The Road is Still Rocky for Women Lawyers

The expression "woman lawyer'' has come into common use. It carries connotations of dead-and-gone, or, more accurately, dying-and-going, discriminations. Actually, there is no more reason why we should say "woman lawyer" than "man lawyer." Both are lawyers. Better we use the common expression until the lawyers come up with something better or until the expression dies a natural death, one or the other of which is bound to happen in time.




It is well for the lawyer to remember, always, if he should tend to become dogmatic and intolerant, that today's axioms may be, tomorrow, merely the quaint sayings of those who thought the earth was flat. The following is a member of the Board of Trustees of Columbia Law School speaking, referring to an application by three young women, in 1870, for admission to that great school:

As quoted in an article by Grace H. Harte, of the Illinois Bar, entitled "The Battle for the Right of Women to Practice Law," published in Vol. 33 of the Women Lawyers Journal -- pp. 141, 151.

There is, today, a place for women in the law, despite the trustee's forebodings. Women lawyers are with us in substantial numbers, and, moreover, they are here to stay because they are really good at it. I have never seen a legal problem handled by a woman that was not handled well. I have never seen a display of excess emotion or temperament on the part of a woman lawyer. I have heard, of course, as we all have, that women are temperamentally unsuited for the practice of law.

The incidents cited in support, however, always happened somewhere else, and to a couple of other people. With my own eyes I have never observed incompetence, nor with my own ears have I ever heard temperamental outbursts. I'm beginning to suspect that one's views concerning women lawyers merely reflect one's views respecting women in general. Some men regard them as unintelligent and frail. They conclude that women have no place in the law. Others regard them as strong, courageous, and capable, and welcome them to the practice of the profession.

Uphill battle

What this boils down to, however, is the fact that at this time in the development of the bar, women have an uphill battle for recognition. One of the most eminent, if not the most eminent, of the national law schools did not admit women students until about ten years ago. Many of the larger firms will not, even today, employ women lawyers. The employing partners rarely concede that this is a matter of policy. They usually profess their willingness to employ women, maybe they are sincere, but they just somehow have never quite got around to doing it. On the other hand, some firms make it a practice always to have women lawyers on their staffs. Actually once the breakthrough in a given firm is made and a woman is hired, the future policy of the firm with respect to such employment will be governed largely by the impact of the initial experience. In this regard we must reckon with the attitude of the clientele as well as with the professional competence of the woman. Once a crusty old gentle man, rest his soul, who would not permit a woman lawyer even to sit in on conferences concerning his business. At the time he was having labor troubles. The negotiating sessions were lengthy and, at times, vigorous. This old gentleman prided himself on his good hard thinking, on being a no-nonsense person, and his reason for barring the woman lawyer (who knew more about labor law than any man present) was that the bargaining sessions were tough enough without having to cope with a woman who would, no question about it, have hysterics within a couple of hours, three at the most. By the end of the afternoon he was a lot closer to hysterics than the woman lawyer.

But the point is valid and it must be recognized: Some clients simply will not deal with a woman lawyer. Where this feeling exists generally (and it will gradually disappear as the years pass), the firm cannot afford to hire her.

In this situation, where the doors of many firms are closed to the woman lawyer, or opened only with reluctance, what future has the young woman graduate in law?

Government service

Actually, it isn't so bleak. In the first place, the government agencies freely hire women lawyers and, having hired them, assign them work of increasing importance as their experience matures. They draft legislation, undertake research, write briefs for appellate courts, and often argue cases on appeal. In this employment they do not have the matter of client-rejection to fight since they have but one client by whom, in fact, they were hired. We find the same freedom of action accorded women in government at the State level. In fact, some of the most able of the lawyers representing the State in its various departments (including the office of the attorney general) are women.

Government service, of course, includes clerkship for judges. This is a field of government service in which women lawyers have been accorded full recognition. At one time, in fact, all of the clerks for the Federal District judges in Detroit were women, and the judges spoke of their work with real admiration.

Private corporations, also, offer many opportunities for the woman lawyer. Here, again, the woman does not encounter trouble with clients, for she has only one client. The work is varied, as we have seen. There are always, of course, tax matters. In addition there are contracts to be drafted, and to be reviewed, leases to be drawn, matters of labor law to be studied, and all the routine legal matters of a large business to be accomplished. The reception of women lawyers in the corporate law departments has been greatly aided by the acceptance of women in business generally. It is not at all unusual to find women occupying positions of great responsibility in the conduct of businesses, particularly in certain fields, and thus it comes as no great shock to business executives to find a woman occupying, as well, a position of great legal (rather than, for instance, merchandising) responsibility.

