Female lawyer count on decline

Female representation in total law school enrollment has grown steadily, from about 10 percent in the early 1970s to just under half of a graduating class today. But thanks to a one-third annual turnover rate, female attorneys still represent only 34 percent of all practicing lawyers in the United States, according to a 2012 study by Working Mother Magazine.

Much of that attrition is family-related, as many new mothers choose the challenge of full-time parenthood over professional status.

Crista Hogan, executive director of the Springfield Metropolitan Bar Association said in addition to the difficulty of balancing a family, it can be hard to mitigate the strong personal drive inherent to the profession.

“As dedicated individuals who have put in a lot of school, we’re used to the comfort of success,” said Hogan, whose first child was born during her final year of law school. “I remember doing it all, but not doing any of it very well. I had done ‘A’ work all my life, and suddenly it felt like I was just getting passing grades. I tell young parents if it seems really hard, it’s because it is.”

Hogan said although roughly 50 percent of her graduating class at the University of Tulsa College of Law were women, she finds only half that number – 25 percent of locally practicing lawyers – are women, well behind the national average.

Between 2009 and 2012, the total number of lawyers in the U.S. increased 8 percent to 704,000, while female attorneys slipped to 34 percent from 36 percent, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Local firm Husch Blackwell LLP is a bright spot on the legal landscape. Based in St. Louis and Kansas City, with offices in Springfield and 16 other cities, the 600-attorney firm was recognized in Working Mother Magazine as one of 2012’s Top 50 Law Firms for Working Mothers. The study ranked U.S. firms based on measures that included female partnership, flex and remote-based work options, maternity and paternity leave, and the number of female seats at the leadership table.

For those familiar with Husch Blackwell’s Springfield operation, the recognition isn’t surprising.

The local office is overseen by Virginia Fry, one of the firm’s three female managing partners and the first woman to serve as president of the SMBA. Her firm scored well overall in the study’s three main indicators, with female partners holding 10 percent of equity and securing 27 non-equity positions and 13 percent of all attorneys working reduced hours. Also noted was the firm’s policy allowing attorneys to reduce hours up to 40 percent and still retain full benefits.

The importance of such a progressive environment isn’t lost on Ginger Gooch, a Husch Blackwell partner in Springfield, former SMBA secretary and mother of a four-year-old. Specializing in appellate and business litigation since 2000, she said the flexibility to meet the unpredictable demands of parenthood engenders a deep loyalty to the firm.

“There are several of us here – both male and female – with young children,” she said.
“We all have the ability to respond to family issues and emergencies as they come up. Regardless of the industry, that understanding is important in today’s workforce.”

While traditional firms are beginning to open up to new ways of doing business, technology is also creating other options for attorneys wishing to maintain a presence in both the legal field and their family’s lives.

Carlia Waite is a family law attorney who left a position with a local firm Baird, Lightner, Millsap & Harpool PC to start a solo practice – The Waite Law Firm LLC – in 2009. Following the birth of her second child, she felt compelled to seek out an alternative to the in-office time expectations of traditional firms.

Waite has since been able to balance her law career with the demands of an active family, as evidenced by her June 2013 litigation of a case in Eminence, while nine months pregnant with her third child.

“It’s to the point where I can work from anywhere,” Waite said. “It can be 2 p.m. in the afternoon, and I’m using my phone to review client notes and answer emails from a coffee shop. It’s a matter of personal efficiency and commitment to get it done, rather than the old-school idea that you have to be someplace – at a desk, in an office – while you get it done.”

Although Waite said she has seen an increase in female attorneys taking the solo- and small-practice route, for most, achieving balance in the traditional environment is still the most viable option.

Teresa Grantham, a partner at Carver, Cantin & Grantham LLC specializing in criminal defense and personal injury, was the 2012 SMBA president and only the third woman to hold the position in the organization’s 113-year history.

As a single mother of two school-age children, Grantham doesn’t feel young attorneys have to make a mutually exclusive choice between family and career, but they should recognize neither of those areas may turn out as envisioned.

“There is no one single way to make it all work, but always put your family first,” she said.

“Use the skills you have as a lawyer – being structured, being an achiever, having strong priorities for helping others – and apply them to your family in the same way you do in your practice.”

Jarica Oeltjen is one such young attorney who may face that fight-or-flight moment in her career. The newly-married associate at Lathrop & Gage LLP graduated at the top of her University of Arkansas-Fayetteville law class and specializes in business and transportation law. While she is not yet planning a family, she said the bar was set particularly high by a classmate whose third child was born during their second year in law school.

“She would come by in her minivan and set our study group up at 6 a.m. to get an early start on the day,” Oeltjen said. “Even as she’s started practicing law, she does what it takes to be a great mom and a pristine attorney. She and others remind me that the worthwhile things take sacrifice and dedication."