I am currently part of an all-women team of lawyers. We confidently advertise this to the world on our website. When we launched the website one month ago, the feedback from our clients, colleagues and friends was overwhelmingly positive. However, in the process, this question was asked of us: “where’s the diversity?”
I answered that question with reference to our very different cultural backgrounds, life experiences and broad range of skills. I pointed out that there is more to diversity than gender. I also made clear that it is a matter of circumstance rather than design that all of our employed team currently comprises women. We will continue to fill our available positions with the best candidates for the job, irrespective of gender.
The question left me pondering: what is it about our image that made this person so uncomfortable? We’re women lawyers. So what? Would these lawyers be questioned about their diversity? What about these?
I then asked myself: what are lawyers supposed to look like? More importantly, what does a ‘great lawyer’ look like?
Images reminiscent of Atticus Finch, Perry Mason and Jack McCoy come to mind. It is more than fifty years since Gregory Peck graced our screens in To Kill a Mockingbird. Is this still what “lawyerly” looks like?
If art imitates life, then none of this is surprising. Or rather, it wasn’t surprising fifty years ago. I fear that what we see now is the reverse: life imitating art. Women continue to struggle to reach the upper echelons of this profession, notwithstanding we have been part of it for more than a century. The problem persists even while women now graduate from law schools in higher numbers than men.
The struggle for seniority is particularly difficult when it comes to commercial and litigious work. Even with three women sitting on our High Court bench (soon to be two) and more women advocates on their feet in a courtroom than ever before, the misconception that men just do this stuff better seems to persist, with no legitimate reasoning to back it up.
In an age of flexible working arrangements, with freedom wrought by technology and exciting opportunities now open to women willing to embrace innovative practice models, women’s inferior position in this profession can no longer be explained away with reference to the responsibilities of child bearing and child rearing. There are plenty of us out there who are making our way quite nicely with tots in tow, thank you very much.
The fact is that women make excellent lawyers. I believe that, instead of trying to shape ourselves to fit the established (male) mould, we should showcase our distinctly female attributes such as empathy, resilience, perseverance and dedication. These are the hallmarks of high quality legal advice and representation and they are part of our DNA. Who better than a working mum to efficiently manage time (which almost invariably equates to cost), be calm under pressure and creatively resolve conflict? As women in this profession, we work harder because we have always had to go the extra mile to prove ourselves. Our standards are higher because we are called to account and explain far more often. We are underestimated by our opponents based on looks alone which is always a mistake. A crouching tiger can be a particularly valuable asset.
I look forward to the day when the term “woman lawyer” is no longer tainted with sexism and has instead been reclaimed as a badge of excellence. I call on women lawyers and the many other professional women stuck in ‘boy’s clubs’ to confidently assert their expertise: we are women, we are here and we may in fact do it better.
Just because Atticus Finch cast the mould doesn’t mean Alicia Florrick shouldn’t do her damnedest to break it.