I have seen a few versions of this interview/article recently. This time it galvanized me to put fingers to keyboard, perhaps because I recall painfully my own self-consciousness in a law school classroom, frightened into silence by feelings of intellectual and verbal inadequacy. With almost 2 decades of law practice under my belt, I have learned to live, and practice, the adage: Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good. But the author’s points resonate nonetheless, and chafe a bit. It seems that there are a few perspectives missing from this genre of article: 1) Is it, in fact, the case that women lawyers are self-selecting out of the high-profile trial and appellate level careers? 2) What about all of the women trial and appellate lawyers in DRI who defy the notions that are represented in these articles? 3) Does active participation in an organization such as DRI provide a place where women trial and appellate lawyers can acquire skills that will instill the confidence necessary to compete for the high profile cases? My fear of speaking out in law school, fortunately, did not extend beyond the classroom walls, and certainly isn’t the case in a courtroom, boardroom, or auditorium. I fear now, though, that perception becomes reality for women lawyers (aspiring and practicing) when articles such as this proliferate without a discussion and examples of where women ARE achieving prominence in high profile cases.
