In this essay, Chamblee Ryan partner Reagan Boyce discusses how she went from being a witness in a case for her former employer to entering a career in the law, the lessons she’s learned along the way and the obstacles she’s faced as a female litigator.
P.S. — An Award with Donated Winnings, A Pro Bono Award, A Pledge to Diversify Renewable Energy
This week’s P.S. column features a Houston in-house lawyer who has joined the board of a national renewable energy-focused nonprofit, a nomination period that has opened for in-house lawyers dedicated to pro bono work benefiting legal aid organizations and an award recently received by Vinson & Elkins’ head of pro bono.
Other legal departments mentioned in this edition include CenterPoint, Chevron, Pattern Energy, ExxonMobil and Toyota North America.
The Myth of Work-Life Balance
In this essay, Winston & Strawn partner LeElle Slifer makes the argument for why work-life balance is a fallacy and provides an alternative perspective for working mothers to consider.
“The problem doesn’t lie with how much we have to do but rather with how we frame the problem itself,” Slifer writes. “Time to dispense with that masochistic construct of ‘balance.’ Instead, we strive for excellence in our personal pursuits just as we do in our careers, expanding our ambitions rather than balancing them. I want to be as good of a wife and mother as I am a lawyer, so life gets slotted in right alongside work.”
The Gender Pay Gap: Strategies for Avoiding and Addressing Pay Inequity in the Workplace
As we commemorate Women’s History Month, one issue that is top of mind for many employers is the increased focus on the gender pay gap, writes Mariah Berry, a senior associate at Muskat Devine. In this article, the management-side labor and employment attorney presents four effective strategies employers can utilize to reduce their risk in the evolving legal landscape of pay equity laws.
Inspired Long Before I Became a Lawyer
In this personal essay, Jackson Walker healthcare partner Mary Emma Ackels Karam revisits small but impactful scenes of her own personal family history and reflects on how one family member — her mother — was instrumental in shaping Karam into the wife, mother, lawyer and mentor to other women that she is today.
Pictured: Karam (far left) circa 1987 with her parents, Isabel and Lawrence Ackels, and nine siblings.
P.S. — A Veteran’s Gala; April DVAP Clinic Dates; Leadership Changes at The Center, ABA
This week’s edition of P.S. features a woman lawyer’s rise in the ranks of the ABA’s litigation section, details on the Texas Access to Justice Commission’s upcoming annual gala benefiting low-income veterans (including how many dollars away it is from hitting its fundraising goal), an impending leadership change at UT Law’s Center for Women in Law and the Dallas Volunteer Attorney Program’s April legal clinic dates.
Firms and corporate legal departments mentioned this week include AT&T, CenterPoint Energy, Greenberg Traurig, Halliburton, H-E-B, Kirkland, Locke Lord, Toyota, V&E, Shell, Jones Day, Baker Botts, Vistra, Winston & Strawn, Xeris Pharmaceuticals, Norton Rose Fulbright, Stewart Law Group, Bank of America, DLA Piper, Citibank, Haynes Boone, Baylor Scott and White and Foley.
Gaining a Seat at the Table
In this guest essay, name partner Julie A. Springer of Weisbart Springer Hayes reflects on her experience as a woman lawyer, how the legal profession has evolved in women’s favor and how it hasn’t.
P.S. — People’s Law School, Fat Checks from Washington, Relief for Ranchers
This week’s edition of P.S. features a disaster relief fund offering financial aid to ranchers affected by the Panhandle wildfires, Congressional funding news for civil legal aid in Texas, an upcoming legal knowledge education event for the public at a Central Texas law school and the Texas Bar Foundation’s recipient choice for its annual public service and legal ethics-oriented award.
P.S. — Birdies, Aces and Honey Baked Hams
This week’s edition of P.S. features information on the Houston Bar Foundation’s new chair, an Easter-themed food giveaway sponsored by Witherite Law Group, a tennis clinic and exhibition match that hosted underserved youth in Austin and sponsorship opportunities for the Dallas Bar Association’s upcoming annual golf tournament.
Photo courtesy of Daniel McEnrue
Film About Landmark ATX Sex Assault Suits Debuts at SXSW
The high-profile South by Southwest Conference in Austin is commemorating International Women’s Day with the debut of “An Army of Women,” a documentary that follows the journey of 15 sexual assault survivors taking on the City of Austin and Travis County District Attorney’s Office for the mishandling of their cases, and the historic settlement that followed. Natalie Posgate and Bruce Tomaso spoke with the survivors’ lawyers, Jenny Ecklund and Elizabeth Myers of Thompson Coburn, before premiere day about the filming process, what they hope people take away from the documentary and how this case changed their lives.
Pictured: one of the plaintiffs, Marina, featured in the documentary. Courtesy of Julie Lunde Lillesæter/Differ Media