BOOK EXTRACT: Balancing Work and Life: A Practical Guide for Lawyers (part 2/2)

Balancing Work and Life: A Practical Guide for Lawyers, by Julia Bachelor-Smith
LexisNexis, 2014
Paperback, $50 (available to buy online)
From Chapter 24: Is law a female friendly career?

Read earlier: BOOK EXTRACT: Balancing Work and Life: A Practical Guide for Lawyers Part 1/2

In order to get any clarity around whether law is a female friendly career, I think we need to leave the commonly traversed ground behind. Rather than blithely questioning why women aren’t making it to the top of the legal profession, we should first identify the real impediments. And once we know what those are, we can then work out practical ways to circumvent them.

The qualitative research produced by the Auckland Women Lawyers’ Association (AWLA) and the Gender & Diversity Research Group from AUT University makes for illuminating reading in that regard. Amongst other things, the study sought to explore the perceived barriers to female progression, explanations for women leaving the firm and the profession, and future personal work plans in law and beyond. 

The female respondents to the AWLA paper noted a number of barriers to progression, including:

• caring for children;
• attitudes against women;
• the perception that part-time work precluded a woman from being promoted;
• partnership structure;
• a lack of knowledge about the progression process; and
• the hours required.

In some respects, it’s unsurprising that the women in the AWLA study identified those barriers when you consider the overarching framework of the legal profession. Assuming adherence to the conventional career trajectory, most young graduates enter the profession in their early twenties. For those aspiring to make partner, there’s likely to be the best part of a decade’s worth of hard work between starting their career and entering a partnership. And in that decade, a number of life changes may occur, including engagement, marriage, pregnancy, childbirth and child raising. And often, those life events have a more profound effect on a woman’s day-to-day life than a man’s.

On the flip side, it’s true that times are changing for men and women. The blurring of traditional gender lines means that it’s no longer a given that the female will stay at home with the kids while the male brings home the bacon. There’s a growing trend for couples to take an objective look at each other’s earning power and structure their collective career decisions accordingly. And what that means in practical terms for a heterosexual couple is that it can make better financial sense for the woman to continue to work if her earning power outstrips that of her partner’s.

Whilst the increasing prevalence of senior women in the law having ‘house husbands’ (or at a minimum, life partners who have radically scaled back their careers) could be perceived positively, it could also be argued that this trend has depressing implications for women in the law. On the one hand, it is admirable that gender lines are not as stiffly demarcated as they historically have been. But is the sobering reality of a legal career that you can only have a shot at high-level success if you have a wife - or a husband - at home? And if so, where does that leave the female lawyer who loves the law and wants to enjoy a long and successful career without dictating terms to her partner?

The problems aren’t confined to women with children, either. For example, the underrepresentation of women in the senior ranks of many clients may make networking and marketing to men occupying those positions more difficult. As a result, anecdotal evidence suggests that women face a specific set of challenges in attracting and retaining clients.

Some time ago, I recall meeting with a male client who had previously been a great source of work for me on a personal level. That work had dried up and I wanted to know why. I suggested we meet up for a post-work drink. (As an aside, the simple act of going for that drink required significant logistical gymnastics from my end, including the headache of rearranging cars, swapping nanny days and asking my husband to step into the breach to cater for my past-bedtime arrival).

So the client and I met, we chit chatted, he divulged little - and then he looked at his watch. ‘Sorry’, he said as he plunked his hurriedly emptied beer bottle on the table, ‘...I’m going to have to run. I’m meeting James for a boys’ night’.

And right there, I had my answer as to what had happened to my work. Because James was another lawyer at another firm who the client had also been working with. Now, there may have been all manner of other explanations as to why those files had dried up - and I certainly don’t want to insinuate that it was wholly attributable to my gender. I don’t want to take anything away from James, either - after all, he’d done an admirable job of fostering a close relationship with a key client. The point is that rapport building is naturally easier with someone of the same gender. We trust people like us - and that often starts with our sex.

So do male lawyers consider there’s a female-specific problem?  Interestingly, the AWLA report highlighted that the men’s responses generally did not reflect any additional burden for women, apart from having children. In fact, the male respondents viewed the pressured, time-hungry nature of working in the law as impacting men and women equally.  The AWLA Report summarised the reasons that men gave as to why people leave the big firms as follows:

• uninteresting work;
• focus on billable time;
• lack of role models;
• male-dominated industry;
• unpleasant people in Partnership roles; and
• focus on generating business rather than
serving client needs.

