ALLIANCE NEWS - The Chicago Bar Association

Alliance for Women
2011-2012 Executive Board
Maureen Aidasani
Stacey Austin
Cheryl Dancey Balough
Jennifer Bluestein
Esther Chang
Regine Corrado
Mary Curry
Theresa Davis
Liz Epstein
Jennifer Escalante
Rachel Fleischmann
Paula Galbraith
Jean Janes
Michele Jochner
Danielle Kays
Alice Keane (Co-Chair)
Margot Klein
Jennifer Kobayashi
Jennifer Kraft
Alyse Lasser
Emily Masalski
Leslie Minier
Sandy Morris
Tracy O’Flaherty
Hon. Rebecca Pallmeyer
Susan Pipal
Madeleine Podesta
Rachael Pontikes
Kristen Prinz
Sasha Reyes
Jenifer Robbins
Jill Russell
Lisa Seilheimer
Kari Sheinfeld
Janet Siegel (Co-Chair)
Cynthia Van Ort
Monica Weed
If you have any questions or would
like to get involved in the Alliance,
please contact your 2011-12 Co-
Chairs, Janet Siegel at janetsiegel@hotmail.com
or Alice Keane
at keanea@sbcglobal.net.
ALLIANCE NEWS
By Michele M. Jochner
Newsletter of the Chicago Bar Association Alliance for Women •
Spring 2012 Vol. 16
From the Office to the Boardroom
and Bench
Front: Justice Joy V. Cunningham and Hon. Sheila Finnegan. Rear: Monica Weed,
Patricia Barker, Paula Hudson Holderman, Hon. Rebecca Pallmeyer, Tracy O’Flaherty
Pursuing a career in the law allows
for a variety of opportunities,
including as a law firm partner,
in-house counsel, or ascension
to the bench. The Alliance for Women,
in conjunction with Winston & Strawn
LLP and Baxter Healthcare Corporation,
recently presented a program designed to
explore these options. In “From the Corner
Office to the Boardroom to the Bench:
Women Leaders in the Law Share Varied
Experiences on Their Respective Paths to
Success,” a stellar panel of accomplished
female lawyers and judges offered their insights
and shared their career experiences,
highlighting that success in our profession
can be achieved in many different ways.
Moderated by the Honorable Rebecca R.
Pallmeyer, District Court Judge, U.S. District
Court for the Northern District of Illinois
and Tracy A. O’Flaherty, Assistant
General Counsel, Baxter Healthcare
Corporation, the panel – which consisted
of the Honorable Joy V. Cunningham,
Justice, Illinois Appellate Court;
the Honorable Sheila Finnegan, Magistrate
Judge, U.S. District Court for the
Northern District of Illinois; Patricia
Barker, Founding Member, Barker &
Castro, LLC; Paula Hudson Holderman,
Chief Attorney Development
Officer, Winston & Strawn LLP; and
Monica Weed, Vice President, General
Counsel & Secretary, Navigant Consulting
– began by reflecting on what
drew them to the law.
Justice Cunningham noted that her first
career was as a critical care nurse, following
in the footsteps of her mother
and older sister. She described nursing
as “training for life,” and enjoyed her
Continued on Page 3

An Introduction to the Mentoring
Circles Speakers Bureau
By Mary Curry
What do the Director of the
Federal Defender Program,
a partner at Sidley Austin,
a United States Magistrate
Judge, and an EEOC attorney all have in
common? Most recently, each has become
a volunteer mentor for the Alliance for
Women’s Mentoring Circles program. And
each has an amazing story to share.
In December we launched the newlycreated
Mentoring Circles “Speakers Bureau.”
It is a group of over 25 extraordinary, highly
accomplished women who have been
practicing law for 20 or more years. Each
member has agreed to be a “visiting mentor”
when called upon by one of our existing
Mentoring Circles. This new resource was
designed to provide a perspective not always
present in the existing Circles. As women
become more senior in their legal careers,
they often do not have the time to commit to a
particular Circle on an on-going basis.
