Law Students

Hillary in the Media: the Couric Interview [Blogwatching]

Posted on February 12, 2008
Via Shakesville: Katie Couric asks Senator Clinton about being a nerd and being labelled "Frigidaire" by boys in high school. These are only tough questions if you think high school girls shouldn't be studious and ambitous despite the attitudes of high school boys...

Southern Ms. Part IV: Lawyerettes

Posted on February 12, 2008
I'm often hesitant to tell people I'm an attorney. Suffice it to say the achievement of graduating from law school and passing the bar is dampened by finding oneself the butt of many many jokes. But in Memphis, I find myself asserting my professional status more because otherwise I find folks assume I'm a secretary...

What Not to Wear (Or, What Not to Say?) [Blogwatching]

Posted on February 11, 2008
I ignored this story as long as I could. Last week Christina Binkley published the article, "Law Without Suits: New Hires Flout Tradition." She subtitled it "Young Attorneys' Casual Attire Draws Criticism at Big Firms; A Crackdown on Ugg Boots...

Advice on Passing the Bar Exam: Part III

Posted on February 11, 2008
Following up on sintecho and Jessie's recent posts giving advice for passing the bar, I have a couple of tips to add to the great information already provided on this site. I sat for (and passed) the July 2007 Bar Exam in California. The two tips that I will share here relate to the written portion of the test and I think now is the perfect time to share them as the February test is just weeks away! Both of these tips relate to matching how you study to how you will test...

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Something to brighten your weekend: feeling grateful for U.S. women's opportunities for legal education and careers [Clippings]

Posted on February 11, 2008
University of Chicago 3L (and Mom-in-Law-School) Lag Live meditates on a New York Times article about the Middle East's "Education City." [W]hat struck me the most was a section on the second page titled "Opportunities for Women." To quote some of the article: "Education City represents broad opportunities for women, in a nation where many families do not allow their daughters to travel overseas for higher education or to mix casually with men...

Weekly MILS Roundup (Moms in Law School)

Posted on February 10, 2008
The Moms in Law School Roundup posts on Sundays, alternating between blogs by PT-law mom and A Little Fish in Law School (a/k/a butterflyfish). This week is MILS #32, hosted by PT-law mom. It's an easy way to keep up with (and join) a virtual neighborhood of moms in law school! Thanks to butterflyfish for the tip in the comments [on our previous article about MILS]...

Solo by Choice: How to Be the Lawyer You Always Wanted to Be [Clippings]

Posted on February 09, 2008
Sometime Ms. JD blogger and ever-faithful friend of the solo practitioner Carolyn Elefant has written a new book, Solo by Choice: How to Be the Lawyer You Always Wanted to Be. As a solo practitioner and a regular contributor to law.com, she is an expert on the subject and a woman successfully forging her own path in the legal profession...

Five Tips for Commuting While Pregnant (and Afterward)

Posted on February 09, 2008
If you missed it, on Friday the Wall Street Journal Juggle blog asked readers to comment on commuting while pregnant. What resulted was a long, long thread of horror stories (from pregnant women forced to stand for long subway rides while fellow passengers feigned sleep) punctuated with a few friendlier tales and lot of people admonishing each other to be more courteous...

A Measure of Progress: Media Held Accountable for Sexist Remarks About Hillary Clinton

Posted on February 09, 2008
Feministe, the blog of law student (and sometime Ms. JD blogger) Jill Filipovic, has a spot-on summary of recent Hillary-related events. Declaring that "A Bad Day for Sexism is a Good Day for Women," Feministe recaps: David Shuster at MSNBC asked if Chelsea Clinton was being "pimped out" because she?s making calls on behalf of her mother?s campaign, something that adult children of politicians do to support their fathers? campaigns with regularity...

How Men and Women Can Work Together at Law Firms [Clippings]

Posted on February 09, 2008
Jennifer Bluestein, director of professional development for the Chicago office of Baker & McKenzie, observes that most training to remedy gender inequalities at firms is geared toward women. Presentations teach female associates how to climb upward...

Just in time for Valentine's Day, dating & relationship expert declares, "profession-wise, women lawyers are the worst"

Posted on February 09, 2008
Maine newspaper syndicate SeacoastOnline publishes one of those ubiquitous dating/relationship columns that sets people up then reports on their dates. In that spirit, the paper's (female) food critic submitted to a "dating quotient" evaluation by columnist Steve Penner...

Do you cry because you're sad, or because you're angry? [Clippings]

Posted on February 08, 2008
About a week ago, we had a discussion (prompted by coverage of Hillary Clinton) about attorneys showing emotion, either tearing up or outright crying. Jezebel has a related post up, asking their (mostly female) readership: do you cry because you're angry, or because you're sad? The comments thread is interesting--and supportive, if you're one of many women who tears up more easily than she would like...

Ruminations of a law school mama

Posted on February 07, 2008
I?m so proud of myself ? I earned a place on the Dean?s list! While I don?t like to admit it, this is my first time on the Dean?s list and to be so highly ranked since High School. I have finally remembered how to work and study. Anyway, my academic accomplishment has generated another round of comments from fellow students, calling me crazy for trying to be a law student as a single mama...

Should we pay lawyers to mentor their successors?

Posted on February 07, 2008
Woke up this morning to an article claiming that "Senior Partners Press Firms to Pay Them to Train Their Successors." Details in the article suggest that this is mainly an issue of client retention (about the time it takes to smoothly hand over ongoing work)...

Minority enrollment in law schools falters [Clippings]

Posted on February 07, 2008
Law.com reports that "Minority Enrollment at Law Schools Is Faltering." Leigh Jones of the National Law Journal speculates that "rankings pressure and anti-affirmative action may fuel the problem." Arizona, Colorado, Missouri, Nebraska and Oklahoma all have initiatives under way to place questions on November ballots that would end programs that increase minority and female numbers in education and in government...

