Week Ending November 28, 2008

Posted on November 28, 2008
Firms Change Practices to Keep Female Lawyers Ajamie LLP's Ann Ryan Robertson Named One of 30 'Extraordinary Women in Texas Law' by Texas Lawyer Interview with Yvonne Brathwaite-Burke: USC Law School Graduate, First Black Women Elected to Congress from California, and First Member of Congress to Give Birth While in Office Lawyers' Committee Appoints Civil Rights Activist, MacArthur 'Genius' Fellow Lateefah Simon as New Executive Director Women Still a Minority Among High-Level Positiions read more

Ask a Mom in Law School: The Possibility of Pregnancy

Posted on November 26, 2008
Cross-posted at (Formerly) Knocked Up (and in Law School): A new reader asks: I just found your blog after googling "taking the bar exam while pregnant." I'm not in law school, but I am in the dead middle of a PhD. What is your take on the possibility of being pregnant during a major exam (in my case my "orals")...

IP/Gender Call for Papers

Posted on November 26, 2008
CALL FOR PAPERS American University Washington College of Law IP/Gender: Mapping the Connections 6th Annual Symposium April 24, 2009 Special Theme: Female Fan Cultures and Intellectual Property Sponsored by American University Washington College of Law?s Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property Women and the Law Program Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law In collaboration with American University?s Center for Social Media The Organization for Transformative Works Rebecca Tushnet, Georgetown University Francesca Coppa, Muhlenberg College Deadline for submission of abstracts: December 19, 2008 read more

NAWL?s 2008 National Survey on Retention and Promotion of Women in Law Firms, Part II

Posted on November 25, 2008
Now for the second part of the NAWL survey that I found particularly interesting this year: the finding that "For both male and femail lawyers, moving (laterally moving between firms) is likely to be a better strategy than staying in the lawyer's original firm...

Ms. JD Weekly Roundup: Week Ending November 21, 2008

Posted on November 21, 2008
Minnesota Women Lawyers Create New Local Chapter National Association of Women Lawyers Releases Third Annual Survey: Groundbreaking Data Reveal Impact of Lateral Moves, Firm Structure on Women Tasers the Topic of Jacksonville Women Lawyers Association Luncheon Holland & Knight's Women Lawyers Buy Kitchen Gadgets, Benefit Charity In Equity Partner Ranks, Men Earn an Average of $87K More than Women Kenyan Federation of Women Lawyers Project to Give Women Easier Access to Legal Services read more

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