The launch of the event allowed our
Alliance members to meet several of these
distinguished women. One by one, each
Bureau member stood up and introduced
herself. What followed were individual stories
that, in some way, inspired each attorney in
that room. For example, Diana White spoke
of her years working through the big law
firm world, having children and a family to
balance, and her decision to leave partnership
to work in public interest. She is now the
Executive Director of the Legal Assistance
Foundation. Joy Cunningham shared her
experiences in private practice and the
corporate world, which led her to more than
one judicial position. She also acknowledged
navigating the legal profession as one of the
few minority lawyers in her generation. Then
Susan Cox - the force behind getting these
women into one room - touched on her many
career changes, from big firm to small firm, to
government practice, all of which culminated
in her selection as a United States Magistrate
In this Issue
Board Room to Bench 1
Speakers Bureau 2
Interview with Mary Smith 4
Committee Deep Dive 5
Member Profiles 6
Gift Cards 6
Page 2
Judge. And the list goes on.
Along with the incredible, yet distinct,
career path each woman has taken, nearly
each woman recognized the role her mentor
has played in her career. In several cases,
that mentor was another woman in the room.
Paying it forward, these women, who have
been mentored themselves, have joined our
Mentoring Circles on a short-term, individual
basis. Through them and other mentors, our
Mentoring Circles participants will have
access to a breadth of experience that spans
private practice, big firm to small firm work,
public interest and government, and the
challenges that come with those careers,
balancing family, and being a woman in the
legal profession.
Currently, there are over 100 women in
the Alliance who are members of individual
mentoring circles. The launch of the Speakers
Bureau last month inspired over 20 new
women to join Circles. For over two years
now these Circles, each consisting of 6 to
8 women of varying levels of experience
and practice areas, have allowed women
to discuss many of the same issues at the
heart of the Alliance’s mission: professional
development, networking, and work-life
balance. The addition of the Speakers Bureau
will undoubtedly enhance the mentoring
circle experience and provide a new avenue
of conversation and exploration for our
members.
Attorneys at any level can join a mentoring
circle. If you are interested, please contact
either Mary Curry at marykcurry@gmail.
com or Rachael Pontikes at RGPontikes@
duanemorris.com. Include in your
correspondence the number of years you
have been in practice and in what field.
For more information on our Speakers
Bureau and how to invite a member to your
Circle, please visit the Alliance for Women
committee page on the CBA website.
Who is Training New Lawyers 7
Building Relationships 10
Chance Favors the Prepared 11
Holiday Highlights 13
WBAI All Law School Event 14
Speakers Bureau 15
Alliance
News
Newsletter of the
CBA Alliance for Women
2011-2012 Committee
Susan Pipal
spipal@sbcglobal.net
Jill Russell
Jrussell97@gmail.com
Cynthia Van Ort
Cynthia.van-ort@
harrisbank.com
Contributors
Mary Curry
Pamela DiCarlantonio
Elizabeth S. Epstein
Rachel Fleishmann
Nancy MacKevich Glazer
Michele Jochner
Danielle M. Kays
Jill Russell
Design and Layout
Karen Highley
Chicago Bar Association
Please contact one of the
Newsletter Committee
members with any questions,
comments or concerns
about this newsletter.

From the Office to the Boardroom and
Bench Page 1
Tracy O’Flaherty
years in that profession. After some time,
however, she realized that she wanted to
do more, and chose to pursue law, attending
The John Marshall Law School during
the day while working nights as a nurse.
After graduation, she eventually combined
her background in nursing with law when
she served as Loyola University’s Chief
Counsel for health care, and later as General
Counsel for the Northwestern Memorial
Health System.
Similarly, Ms. Barker’s journey to
prominence in the legal community differed
from that of most of her colleagues. She
initially entered the legal profession at age
18 as a legal secretary, and, while working
at Lord, Bissell and Brook, learned a great
deal about the operation of a law firm by
performing many different tasks and sitting
in on meetings. Working full-time as a secretary,
she attended college and thereafter
graduated from Loyola University School
of Law. Ms. Barker then returned to Lord,
Bissell & Brook. She was the first legal
secretary ever hired by that firm as an attorney,
and was eventually named a partner. In
2006, she founded her own firm.
