Which law firms are most family friendly? Yale Law Women names top 10

Yale Law Women is recognizing 10 law firms for their family friendly policies. The top 10, in alphabetical order, are: Arnold & Porter Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft Duane Morris Hogan Lovells US Hunton & Williams Kirkland & Ellis Morrison & Foerster Munger, Tolles & Olson Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe WilmerHale…

Apr 21, 2015 7:06 AM CDT

Should female justices be recognized with an ice cream flavor by Ben & Jerry’s?

A petition at change.org is urging Ben & Jerry’s to recognize more women by naming a flavor after Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The flavor would be called “Ruth Bader Ginger,” the Blog of Legal Times reports. The ice cream would consist of brown sugar cinnamon ice cream mixed with gingersnap…

Apr 10, 2015 7:06 AM CDT

Men-only golf retreats and unequal work assignments alleged in bias suit against McElroy Deutsch

A fired associate at McElroy, Deutsch, Mulvaney & Carpenter claims in a gender bias and sex harassment suit against the law firm that male associates got to hobnob with firm leaders at male-only golf retreats and got better work assignments than females. Fired bankruptcy associate Elina Chechelnitsky filed the suit…

Apr 6, 2015 8:48 AM CDT

Leadership slate shows diversity in action at ABA Midyear

Apr 1, 2015 1:40 AM CDT

Ellen Pao testifies to wanting $10M to settle Kleiner Perkins discrimination case

Did being left off emails, forced to listen to colleagues chat about porn and the Playboy Mansion during business travel and being left out of a dinner held in her own building for Vice President Al Gore help form a significant barrier to an ex-BigLaw associate’s career at a storied…

Mar 10, 2015 3:00 PM CDT

Former prosecutor claims she was paid less than new hires due to gender bias

A former assistant district attorney in Suffolk County, Massachusetts, claims in a lawsuit that she was fired after complaining she was paid less than some new hires with less experience. Christina Corda says she began to complain to her supervisor in March 2014 about the low salary paid to her…

Mar 5, 2015 10:33 AM CST

Law partner creates SheStarts, a group to help female entrepreneurs

Women starting companies just don't get the breaks men do. According to a 2014 Babson College study, startups with women on their executive team are three times more likely to get venture capital funding now than 15 years ago. However, 85 percent of businesses that received venture capital had no…

Mar 1, 2015 6:15 AM CST

Silicon Valley agog as trial looms in high-profile sex-discrimination case against Kleiner Perkins

Ellen Pao’s resume includes a stint as an associate at Cravath Swaine & Moore as well as a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Princeton University and dual graduate degrees, in law and business, from Harvard University. But she didn’t have what it takes to succeed at Kleiner Perkins Caufield…

Feb 23, 2015 4:40 PM CST

After four-year decline, percentage of female associates ‘nudged up’ in 2014

The percentage of female associates “finally nudged up” in 2014, following four years of slight declines, according to the National Associated for Law Placement. According to a NALP press release (PDF), 44.94 percent of associates were female in 2014, compared to 44.79 percent in 2013. The 2014 number is still…

Feb 17, 2015 2:18 PM CST

Sarah Weddington on being a young, female lawyer in a watershed SCOTUS case that reverberates today

Sarah Weddington wasn’t the first to know that she’d won the landmark abortion-rights case Roe v. Wade at the U.S. Supreme Court. Giving the keynote speech at Saturday’s American Bar Foundation Awards Reception and Banquet, Weddington recalled a call her assistant received on Jan. 22, 1973. A reporter from the…

Feb 8, 2015 10:52 AM CST

Law dean calls out sexism in evaluation of female prof, tells students to forgo ‘fashion advice’

The vice dean of Rutgers School of Law-Camden says the “sexism” label isn’t one that he readily uses. But he didn’t hesitate to make the call concerning an evaluation of a female professor at the school. Submitting a public critique, “that explored, in some detail, the fashion stylings of one…

Jan 30, 2015 9:45 AM CST

Women who ask for raises tend to be disliked, while men may ‘get a pass on swagger,’ law prof says

One theory offered to explain why women make less money than men is that women don’t ask for raises. But University of California at Hastings law professor Joan Williams suggests wage inequality has another component, the New York Times Op-Talk blog reports. Research has found “that women who do ask…

Jan 27, 2015 7:38 AM CST

‘Life is not linear’: McDermott partner who left law practice in 1997 regains partnership

A partner at McDermott Will & Emery in Washington, D.C., who left the firm and gave up law practice in 1997 has regained her partnership. Sally Rosenberg joined the firm in 1987 and became a partner in the firm’s health law group in 1993, Legal Times (sub. req.) reports. She…

Jan 22, 2015 6:15 AM CST

At several DC firms, more women than men are promoted to partner

Though women lawyers are outnumbered by males in partnerships at large law firms, they made strides at several law firms in Washington, D.C., in recent promotions. Out of 35 law firms that announced the promotions of partners since October, 14 promoted as many or more females than men in Washington,…

Jan 22, 2015 5:45 AM CST

Does ‘martyr mentality’ of nonprofit lawyers keep salaries low?

Lauren Burke graduated from New York University law school, was named a Skadden fellow and made Forbes’ list of “30 Under 30” in 2013. But her salary at the nonprofit group she co-founded qualified her for public housing in New York City (available to those who make less than $47,000…

Jan 14, 2015 2:49 PM CST