The VBA Journal is the official publication of The Virginia Bar Association.
Issue link: http://vba.epubxp.com/i/99281
Over the years, women have gained a greater presence in the legal profession – but a gender imbalance exists in private ½rms. W hen Anne Marie Whittemore graduated from law school in 1970, she was one of six women in her class. Men dominated every area of the legal profession: government, academia, corporate law and private practice. "Tere are women chairmen now of major law frms," said Whittemore, a partner at McGuire- Woods LLP in Richmond. "Tere are women in the highest positions in the corporate world and government. We see more women making their careers in private practice. I think there is now more fexibility over the course of a career that facilitates a woman's movement up to the highest level." While women outnumber men in some areas, such as public interest law and judicial clerkships, a gender imbalance remains evident at private law frms. Te trend for some time has been for women to leave big frms more rapidly than their male colleagues, according to the National Association of Women Lawyers. In 2011 the group noticed a decline in the number of women entering large frms for the frst time since its tracking of lawyer employment began in 2006. Although women and men enter law school at essentially equal rates, private frms surveyed by the National Association for Law Placement report that about one-third of their lawyers are women. At the partner level, fewer than one-ffh are women. "Te conventional wisdom is that it may be hard to combine work in many large frms with family life," said Nora Demleitner, dean of the Washington and Lee University School of Law. Women may be more likely than men to take a hiatus from their careers to care for their family. Not working for a time can interfere with a woman's progress toward partnership in a large frm. Flexibility in the workplace can make a diference. Virginia State Bar Executive Director Karen Gould has continuously practiced law since 1979. Balancing a career with motherhood was a challenge. BY MOLLY MCCLENNEN WINTER 2012-2013 • 23