In ascending to the bench, Judge
Finnegan noted that her career path followed
a more traditional route. During her
early years in the profession, she was a federal
prosecutor and thereafter became an
equity partner at Mayer Brown, where she
co-chaired the Chicago Litigation Department
and the firm’s White Collar Criminal
Practice. Judge Finnegan’s background and
experience prepared her well for the bench,
and she advised the attendees to stay con-
Page 3
nected with colleagues throughout
their careers and always be aware that
opportunities grow out of these relationships.
Judge Pallmeyer echoed
Judge Finnegan’s comments, and
urged those in attendance to become
involved in bar association activities,
charitable organizations, and pro bono
work not only as a means to network,
but also as a way to be of service to
others.
Ms. Holderman followed-up
on the panelists’ comments regarding
the importance of bar association
involvement and giving back to the
profession and community. She noted
that her position as Chief Attorney
Development Officer for Winston &
Strawn, as well as her various bar association
leadership roles at the state
and national levels, all have a common
thread: she is committed and
passionate about any project or role
she undertakes, and works to tie them
all together through her prior experience
in teaching, coaching and training.
She encouraged the attendees to
become involved in professional and
community activities, and to always
work at building relationships through
those endeavors.
When asked what helped her
best prepare for her in-house position
with Navigant Consulting, Ms. Weed
pointed to her interest in business and
finance, her penchant for details and
her curiosity about how all the different
aspects of a business enterprise
work together. She observed that in
her prior role as outside counsel, she
often felt hampered in only seeing a
small portion of the larger business
picture. Ms. O’Flaherty, who also
serves as in-house counsel for Baxter
Healthcare, agreed, and noted that to
be effective in such a position, one
must have business acumen, sound
judgment, and good communication
skills.
In closing, the panelists were
asked to offer their thoughts on what
Patricial Barker
it means to be “successful” in the legal
profession. Judge Finnegan opined that
each person needs to define “success”
for themselves, based upon what they
wish to attain in their life and career. The
other panel members agreed, and shared
tips on achieving these goals. Both Ms.
Weed and Ms. Barker advised the attendees
to focus on developing their unique
skills and strengths as a way to set themselves
apart from the crowd. Justice Cunningham
further noted the importance of
having the courage to seize opportunities
which may be somewhat outside of our
comfort zones. Noting that taking risks
is part of succeeding in what you want
to accomplish, she drew a parallel to her
recent decision to run for a position on
the Illinois Supreme Court, and observed
that each opportunity prepares you for
the next one. Ms. Holderman summed
up the discussion by advising the attendees
to always have “grit,” explaining that
in order to succeed, we must persevere
through hard times and rise above them.
This article was originally published in
the CBA Record. Michele M. Jochner is
a judicial law clerk to Justice Charles E.
Freeman of the Illinois Supreme Court
and a former co-chair of the Alliance
Newsletter Committee.

Questions with the Speaker: Meet Mary Smith
By Jill Russell
Mary Smith
This year at the Alliance for
Women’s Kickoff Event, we
were happy to welcome Alliance
member Mary Smith,
who spoke to the audience about this
year’s theme, Building Relationships
Through Service. Ms. Smith is the
highest Native American political appointee
in the Department of Justice
and currently serves as Counselor in
the Civil Division. Ms. Smith was formerly
a partner with Schoeman, Updike,
& Kaufman, a women-owned
law firm and was Senior Litigation
Counsel at Tyco International (US) Inc.
Ms. Smith has served in many other
roles throughout her career, including
as Associate Counsel to the President
and Associate Director of Policy Planning
in the Clinton Administration.
We sat down with Ms. Smith
to discuss her perspective on service
by attorneys. Here is an edited version
of our conversation:
AFW: This year’s Alliance for
Women theme is “Building Relationships
Through Service.” What does
service mean to you and what role
does it play in your current career?
Lawyers are able to serve
in ways that can make a tremendous
difference, whether it is helping
someone start a business, protecting
women and children from domestic
violence through the court sys-
Page 4
tem, or helping a homeowner navigate
a mortgage foreclosure process.
When I recently returned to
work at the Justice Department, I was
reminded of an inscription that was on
the wall just outside the Attorney General’s
private office, which read, and
I’m paraphrasing: “The Government
wins its case when justice is done.”
