Women Criminal Lawyers: Everybody Needs a Straight-Talking Mentor
During the most recent NACDL Spring Conference and Board Meeting held in Las Vegas, the NACDL Women’s Initiative held a lunchtime panel discussion called Mentoring & Your Career.
The panel was moderated by yours truly and included Jo Ann Palchak from Tampa FL; Letitia Quinones, from Houston, Texas and First Assistant Federal Public Defender Lori Teicher from the District of Nevada in Las Vegas. It was a robust and honest discussion about challenges that women face in the criminal defense field, and specifically about the importance of finding women mentors, and the value of mentors in general. It highlighted the importance of finding someone to help you navigate the dynamics of business and career development in both private and public sectors. Here’s a picture of the panel in action:
During the conversation, we discussed statistics which reflect the depressingly low number of women advancing in big law firms. While some audience members noted that we can’t be driven by statistics alone, these numbers are a window into the harsher realities of being a female lawyer in the very male-dominated field of criminal defense. Particularly in the white-collar sector, we are still not seeing a proportionate number of women handling big cases. This has to change.
Along these lines, I read an article on the Washington Post’s blog entitled Large law firms are failing women lawyers, which isn’t really news to any of us, but a comment by a lawyer named Kelly Hoey caught my eye. She explained that the single trickiest aspect of navigating firm culture as a woman is “finding a powerful mentor who tells you straight-out how the law firm game is played,” and then “having that strong mentor back you up when you play the game.” The article goes on to discuss how mentors like this can help to advance your career, if they trust you, by sharing their book of business, which can pave a golden road to advancement.
Even after twenty years of practice I have found straight-talking women mentors to be priceless. Whether you’re fresh out of law school or a seasoned pro, I’d encourage you to look for a straight-talking mentor of your own. And, just as importantly, I encourage you to look for fellow women attorneys who could benefit from your wisdom and experience. This is how we work towards equal footing for women in law and in business in general.