Suit claims secretive ‘back-office deals’ at BigLaw firm favor males in pay and origination credit

A former female partner at LeClairRyan has filed a gender bias suit claiming the law firm favors males in partner compensation decisions that are “cloaked in secrecy.” Former partner Michele Burke Craddock filed the suit on Wednesday in federal court in Richmond, Virginia, report Richmond Biz Sense and the Am…

Jan 11, 2016 5:45 AM CST

Trailblazing former New York judge Judith Kaye dies at 77

Judith Kaye, the first woman to lead the New York State Court of Appeals, has died. The cause of death for Kaye, 77, was not reported, according to the Times Union. Kaye led the state court for 15 years, according to the article, and stepped down due to mandatory retirement…

Jan 7, 2016 1:40 PM CST

Harassed lawyers tell blog about ‘touchy feely’ partners and ‘massively inappropriate’ comments

A blog hopes to inspire change by gathering stories from women lawyers subjected to sexual harassment at their law firms. The “Pink Ghetto” series by Above the Law takes a look at “the sexual harassment that’s pervasive within the law, in firms small to large.” Women lawyers told the blog:…

Jan 7, 2016 8:05 AM CST

10 Questions: From lesbian moms to Airbnb, Roberta Kaplan makes sure laws keep pace with change

Jan 1, 2016 3:20 AM CST

BigLaw associate who co-wrote ‘Notorious RBG’ rap song dies at age 25

A Duane Morris associate who co-wrote a viral “Notorious RBG” rap song honoring Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has died at the age of 25. Kelly Cosby died on Sunday from an aggressive form of melanoma, the New York Law Journal (sub. req.) reports. She was diagnosed with the cancer soon…

Nov 20, 2015 7:28 AM CST

Which major firms promoted zero women to partner this year?

The percentage of females who won partnership promotions at major law firms this year increased by two percentage points to 34.4 percent, even though more than a dozen law firms failed to promote any women. Those findings were released on Monday by a group called the Diversity & Flexibility Alliance,…

Nov 12, 2015 9:00 AM CST

Six BigLaw firms join fellowship program for women re-entering the practice

OnRamp Fellowship, a program that places women who took hiatuses from practice with law firms and in-house departments, recently expanded its participants to include six new law firms: Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom; Morrison & Foerster; Loeb & Loeb; Stoel Rives, Wiley Rein and Wilson Elser. According to Bloomberg…

Sep 25, 2015 11:20 AM CDT

New Yorker profiles ‘St. Judy,’ revered defense lawyer who, for first time, had a client get death

Judy Clarke helped keep high-profile murderers including child-killer Susan Smith, Unabomber Ted Kaczynski and Jared Loughner, who killed a federal judge in an Arizona shooting spree, off death row. But despite her best efforts, Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, whose conviction was generally viewed as almost inevitable, was sentenced to…

Sep 18, 2015 2:30 PM CDT

Was it ‘misogynistic behavior’? BigLaw partner is chided for comment on ‘stunning’ LinkedIn photo

A human rights lawyer in the United Kingdom has accused a Brown Rudnick partner of “unacceptable and misogynistic behavior” for his comment about her “stunning” photo on LinkedIn. The human rights lawyer, 27-year-old Charlotte Proudman, used Twitter to post a screen shot of the comment by 57-year-old Alexander Carter-Silk, who…

Sep 9, 2015 8:24 AM CDT

EEOC: Female law profs at the University of Denver are underpaid, violating the Equal Pay Act

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has determined that the University of Denver’s Sturm College of Law is violating the Equal Pay Act by paying its female professors less than males. The EEOC threatened suit over the gender pay gap in a letter sent to the university on Friday, report the…

Sep 1, 2015 10:21 AM CDT

Paulette Brown brings passion for inclusion as the first woman of color to lead the ABA

Paulette Brown lets you know what she thinks, her friends say. And if she supports you on something, they add, you can count on having a smart, strategic, loyal and fearless advocate. Brown, the ABA's new president, is the first black woman and the first woman of color to lead…

Sep 1, 2015 6:30 AM CDT

ABA’s first female president receives its highest award

Sep 1, 2015 12:50 AM CDT

‘New Law’ offers alternatives to lawyers fed up with long hours of BigLaw, report says

Entrepreneurial legal ventures known as “New Law” offer novel business models and better work-life balance than BigLaw, according to a new report that lists more than 50 of them. These New Law ventures are getting work that used to go to large law firms and are hiring BigLaw refugees, according…

Aug 27, 2015 6:15 AM CDT

Paulette Brown announces ambitious plans as she assumes the ABA presidency

Introducing Paulette Brown, outgoing ABA president William Hubbard joked that Brown clearly has the strength and stamina to take up the presidency—because if you try to join her on her daily walks, “your ankles will burn like fire.” Brown, a partner at Locke Lord in Morristown, New Jersey, made good…

Aug 3, 2015 6:40 PM CDT

5 women with extraordinary careers honored by Margaret Brent Awards

Corrected: Women who have brought change to the legal profession by cutting paths that might ease the journey for those following can plot and plan all they want, but sometimes their achievements result not only from hard work and smarts but also how they respond to challenge and adversity. That…

Aug 2, 2015 7:35 PM CDT