Many years ago, Janet
Reno told my boss, Assistant Attorney
General Tony West, that his
job as a prosecutor wasn’t to win
as many cases as he could, but to
do justice in every case he handled.
That’s the same spirit I see in my colleagues
every day. And, in doing our
best to heed Janet Reno’s words – to
do justice in every case we touch – we
may not always get it exactly right,
but I can promise you we always try
to do what’s right. And that, I believe,
can make the critical difference.
What has been your most
rewarding service experience?
While I was in the White
House, I was responsible for a number
of policy areas that affect the
lives of many Americans. One of the
policy areas for which I was responsible
was Native American issues.
During my last year in the
White House, I envisioned a comprehensive
Native American agenda that
spanned across all federal agencies.
As part of this process, I called together
all the relevant persons from all the
agencies to start to put together a comprehensive
agenda. I also met with outside
Native American groups and tribal
leaders throughout the country. In this
effort, I created some new initiatives. I
am the proudest of the initiative to create
1000 new Native American teachers.
This program was funded out of
the Department of Education. This
program leveraged the resources of
this nation’s 34 tribal colleges and partnered
them with four-year universities
to provide degrees for 1000 new Native
American teachers over three years.
About one month after I left
the White House, I received the following
note from the Director of American
Indian Education at the Department of
Education: “Last week I was in Phoenix
and visited with the 23 American
Indian teacher trainees attending the
[Arizona State University program]
that we funded. . . .Of course they are
all thrilled to have the opportunity,
many saying that they would have
never gone on with their education to
become a teacher if it were not for the
program. . . .I must report to you that the
program is everything you may have
ever hoped for and though many of
the student teachers do not know your
role in bringing this effort to fruition,
be happy that your work has had such
a direct and positive effect on the lives
of Indian people.” That note encapsulates
why service is important to me.
How did you remain involved
in service while employed in the private
sector?
The great thing about service
is that it can take many forms. It does
not need to be formal or even occur
on a regular basis. Even during my
busiest times while I worked at a law
firm, I still tried to do what I could.
I accepted pro bono work, and, even
though I might not have had time for
trial work, I did accept appellate cases
when I could. I also always make
time to meet with young attorneys
seeking career advice. I have a policy
of never saying “no” to a younger
attorney seeking my help with his or
her career. And, for many years, my
holidays were made more meaningful
by volunteering with my mother
at the Salvation Army in Chicago.
How have the relationships
that you have built through various
types of service (bar association,
volunteer work, pro bono, etc)
helped you in your career path?
The relationships I have made
through my service efforts have certainly
enriched my life, broadened
my friendships, and taught me a lot.
Through my service projects, I have
met many incredible people that I otherwise
would not have met. And, for
that reason alone, I have had many
Continued on Page 12

Alliance for Women Committee Deep Dive
Have you ever wondered what
those AFW committees
are all about? Have you
thought about joining an
AFW committee, but wasn’t sure it
was right for you? We can help you
decide! Here are profiles of a few of the
AFW committees. You can join these
committees any time, or participate in
their events.
The Cross-career Networking
Committee brings together women
from diverse industries, for both
personal and business development.
Business development has become
increasingly important in recent years
for attorneys at all levels. Engaging
with women on a personal level is not
only professionally beneficial, but it’s a
lot of fun!
The Cross-career Networking
committee has two primary
objectives: 1) ensuring the inclusion
and engagement in AFW of not only
law firm attorneys but also attorneys
employed in less traditional roles,
including women with law degrees
employed in government, as educators,
as business owners, as in-house
counsel, and women who have crossed
over into other roles but still use their
legal education and experience; and 2)
networking opportunities.
This year, in the spirit of
focusing on service, this committee
will have an event highlighting the
government and public sector. They are
also reviewing exciting new venues to
team up with the Illinois CPA Society
Women’s Initiatives Task Force.
