"Girlfriends of the Court"

Posts Tagged ‘balance’

City law aint no picnic.

In Barristers, Career, Solicitors, women on June 10, 2011 at 8:31 am

Can you spot the bitches at the law firm picnic?

Emma McDonald wrote in The Age how life in the Law Firms is still ‘no picnic’ for women here. Work in a law firm is no picnic for anyone, but Amicae Curiae tends to agrees with Ms McDonald’s view. For our take on the issue, see our article on ‘Supergirl’s Plight’ at the page here.  The Australian reports here that women are about to dominate the legal profession, at least numerically. The author, Ainslie Van Onselen notes

…while [the] growth rates aren’t bad, having a small percentage of women at the top of a profession they are coming to dominate is surely evidence of continuing gender problems in the law.

It must be addressed with flexible work arrangements and a shift in cultural and professional attitudes.

…The glass ceiling is cracking, but it is a long way from being shattered completely.

What do you think of work in a commercial law firm? For women does it make a difference being in a big city firm, a boutique operation or a suburban or country practice? We would love to have your comment on The Age or Australian pieces, or our article.

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thinking about making flexible work practices work

In Balance, Career, Journals, papers, women on March 28, 2011 at 12:04 pm

Last year Victorian women lawyers released another installment in their series of practical reports on flexible work practices, “Do you Manage”. This report looks at support for flexible work practices by partners and managers. Click here.

Considerable focus on this issue is warranted given the somewhat sobering assessment of such practices in the study by Margaret Thornton and Joanne Bagust, reported in ‘The Gender Trap: Flexible Work in Corporate Legal Practice.” Osgoode Hall Law Journal, Vol. 45, No. 4, pp. 773-811, 2007; ANU College of Law Research Paper No. 08-15.

The concern is that flexible work practices should be a real career pathway not a dead end.

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