The crux of the issue is this: any career is going to present you with challenges. But challenges are what make life interesting and give it purpose.  It’s not the challenges that are the issue - what is important is how you perceive those challenges and the steps you take to overcome them. 

Here’s how to make a career in the law work for you, irrespective of your gender:

• Think creatively about your options.

Yes, you need to work hard to become a partner - and that charge often coincides with a person’s early to mid 30s. That’s not a problem per se, but it may present challenges for some women if there’s complete rigidity around timing.

Don’t be afraid to step outside the box.  Who says that a career trajectory must be linear? For example, if you are a mother with young children, you may not feel able to aspire for partnership in your 30s. But if you do ultimately want to be a partner at a different time to when it’s traditionally expected of you, then come up with an alternate path. If the life cycle of a lawyer is able to flex, then that may help in bringing you through to partnership. And by not closing the door to the opportunity, you may be in a position to aim for that goal in your 40s. 

Whatever options you decide to explore, the onus is on you to cast that decision in a positive light. In the previous example, the firm retains an employee who is committed for the long-term.  What upsides can you think of that flow from exploring your options? What positives could there be for your firm? 

Stay ahead of the game.

If you are not able to work harder, commit to working smarter. The key to doing this successfully is identifying the areas that are most important for you in a professional context. If you had to isolate five things that are key for your practice, what would they be? What are the pressure points?  Are you dedicating the lion’s share of your time to those priorities?

Leaving specifics to one side, there will also be things you can do on a more general level to advance yourself. Make an effort to understand legislative developments that impact your practice area. Take an interest in topical issues affecting your clients.  Recognise time for the scarce resource it is and allocate it judiciously

Say yes.

Attitude is everything - and a positive attitude is infectious.  Say yes as much as you can. 

Even if you have to say no, then try saying “yes” to the person but “no” to task.  As a Mindtools article explains, this may mean seeing whether you can accommodate the request in a different way.  By communicating clearly, it is possible to say no to the task at hand while still making the person feel respected.  Get to the bottom of their priorities and see what this person needs, how their needs can be met and how you can support them.

 Identify self-limiting behaviour.

 Are you placing any self-imposed limits on your progression?  Have you jumped to conclusions about opportunities for progression in your firm, for example, without seeking out any concrete evidence about the status quo?  Or have you written yourself off, allowing self-doubt to pervade and cloud your judgment?  Perhaps you are limiting yourself by always seeking the path of least resistance, rather than the path you really wish you could take.

Behaviour that inhibits our chances of success is destructive.  Be honest: are you being your own best cheerleader?  Or are you putting up a few barriers of your own to progression?

Recognise it’s a two way street.

The key to countering any barrier is coming up with a solution that works for both parties. It’s crucial you strive for that reciprocity; otherwise one party may wind up resentful. 

Say you need flexibility to ensure your schedule aligns with daycare drop off and pick up times.  You might propose starting earlier and leaving the office by 5pm to make that work.  Can you offer flexibility in your approach in return?  If you are part time, is it possible to suggest that you are available to swap your days off to meet client demands?  Or can you offer to work full-time during busy periods to ease the load on your colleagues?

No one likes to feel as though they are taken for granted, and that goes for employers too.

Keep barriers in perspective.

There’s no two ways about it: women face barriers to progression in the law. But so do men. And so do female accountants, and male secretaries, and so on. Yes, barriers may exist for you, but you’re not the first person to face issues on the road to success. Always keep that in mind.

Before we can work out how to rectify the issue of women leaving the law, we need to identify the specific issues are that need fixing. And in ascertaining that, it’s important that we differentiate on both a macro and micro level between the genuine issues that need addressing and mere inherent career challenges.

Ultimately, I think that the legal profession is as female friendly a career as female practitioners collectively want to make it. Things won’t change unless the members of the profession demand a mentality shift. Support from the top is critical, but practical endorsement of change from the bottom up is vital too.

If you are a woman frustrated by barriers to advancement, don’t just identify them. Dedicate some creative thought as to how you can overcome them. Think laterally about ways to navigate challenging personal periods. It’s your responsibility to do the thinking on this - not anyone else’s. And in taking charge of formulating and proposing solutions you may not only come up with a genuine solution that works for you, but also for your firm or employer, too.