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It’s 2020. Did you hear Barbara Walters announce it?
This year is the 100th anniversary of women winning the right to vote, and it was anything but a slam dunk. Showing my ignorance, which I do quite a bit, I had no idea that Tennessee was the deciding state as to whether the 19th Amendment for women’s suffrage would succeed or fail. Yes, we are divided today, but that’s really nothing new. Read this book (I reviewed it for HeadButler.com) and you will understand that divisiveness is not a new concept in American politics. Not surprisingly, not every woman was in favor of giving women the vote; see any parallels to today’s battles? One hundred years ago and today are closer than we would like to think.
I shudder to think what the fight would have been like had social media been around. In fact, I wonder if the term “antisocial media” makes more sense in these days of vitriolic, vituperative “discourse.”
Are you a member of the “clean desk” club? I marvel at attorneys who are able to keep their workspaces clean, like working on only one file at a time. Most litigators, especially in house, that I have known or know now do not fall into that august group.
One thing that irritated me about the television show The Good Wife was the clutter-free appearances of attorney offices, especially litigation associates whose spaces should have been drowning in paper. While I can appreciate the Zen concept of clutter-free, Zen and litigation just don’t seem to mesh, at least not for me. If they do for you, please tell me how. For me, the problem with Marie Kondo-izing my office would be the inability to find what I am looking for after the purge.
My office was full of boxes of discovery production (in the days before CDs and, then, third-party vendors). Briefs to be written, pleadings to be filed, and the like. Since I was in house, clients would routinely call or drop by with questions that took up time that I had promised to devote to a litigation matter. However, I rationalized that the time spent with a client could mean one less claim, one less lawsuit, always a happy thought. We never lacked for work in house. Some client was always getting into trouble; that was a given.
Do you know that one of my favorite words, “dinosaur” doesn’t translate into Zulu? Stay with me here. A scholar who works on decolonizing language that has untranslatable words suggests “ancient animal.”
Whether you are an “ancient animal” or a “dinosaur,” Carolyn Elefant’s recent post should prompt all of us of a certain age to heed the calls for the profession to change, sooner rather than later (wishful thinking there). It should be “do not go gentle into that good night” (remember the Dylan Thomas poem) It’s time for us old farts (can I say that?) to move us forward after years of tiny incremental changes. At this point in our careers, we should feel free to suggest what works, criticize what doesn’t, and how to make the next decade better.
I am all for disruption, and I agree with Elefant’s take that it’s time for women to stop worshiping at the feet of Biglaw and start their own practices. After all the years of trying to achieve parity in Biglaw, it’s time to stop, stop right now, and disabuse ourselves of any notion of equality and equal pay. It’s time to stop trying to twist ourselves into pretzels.
Men have ruled the roost and it’s time to take a slingshot (or something stronger) to their crowing. As Elefant says we need to stop looking at women owned law firms as a fallback when women are passed over for partnership; we need to see women owned firms for what they are: legitimate career choices, and perhaps even better ones, at whatever stage in the career such a choice is made. It shouldn’t be regarded as “loser, loser,” but rather “winner, winner.”
Elefant says that it is the dinosaurs aka ancient animals who can make lasting changes, be the risk takers, the trail blazers, the mouthpieces; at this point, what do we have to lose? If our dinosaur legacy can be one of positive changes for clients, the profession, and access to justice, then sign me up. Let’s hear the Twenties roar. Now, where and how to begin?
Jill Switzer has been an active member of the State Bar of California for over 40 years. She remembers practicing law in a kinder, gentler time. She’s had a diverse legal career, including stints as a deputy district attorney, a solo practice, and several senior in-house gigs. She now mediates full-time, which gives her the opportunity to see dinosaurs, millennials, and those in-between interact — it’s not always civil. You can reach her by email at oldladylawyer@gmail.com.