Blog #24: Advice

All the advice articles that I read for women lawyers revolved around one piece of advice: do not give up. They center on the fact that there are a different set of rules out there that women have to follow. In no situation does the advice for these female lawyers say that it will be easy sailing. It was quite the opposite actually. In “Advice for Female Law Students About to Graduate”, it tells these lawyers that they are going to have to overcome so many more obstacles than they ever thought they would have to (Law Vibe, 2008). Law Vibe goes further by telling these soon to be graduates that they have the power to change the law profession. That if they do not like the way a policy or situation is then they have the power, skills, and knowledge to change it. Law Vibe tells them that they are going to be subjected to “overt discrimination and /or some form of under evaluation” and that it is up to them to change it. If they are not getting what they need out of a big law firm then they need to start their own business and make their own rules. “Young Female Lawyers Play by Their Own Rules” is a perfect example of this. Erica Leathem got some unofficial advice from an older associate at the law firm she was employed by when she was expecting her first child. That advice was to get back to work as soon as possible. Erica did not agree with this philosophy, so she and some co-workers decided to play by their own rules. They left the large firm and started their own firm. These women now have the flexibility to work when they want to without feeling pressure from anyone else that they are not pulling their weight. Erica does not take away anything from what these older women have done for new female lawyers making their way up the ranks. She is just determined to make it by her own set of rules.