Thanks to Lisa Solomon, I’ll be at the Legally Female conference at Yale on March 31. I’m expecting/hoping it will be a bit “woman lawyers 2.0″ - going beyond the typical how to get flex time to take care of your kids - or how to take care of your kids without flex time.
For me in particular, I probably identify more with the Gen Y lawyers choosing not to follow the standard corporate law path than with busy moms juggling work and kids. Or lawyering as a woman. A lot of clients - both male and female - specifically express their desire to hire a woman attorney. I don’t quite know why that is, and if it’s good or bad (I suppose it would depend on the why). I’m certainly no less aggressive than my male counterparts.
It’s co-hosted by Ms-JD, a new blog addressing the issue of the disappearing woman lawyer. There’s more women graduating from law school than men now, but they do tend to disappear from our ranks. Or maybe not.
Some of the topics for the panels are a bit weird - including “Technology as Tool: Changing What It Means to Be a Woman in Law,” where “[p]anelists will discuss how women can harness technology to achieve their goals, including a special look at blogging as a mobilization and empowerment tool.” I didn’t think blogging was so gendered (I’m pretty sure that technology is changing what it means to be a lawyer!), but I’m impressed with the conference’s appeal to us geeky types - you can hit the technology workshops instead of the sessions/panels.
All links are to the conference or women I have heard/know will be there. Feel free to comment if you’re going!
I am excited to see that the conference is going to draw such a great gathering from the female blogger contingency.