Some of the real pioneers among the women lawyers hang out their own shingles. From what we have said heretofore about the problems of getting started in private practice, plus the relative newness in the profession of the women lawyer, she may rightly gather that of all the paths open, this is the most difficult. Yet, in some instances, there is none other open. Sometimes, as in the case of her male counterpart, the young woman lawyer will obtain desk space in the office of another lawyer, or two or three. And, sometimes, these desk or space arrangements blossom into full-time partnership. The woman lawyer should not, however, attempt solo practice right out of school unless she has a deep pocket. If private practice is her goal, if she wishes to be completely independent in her practice, she might well give much thought to a tour of duty in a government department first. Upon her departure from government service she may then practice her specialty with a fair opportunity of success. But even in this situation she should seek a firm connection, at least at the outset.

Management of estates

There are, of course, many kinds of work for which legal training is a necessity but which does not actually involve the practice of law. The management of estates "in trust" gives rise to some peculiarly complex legal problems. Sometimes a man will not want to leave his property directly to his widow or to his children. He will leave it to someone, usually a corporation specializing in such matters, to hold for the family in accordance with his directions. It is held "in trust" by the corporation. Then the family fighting starts-- Who gets what? Or, if there is no family, the widow may want more than the trust officer feels she should have. Anyone who holds property at the request of a second party, for the benefit of still another, has a job requiring patience, wisdom, fortitude, and sound legal counsel. The trust departments of banks, and trust companies themselves, hire large numbers of lawyers, many of them women. The work is interesting and important.

Insurance companies, also, have substantial legal staffs, as do the editorial staffs of the great publishing houses specializing in legal treatises and encyclopedias. The great numbers of cases pouring out of the appellate courts of every State in the Union, as well as those of the Federal system, require careful annotation, digesting, and indexing, otherwise they would be lost. Our jurisprudence is a system of precedent, but before a case can serve as a precedent it must be available to those who seek to rely upon it. We of the practicing branch of the profession lean heavily upon the careful digests and classifications of cases. Their preparation takes both time and skill. A share of it is done by women lawyers, and a young woman interested in research and analysis would do well to consider this branch of the law.

Despite the obstacles implicit in woman's entry into a professional field barred to her for many years, as to which, in fact, she was denied even the privilege of attending professional school, she has done extremely well in it. Her professional performance of duty has been in no degree inferior to that of her male counterpart, and in many cases it is substantially superior.

Judicial openings

Nor have her activities been restricted to any one area of the law. Women not only practice law of all kinds; they teach, as well, on the faculties of great law schools. In addition, they sit as judges throughout the country on many diversified benches: as judges of probate, of municipal courts, and as judges of trial courts of general jurisdiction. A woman sits, with great distinction, on the Tax Court of the United States in Washington, and others serve as appellate judges, both State and Federal.

Nor is woman's entry upon the profession of the law, and her successful practice, restricted to this country. In England, within the past decade, women lawyers have been appointed King's Counsel, an office of great prestige and responsibility.

Here is a piece of advice for the neophyte: In order to achieve success it is not enough that you be a good lawyer.

The male's problem stops here. If he achieves professional competence he is free to go anywhere his fancy takes him and commence the practice of his profession. Not so with the woman. Once the long years of preparation are over, and the bar examination successfully passed, she faces the problem (today) of the woman lawyer. She must have economic resources beyond those of her brother, for her apprentice years will be far more difficult. But beyond that she must have resources of soul and spirit far beyond her brother's. The day is not yet passed when a hush falls over the courtroom when the woman lawyer walks in. The slightest slip-up may cause ill-concealed sniggering at the counsel table. A perfectly normal manifestation of irritation or impatience will be regarded by some as evidence of temperament or emotion. And so it goes.

Yet there are two sides to the coin. The hush, the expectancy, as the woman lawyer takes her place at the counsel table, or arises to address the judge – that is attention focused upon her. But is this bad? True, it puts her on the spot.

But isn't that where she wants to be, professionally speaking? She has the undivided attention of the court. She does not get it in a silver platter. Her reaction at this point will be very revealing. If she is on the defensive, has a chip on her shoulder (Look, you guys, she is just as good as you are- see? You're not so smart, either!). She will arouse at least a covert antagonism. Really, you can't blame her too much if she wears the chip. By this time she has probably seen more than one instance where her sex alone has been the cause of professional discrimination against her. Yet she must rise above it (that's one reason why she must have resources of the spirit far deeper than her brother's) if she is to be a successful professional. If she is able to shrug off these irritations and still approach the bench in the manner of one lawyer discussing a professional problem with another, she will find acceptance and liking and admiration.

Despite such problems, more and more women are entering the profession, practicing with great success, and attaining its highest awards. The women lawyers have taught us much of perseverance, of dignity, of forbearance, and of just plain old- fashioned courage. They themselves have responded to challenges deep within them, yearnings for self-expression that would not be denied. The profession and our society are in their debt. But the road is still rocky, it is still uphill, and only the strong and the fearless should undertake the journey. To those of you who do, Godspeed!