Each time I read an article about women lawyers leaving the profession, earning less than men, or failing to achieve balance in their lives, I am transported back 18 years to a hospital waiting room, seated on a hard plastic chair. My mother-in-law was ill, and I was using the long waiting time to write about the myths of alternative work schedules for the first edition of the ABA Commission on Women in the Profession's Balanced Lives: Changing the Culture of Legal Practice. Unfortunately, like a Star Trek rerun, I take this mental journey back in time far too frequently as women in the legal profession struggle with the increasing and evolving pressures of practice.

Don't misunderstand me. Women lawyers have come a long way from the 1980s. Sexual harassment - that pervasive dirty little secret - is no longer tolerated. Clubs refusing membership to women, or requiring them to enter through the kitchen, are virtually gone. The entire face of the profession has changed significantly. But women lawyers are still struggling with glass ceilings, gender-based stereotypes, and the stigma of part-time schedules. In short, the profession has changed women lawyers more than women lawyers have changed the profession.

Remaining relevant to Generation Y, our children, is the biggest challenge facing the Commission today as it continues to address many of the same issues of the 1980s.

The psychological literature has begun to speak of the "alpha girl." ¹ She is a Generation Y high achiever who takes equal rights for granted, does not lose confidence in middle school, or succumb to depression. She has developed a "hybrid self" incorporating high self-esteem with traditional female values and behavior such as social networking and feminine dress. But like any attempt at stereotyping, the alpha girl's heady promise breaks down in reality.

I recently overheard the following conversation in a ski lodge. Teenage girl: "I don't want to have kids because I can't imagine going to college and expending all that effort only to give it up when I have kids." Guy: "Yes, and it's so unfair to the kids if you don't give it up."

It's difficult to believe that in 2008 women's choices are still between career and families. Those myths I wrote about in that hospital waiting room are still everyday topics in the legal press - 18 years later. And dangerous new myths are constantly being generated; for instance, women are leaving the profession in droves. ²

Because it's much easier for women to enter most professions now, maybe their expectations are dashed after being set for clear sailing. Even the creator of the alpha girl model admits that the legal profession is structured for the Father Knows Best world, requiring enormous amounts of time and someone to keep the home fires burning. Once Generation Y begins to have children, they will realize that these problems have yet to be solved.

How do we impart positive, realistic expectations about law practice to a new generation - empowering them not only to be successful lawyers, but also to rise above requests for accommodation, take the reins of leadership, and make the profession a better place? How does Generation Y use its dynamic communication tools to transform the legal workplace? And how do we plan for the day when the legal profession itself loses its luster to science, technology, and engineering as these careers open up for the alpha girl?

Twenty years ago, the legal profession was the Commission's oyster, a fertile field for reform. It helped transform the profession, inspired women across the country, and grew into a respected force. The 21st century, however, brings challenges cloaked in complacency and subtle discrimination.

As the Commission enters its next decade, it must tackle intractable issues with new vision and simultaneously transition to the next generation of creative energy. The Commission's greatest challenges are remaining relevant to ensuing generations, continuing to be a creative voice of the legal profession, and persevering as a catalyst for change.

We hope the talent of the next generation of women lawyers will allow them to boldly go where no one has gone before.

Endnotes
1. Harbour Fraser Hodder, "Girl Power," Harvard Magazine 110, no. 3 (January-February 2008): 34.
2. Only 9 percent of women who graduated law school between 1972 and 1985 were not working 15 years later. Women's Bar Association of the District of Columbia, Creating Pathways to Success: Advancing and Retaining Women in Today's Law Firms (May 2006), at 25.