Mothers should be the “survivors and future leaders we know they can be”. This is how a controversial article published by the ABA Journal ends. If you haven’t seen this article about lawyer mums, we at Crafty Counsel thought we’d give an overview of the article and responses.
The piece has seen many in the legal community take to social media to express concerns about the writer’s views. The author of the article is Susan Smith Blakely, a former partner in law firm and career counsellor. She gives advice to lawyers who are also mothers. In the article, she says “There is nothing that can derail a career faster than the responsibilities of motherhood”. She advises lawyer moms against “perfectionism” and warns against them being their “own worst enemies”.
[Related content: Balancing parenting with being a company’s first lawyer]
The reaction from the legal community
Heated discussions on social media followed the article’s publication on 29 June. One tweet reads “I am sorry that any lawyer mom ever had to read this”.
I’m married to—and colleagues and friends with—many women who have somehow managed to be both successful lawyers and devoted mothers.
This article is crap. I’m ashamed that the @ABAJournal published it. And I’m sorry that any lawyer mom had to read it:https://t.co/rtMXeP3ecK— Steve Vladeck (@steve_vladeck) July 3, 2021
Michelle Browning Coughlin, a General Counsel at an advertising technology company wrote an open letter, published on Medium. In the letter to the ABA Journal Editor, she suggests the article is dated. “We could not help but think we had inadvertently picked up an ABA Journal from a few decades ago”.
Coughlin suggests that instead of “blaming moms for being busy” the focus should rather be on addressing the systems of unpaid labour.
Wendi Wiener, a lawyer and career expert, wrote a column for the legal website, Above the Law. In which she calls Blakely’s article “against everything women are still fighting for in today’s workforce”
“It’s not just an attack on women lawyers who are mothers, but an attack on women lawyers as a whole.”
Wendi WienerWhat did ABA say in response to their article on lawyer mums?
A week after Blakely’s article appeared on the ABA Journal’s website the President of the ABA, Patricia Lee Refo, published a response to the piece warning against blaming women for “lack of advancement” in their legal careers.
[Related content: Tips for lawyers becoming first-time parents]
In the rebuttal Refo cites ABA research which shows that “45% of the women reported they had been denied proper access to business development opportunities because of their gender. In contrast, just six percent of men felt the same way.”
Refo cites focus groups where women lawyers expressed feeling “used as a diversity token in a meeting”. As well as how many women reported that male colleagues had stolen credit for their work.
Reuters reports that following the backlash, the article’s publication editor added the following note to the top of the article:
“The ABA Journal is committed to covering all issues of importance to women in the law, and we acknowledge the many concerns expressed to us by those offended by this piece.”
Ways that parenting can make you a better lawyer
Crafty Counsel collaborated with Obelisk Support on “Does Being a Parent Make You a Better or Worse Lawyer”. The lawyers interviewed highlight the ways in which parenthood has made them better lawyers
This included Megan Gray, Associated Counsel at Conde Nast. Gray says parenting made collaborating with clients and colleagues easier. Highlighting the comparison to the teamwork required by families to create a safe environment where children can thrive.
Lisa GoldKuhl , Supervising Attorney at a Government Agency says: “being an active parent makes you a far better lawyer and it is funny because our industry would have traditionally said differently.”
GoldKuld says there is “a bias towards active mothers that they are less committed.”
Nilema Bhakta-Jones, Group General Counsel at Kanter and Founder of Courageous Leaders Event says that being a parent can make people better lawyers. “You can be ruthlessly focused on choices you make with your time.”