Additional Steps to Increasing Your Professional Profile
In my experiences with several male lawyers in my home area of Louisiana, I was viewed as nothing more than a “little girl” who might need instruction—even after over a decade in practice. Unfortunately, talented women lawyers are still confronted with the same preconceptions when they walk into a room in any city or state. Under those circumstances, it is often difficult to access opportunities that will enhance resumes and advance careers. Male lawyers still often give preferential treatment to other men when assigning important cases or clients. Women lawyers often must take additional steps to increase their own professional profiles so that they will have greater opportunities.
Bar Associations
As a young lawyer, engaging in bar association (whether local, state, or national) and community activities was critical to my ability to engage with professionals outside the walls of my law firm. Naturally, this provided access to different opportunities. I viewed it as part of my law career development, even though it was difficult to balance with the demands of law firm practice. Engaging with bar associations gave me the opportunity to meet experienced, well-known lawyers and judges. Eventually, true, sustained involvement in those associations allowed me to become a leader in those organizations and to have speaking opportunities. Those leadership and speaking opportunities allowed me to gain access to and become familiar with a wider range of lawyers and judges, locally, statewide, and nationally.
Nonprofit Boards
In addition to bar associations, identifying and joining boards of nonprofit organizations allowed me to contribute to the community in ways other than providing legal services. Becoming involved in arts organizations and social services organizations has been incredibly enriching. Nonprofit boards are generally diligent about ensuring that their members have diverse professional backgrounds. It provided the opportunity to get to know business leaders who were nonlawyers. As a young lawyer, the idea of joining a nonprofit board seemed a little intimidating, but I did a nonprofit board training to lessen my anxiety about it. That board training also gave me great insight into issues related to proper board governance, which, as it turns out, has been useful even in assisting clients in my legal practice.
Politically Oriented Organizations
Another avenue to consider, but to be considered carefully, is joining organizations that focus on policy or politics. I joined a couple of politically oriented organizations early on in my career. It was fun to participate with groups of people who generally shared my political views. Those types of organizations have to be carefully considered, of course, because the clients who pay your legal fees may not be pleased with certain organizations. So, tread lightly with these organizations and assess the political atmosphere at your firm before becoming active in them.
Great Mentors Are Key
And it goes without saying that finding a great mentor within your law firm is always smart. If one is not available in your firm, finding a mentor outside of your law firm can be great. Other women lawyers often refer work and include their friends in great opportunities. If you are able to find a great mentor who can provide you with meaningful work in great cases, those experiences will be the best foundation for not only your legal career but also for additional opportunities. A managing partner who allows you to argue important matters in court and engage directly with clients is invaluable. I was fortunate enough to have that mentoring as a young lawyer, and it gave me the chance to work on complex and high-profile matters and to meet business owners and leaders who needed our services.
From Private Practice to Public Service
As a result of all those experiences, I was asked to take on different roles in both the legal profession and the community. Through those experiences, I was able to leave private practice and become a government attorney, which was never an aspiration or anything I ever considered. This became possible not only because of my legal experience but also because of my involvement in bar associations and community and political organizations.
For many lawyers who are in private practice, the idea of becoming a government lawyer sounds preposterous. And for lawyers who graduated at the top of their classes (like me), unless there was a true passion for public service, those lawyers invariably aimed for jobs at large law firms rather than lower-paying government jobs. After I graduated from law school, I worked for a state appellate court judge in southwest Louisiana whose opinions—both legal and otherwise—I greatly value, and he said to me, “Find a job that you love, and the money will come later.” With that in mind, I left the partnership at my law firm and took the leap into government practice, which, of course, was a pay cut. But it was my most valuable professional experience to date in terms of how much I learned about the law, management, and politics.
That experience provided knowledge of areas of the law that I would have never encountered in my private practice, which opened additional opportunities when I returned to private practice. When I returned to private practice, I had opportunities to get political subdivisions and public agencies as clients because I now had knowledge of issues unique to public entities. I have worked on land-use and zoning cases in my private practice because I learned about those issues while in city government. In short, becoming a government lawyer, although it was not planned and, in some ways, not encouraged, provided me with additional and unique legal knowledge and experience and opened the doors to clients I would otherwise never have gotten.
Make Thoughtful Decisions about Roles and Opportunities
To gain access to opportunities requires stepping beyond the walls of your law firm to gain exposure to others in the profession and the community. Once you have done that, making thoughtful decisions about what roles and opportunities you take is critical, and those decisions may best be guided by which relatively intangible benefits can be obtained by assuming those roles. Take on important roles where you can highlight your legal prowess and intelligence; it will allow even more opportunities to come your way.
