My Shingle

Work/Life Balance & Women

Are Solos Helping Women At Law Firms?

November 5, 2006 by Carolyn Elefant

The impact of solo and small firm practice is far reaching, so much so that in my view, it’s helping women attorneys succeed at biglaw.  Don’t believe it?  Consider these two stories that ran in today’s news.  The first, Deciding to Go It Alone, (San Fernando Valley Business 11/4/06) reports on how more and more, [...]

Read more Big Law/Small Law 14 comments

Mothers’ Day Mix

May 14, 2006 by Carolyn Elefant

Ah, Mothers’ Day.  A time when my daughters leave me free to blog uninterrupted. (though I guess I should worry a little when my younger daughter’s mother day note reads like this:  My mom likes to hug me.  She always works on her computer).   Today, I’ve rounded up a couple of articles of interest to [...]

Read more MyShingle Solo 114 comments

New Zealand Lawyers Get the Gender Issues

April 20, 2006 by Carolyn Elefant

Gender disparity at large firms is not unique to the US; our colleagues down under in New Zealand share these problems also, as reported in Flexible work practices avoid gender disparity (April 21, 2006); NZ Lawyer Issue 38.  According to the article, women comprise over a third of all law practitioners, but less than 20 [...]

Read more Legal Profession Trends 1 comment

Why Do So Few Women Reach the Top At Large Firms – And Why Do We Care?

March 20, 2006 by Carolyn Elefant

This past weekend’s New York Times article Why Do So Few Women Reach the Top of Big Law Firms? (Timothy O’Brien, 3/19/06) makes me ask the question “Why Should We Care?”  The article describes the oft-cited problem of why women aren’t making it to the top at large firms or why they prematurely leave, blaming [...]

Read more Big Law/Small Law 30 comments

My Article: Treating Family Like Business

January 3, 2006 by Carolyn Elefant

An article I wrote several months ago, Treating Family Like Business, just appeared in Law.com’s new Career Center.  Primarily, my article reacts to pieces like this which advise attorneys seeking a home-work balance (mostly women) to pussy-foot around and beg for accomodation instead of taking the bull by the horns and advocating, strategizing and negotiating [...]

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Women Will Best Succeed on their Own

October 3, 2005 by Carolyn Elefant

Funny contrast in this week’s news.  This article, How Women Can Develop Business, National Law Journal (9/29/05) bemoans that women at large firms have it tough when it comes to business development, citing obstacles like lack of effective mentoring and  difficulty of striking a manageable work-life balance.  (The article does offer many useful suggestions for [...]

Read more Biglaw to Solo 1 comment

4 p.m. – Another Reason that I Love Solo Practice

August 31, 2005 by Carolyn Elefant

At four p.m., my workday ends , at least until late at night.  Four p.m. is when I leave the house to pick up my daughters, nearly 6 and 9 from the bus stop around the corner.  I walk them home and we talk about their day.  The older one generally blurts out a million [...]

Read more MyShingle Solo 11 comments

Lawyers Can Be A Star and A Mom on Their Own

August 28, 2005 by Carolyn Elefant

It’s always bittersweet when I read articles like this one,  Work Family Divide Keeps Numbers of Women Low, Rachel Osterman (8/20/05) about women attorneys leaving firms because they find them incompatible with raising a family.  Without sounding too much like John Roberts, I’m all in favor of attorneys – male or female – who choose [...]

Read more Legal Profession Trends 5 comments

Shinglers Doing Some on the Side

July 4, 2005 by Carolyn Elefant

While many continue to gripe about the second class status of women at biglaw, other women lawyers have taken a different path entirely, not just starting their own practices but finding spare time to start several businesses in one case and embark on a masters running career in another.  This article, Lawyers Have A Bent [...]

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A Salute To Sandra Day O’Connor, Former Shingler

July 2, 2005 by Carolyn Elefant

Sandra Day O’Connor leaves two legacies as she departs the United State Supreme Court.  the legacy that will garner the most attention in today’s weblogs and tomorrow’s history books, of course, is that of her quarter of a century as the nation’s first female Supreme Court justice.  But Sandra Day O’Connor leaves another equally important [...]

Read more Celebrating Solos 2 comments

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