Superwomen JDs and What You Can Learn From Them: Featuring Tanya Jachimiak of Illinois

Tanya L. Jachimiak received her Juris Doctor in 1998 from DePaul University College of Law.  She practiced employment law, including class action litigation, for over ten years.  Tanya left the private sector for the public, currently holding the position of Associate Director of the Office for Access and Equity, University of Illinois at Chicago.

1. How has being a woman affected your career or legal education?
Because it is such a male dominated field, I often find myself trying harder and doing more to outperform my male counterparts.  On many occasions, male firm partners have excluded me from outings with my male peers (e.g., golfing events, basketball).   

2.What advice do you wish someone had given you when you first started practicing law? 
Understand and follow the Doctrine of Completed Staff Work (http://www.dolan-heitlinger.com/Quote/StafWork.htm) .  Also, I would have benefited greatly from advice on how to navigate the often conflicting demands of multiple partners.  It took some time to figure out that when accepting an assignment, I needed to be very clear about when I would be able to complete the new assignment in light of a deadline set by another partner.  Just saying “yes” doesn’t work in the long run.  Quality is more important than quantity.   

3. What do you think the legal profession can do to increase the number of senior level females?
Current senior level females should reach out to younger associates more frequently and be willing to mentor female associates.  In my experience, senior level females did not reach out to junior level female attorneys.   Until I became involved with NAWL, I knew very few senior level females who were willing to mentor and show junior level females the ropes, so to speak.

After the jump, the best reading for new attorneys, the truth about finding mentors in a male-dominated environment, and some thoughtful advice about how to prioritize work opportunities ...

Ms. Prof: Is Sisterhood a Myth?

Sisterhood. We may not always use the exact term, but we talk about the concept constantly, from women’s bar meetings to conferences discussing the advancement of women lawyers.

According to several reports, the concept of sisterhood among women lawyers – assuming it truly exists – is being threatened. And the greatest source of threat, as it is suggested, may be ourselves.

In an article in Texas Lawyer, writer Michael Maslanka reports on the “queen bee” concept suggested by some articles and books about women at work: “The female imperative, from ancient times, is ensuring offspring survival. A female who is not a team player, who thinks of herself as better than the group, endangers the offspring, so the group isolates her and tosses her aside … So, when a fellow female gets a promotion and acts superior to the group, the ancient wiring fires up and prompts other females to bully and undermine her authority in an attempt to topple the queen bee,” Maslanka explains.

Meanwhile, an ABA Journal article reports on a survey about women lawyers’ surprising preferences. “Among female lawyers under 40 who thought gender matters, 93 percent said female bosses were more demanding than males. A majority said male
supervisors give better direction (58 percent), give more constructive criticism (56 percent) and are better at keeping confidential information private (64 percent).”

Adds a New York Times article reporting on a survey by the Workplace Bullying Institute, “a good 40 percent of bullies are women. And at least the male bullies take an egalitarian approach, mowing down men and women pretty much in equal measure. The women appear to prefer their own kind, choosing other women as targets more than 70 percent of the time. In the name of Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinem, what is going on here?”

How to Become a Law Professor -- The Move from Big Law to Academia

Professor William B. Rubenstein of Harvard Law School will be conducting a half-day seminar on June 20, 2009 in New York City to help those who are interested in making the transition from private practice to legal academia. Visit http://billrubenstein.com/seminar.html for more details!

Peggy Cooper Davis: Most Influential Woman in Legal Education

The National Jurist Magazine named Peggy Cooper Davis one of The Most Influential People in Legal Education this month.  Dean David Van Zandt and Professor Frederick Schauer joined Professor Davis in receiving the honor.

Peggy Cooper Davis is a Professor of Lawyering and Ethics at New York University School of Law. She is also the Director of the widely-acclaimed Lawyering Program at NYU.  

Working through the Lawyering Program, and through related interdisciplinary seminars and colloquia, Professor Davis strives to revolutionize legal education so that it systematically addresses the interpretive, interactive, ethical and social dimensions of professional practice.

Prior to joining the faculty of NYU in 1983, Professor Davis served for three years as a Judge of the Family Court of the State of New York. Professor Davis penned the book Neglected Stories.

Off Track in Academia

While I can't pretend to be in the know about the gender politics of legal academia, an interesting study was brought to my attention by the FeministLawProfs today.  The study, the largest of its kind, found that

"[Women academics] are deeply frustrated by a system that they believe undervalues their work and denies them opportunities for a balanced life. While the study found some overt discrimination in the form of harassment or explicitly sexist remarks, many of the concerns involved more subtle “deeply entrenched inequities."

Even as somebody who is not involved in academia, I have always been keenly aware of the higher percentage of women in the non-tenure track positions and in positions of service, such as assistant deanships and counselors.  I recently had a discussion with an aspiring professor who informed me that many women take non-tenure track positions just to get their foot in the door of academia later to find out that it is nearly impossible to jump from one track to the other.  This is very similar to the track of "staff attorney" which is a non-partnership track at many large firms.  There too, it is nearly impossible to jump the tracks. 

However, the similarities between the numbers for women in academia and law firms are striking.  Believe it or not, in a statement criticizing the study, the university at which the author of the study works said this about it the progress of women on its faculty:

Women account for 43 percent of assistant professors, 37 percent of associate professors, and 22 percent of full professors. Those figures are going up in science and technology fields too, [the school] noted, and women now are 37 percent of assistant professors, 31 percent of associate professors and 18 percent of full professors in those disciplines.

Boy, this "progress" looks very similar to law firm numbers where women are 47% of junior associates and 18% of partners.  Hmmmm.

Dean Elena Kagan: Status Report on Women in the Legal Profession

Greetings—and congratulations to all—on the launch of Ms. JD! A little over a year ago, I prepared a sort of “status report” on women and the legal profession for a talk I had the honor of delivering at the Association of the Bar of the City of New York. It was a terrific opportunity to reflect on both the tremendous strides already made and the great way still to go. In hopes that some may find these thoughts of interest, I’m delighted to share them here.

Professor Judith T. Younger, First Woman

I’m delighted to be here in such distinguished company. I’m not sure that being a “first” is really as notable as being a “best” but in the spirit of this endeavor, I will admit to being the first woman dean of Syracuse College of Law. I may have been the first woman dean of a law school in New York State as well. I’m pretty sure that I was the first dean of any sex whose resignation from the deanship was covered on the front page of The New York Times. (N.Y. Times, April 8, 1975).