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Women Leaving the Law
This article, Leaving Your Legal Career Far Behind, Debra Bruno (Legal Times 2/23/07), tackles the question of "why do women keep leaving law firms?" The most oft cited reason, of course, is the lack of compatibility between law firm life and parenthood. But as Bruno writes, that's not all there is to it:
But the reasons for women leaving the law are not always straightforward. Often they find themselves on a meandering path that brings them to places they never imagined in their early days -- writing children's books, wrangling cows or leading visitors through an art museum.
The article profiles six women who left traditional law practice for jobs as writers, public policy experts and consultants. For some, the birth of children or the financial support of a spouse provided an opportunity to explore other options. For others, law firm life just didn't satisfy.
What I gleaned from the article is that the statistics on the glass ceilings at law firms and the small number of making partner are misleading in part. Seems to me that at least some of the women in the article wouldn't have stayed with a firm even it were an option, and their family situation provided a way to explore other options. Would men do the same if they had those options as well?
Posted by Carolyn Elefant on February 23, 2007 at 07:53 PM | Permalink
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