Ms. JD Weekly Round-up: Week Ending February 8, 2008

Posted on February 07, 2008
Alvarez revels in upset After defeating five men to become the Democratic nominee for CookCounty state attorney, Anita Alvarez is committed to changing the "good ol' boy mentality" in the prosecutor's office, where "so many times we think of the prosecutor as this stereotypical man, a male white for that matter ...

Can you be likable and still get ahead?

Posted on February 06, 2008
I read Are You Living Your Life Like You're Planning to Fail on Ms. JD the other day and thought of it immediately when I read this article in the New York Times on the imposter phenomenon. The imposter phenomenon was coined by two therapists in the 1970s "to describe the internal experience of a group of high-achieving women who had a secret sense they were not as capable as others thought...

7 Truths that Every Working Woman Should Know Before Having a Child -- Part VI

Posted on February 06, 2008
Okay, the time has come for me to write about my six myth in this series and that is that grandparents (your parents/in-laws) will come to the rescue. The truth is, the promise to post about this has been hanging over my very busy head for weeks now as I've tried to think of something witty, funny, sincere or even surprising to write about this topic...

Advice on Passing the Bar Exam: Part II

Posted on February 06, 2008
"A word about panic: I took the California exam and my computer failed..." Though my heart just stopped on her behalf, Jessie passed the bar anyway. How did she do it? Read on! --Ed. For those prepping for the February sitting, a word about panic: I took the California exam and my computer failed in the middle of the second essay day...

Social networking for women NGO activists and their clients

Posted on February 05, 2008
PulseWire is in beta testing, open for women who are working in the fields of human trafficking, HIV/AIDS, and water sustainability. Could that be you? read more

Five Big Law firms ranked in Fortune's 100 best companies to work for

Posted on February 04, 2008
Five of the biggest Big Law firms are ranked in Fortune magazine's 2008 ranking of the 100 best companies to work for. The issue hits newsstands today, February 4th. Arnold & Porter comes in at #19, Alston & Bird at #31, Bingham McCutchen at #41, Perkins Coie at #55, and Nixon Peabody at #66...

Advice for Passing the Bar Exam

Posted on February 03, 2008
I know the February bar is fast approaching, so I thought I?d share the preparation advice I jotted down for my younger law school friends after taking the New York bar this past July. I wrote this when it was still fresh in my head (and before I knew that I passed), and I added some notes on thoughts I have now that I know I passed...

Must Read: The Counselors by Elizabeth Vrato

Posted on February 03, 2008
In 1991, Hillary Rodham Clinton in her capacity as President of the ABA's Commission on Women in the Profession established the Margaret Brent Award "to recognize some of the women who were crashing through the glass ceiling and changing the world...

Ms. JD Weekly Round-up: Week Ending February 1, 2008

Posted on January 31, 2008
Majority Ownership of Toledo Law Firm is Women At the Toledo firm of Cooper and Walinski, women are the majority of both the firm's 39 lawyers and the firm's shareholders. Leaving Big Law to Start Your Own Firm Erica Leathem talks about starting her own law firm...

Are You Living Your Life Like You're Planning to Fail?

Posted on January 28, 2008
I think many of us introduce ourselves, our ideas, and our work with any number of disclaimers: "maybe this is a stupid question, but..."; "I don't know that much about this, but..."; "I'm probably wrong, but..." I think I couch my viewpoints as a way to avoid appearing confrontational or as a way to mitigate the perception of error - that is, if my substantive contribution is correct, then great, but if not, then at least I predicted that and got something right...

Clippings: NYT on Law Firms' Changing Attitudes towards Work/Life Balance

Posted on January 24, 2008
Lisa Belkin interviews Deborah Epstein Henry and details the recent and rapid transformation of many law firms' policies in today's New York Times article, Who's Cuddly Now? Law Firms. Among other signs of change, Belkin noted this touching vignette: A harbinger of changing times might well be the brief filed by the hard-driving white-shoe firm of Weil Gotshal & Manges of New York, asking a judge to reschedule hearings set for Dec...

Ms. JD Weekly Round-up: Week Ending January 25

Posted on January 24, 2008
Bravo! Rural women solving cases faster than judiciary Though not technically lawyers, women in rural India have devised Nari Adalats, or women's courts created by women for women, where cases of rape, molestation, divorce, and domestic violence are handled...

A Note on the Democratic In-Fighting and the Image of Corporate Counsel

Posted on January 23, 2008
So in the scuffle that was the Democratic Presidential Debate last night Clinton and Obama exchanged a number of accusations including that Clinton served on the board of directors of Wal-Mart; Obama worked for a law firm that represented an inner-city slumlord...

Open invitation to Debbie Epstein Henry talk & networking reception in DC @ White and Case (RSVP required)

Posted on January 22, 2008
Kelly Hoey (White and Case) & Anna MacCormack (NYU Law School) have very nicely extended an invitation to Ms. JD readers in the DC area to attend a free networking reception & presentation on Feb. 4th with Debbie Epstein Henry (another of our favorite women in law) talking about the Best Law Firms for Women ranking she undertook with Working Mother Magazine last year...

Ms. JD and Project on Att'y Retention are sponsoring a $1,000 essay contest on work/life balance

Posted on January 18, 2008
Ms. JD and The Project for Attorney Retention are sponsoring a $1,000 essay contest to answer the question, how do we close the gap between Baby Boomers and Millennials on work/life balance? The maximum length is 1500 words--so that's potentially, like, a dollar a word...

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