WBA's
Initiatives to Advance Women in the Legal Profession
For nearly 30 years, the WBA has advocated for the full and equal participation
of women in the legal profession. Unfortunately, our progress has slowed to a
crawl, and many people believe that it has stopped altogether. Nowhere is the
problem more evident than in large law firms, where women and minorities
consistently fail to advance to the highest levels of leadership at anywhere
near the rates of white men. The lack of women leaders has profound effects that
extend beyond any particular law firm, as equity partnership often opens doors
to other positions of power in the legal profession and the community at large.
The
WBA is passionately committed to identifying barriers to the advancement of
women attorneys and tearing those barriers down. Our task is in some ways more
difficult today than it was 30 years ago, when discrimination and stereotyping
were overt. Here are some of the things that the WBA is currently doing to help:
Revamping the Business Development Committee to provide additional
resources to women at all levels who are attempting to build client
relationships.
Developing a "reentry" program to assist women who have left the
legal profession for an extended period of time and wish to return to the
practice of law.
Developing model policies and best practices in areas of particular
importance to women, such as parental leave, flex-time schedules, and mentoring.
Partnering with national organizations to advocate for increased
transparency and greater reporting of attrition data as part of the law firm
recruiting process.
Working with the MBA and BBA on the Equality Commission, to explore ways
to reduce the attrition of women in the Massachusetts legal community.
Surveying a sample of practicing attorneys in Massachusetts to determine
whether there are differences in where men and women choose to work, and explore
the reasons behind those choices.
Meeting with managing partners of numerous law firms around Massachusetts
to discuss on a confidential basis the reasons that women are failing to advance
at those firms in numbers proportional to men, and what the WBA can do to help.
I hope that you will do your part by supporting other women in the profession
and, if you can, by becoming involved in one of the WBA's many initiatives
described above. We must all come together and act with purpose if we are to
take our rightful place at the table and achieve full representation at the
highest levels of our profession.
Julia Huston can be reached at
wbapresident@womensbar.org.