If you want to network with
dedicated, inspiring women, and help
us develop new, exciting ways to do so,
this committee welcomes you. Contact
Committee co-chairs Danielle M. Kays
at dkays@gradypilgrim.com or Kristen
Prinz at kprinz@prinz-lawfirm.com
The Domestic Violence Task
Force and Advocacy Committee is
one of the most active committees
of the Alliance for Women. Made up
of diverse attorneys practicing in a
number of areas of law, the committee
seeks to use the intellect, strength, and
energy of the Alliance to empower
women. This committee focuses its
activities on assisting women in need,
especially those who have survived
violence committed against them.
Page 5
The committee’s activism is
both community-based and practiceoriented.
By coordinating pro bono
legal work and non-legal volunteer
activities for community service
agencies and their clients, committee
members develop relationships with
other women’s advocates and provide
volunteer assistance where it is often
most needed. We have presented a
variety of seminars on legal topics for
community service agencies, cooked
meals and led social activities for
women affected by homelessness,
painted and gardened at domestic
violence shelters and agency offices,
and connected pro bono attorneys with
women in need of legal counsel.
Within the legal community,
the committee conducts CLEs and
other substantive discussions that
provide attorneys with the knowledge,
resources, and tools to better handle
cases where violence is an issue.
This committee addresses domestic
relations, immigration, and bankruptcy
issues particular to survivors of
violence and has provided trainings
on interviewing survivors. It also has
provided reports on Cook County’s
Domestic Violence and WINGS
(Women in Need of Gender Specific
Services) Courts. In addition, this
committee has explored local as well
as international trafficking of women
in girls and has examined legislative
and other efforts aimed at eradicating
it.
AFW members who are
interested in using their skills to
benefit women in need and to improve
the legal community’s response to
violence against women will feel right
at home in our committee. Contact
Co-chairs Margot Klein at margot.
klein@comcast.net or Jennifer
Escalante at jce@caase.org
The Women’s Leadership Institute
promotes increasing the representation
of women attorneys as partners in
law firms and in leadership positions,
continuing the work of the former
AFW “Call to Action” group. The
Women’s Leadership Institute helps
women achieve leadership positions by
providing seminars to give women the
tools and skills they need as leaders.
Leadership skills empower
women to receive the leadership
positions they deserve. Our members
not only help schedule effective
seminars, but work hard to bring
the message to women in the legal
profession.
Do you want to improve your
leadership skills, and help others
learn as well? Join this committee
by contacting Chair Sandy Morris at
smorris@chiconunes.com
The AFW Newsletter
Committee helps keep AFW
membership in the loop about the
activities of AFW and other event
that may interest our members. The
newsletter is a great way for members
to identify opportunities to advance
their careers, serve the community,
meet potential friends and clients, and
otherwise take full advantage of all the
benefits of membership in AFW.
The committee identifies
subjects that will be of interest to
the members, solicits articles from
members, writes and edits articles,
and has a great time doing so! If
you would like to help create the
newsletter, or would like to submit
an article, please contact Sue Pipal
at sue@blueprinttours.com, Jill at
jrussell97@gmail.com or Cindy Van
Ort at Cynthia.van-ort@harrisbank.
com.
The Annual Awards Luncheon
Committee has the privilege of
coordinating the process for selecting
recipients each year of the CBA Alliance
for Women Founder’s and Alta
May Hulett Awards. The awards recognize
outstanding women lawyers
who have significantly contributed to
the advancement of women in the legal
profession, or other areas, and whose
careers exemplify the highest level of
professional achievement, ethics, and
excellence. The Founder’s Award
was established in 1994 and was first
awarded to Laurel G. Bellows, the
founder of the AFW. The Alta May
Hulett Award, named for the first
woman lawyer in Illinois, is presented
to a woman who meets the criteria
for the Founder’s Award but has been
qualified to practice law for fifteen or
fewer years. The deadline for award
nominations this year was February 1.
Continued on Page 12

Member Profile
Danielle M. Kays
The AFW is full of fascinating women,
and the newsletter committee thought our
members would like to meet some of them.
Here’s the AFW Newsletter interview with:
Danielle is a full-time working mother
and a commercial litigator at Grady Pilgrim
Christakis Bell, LLP in Chicago.
AFW: Why did you become an
attorney?
Danielle: I love to advocate.
AFW: Was practicing law your first
career, or did you do something else first?
Page 6
Danielle: Being an attorney is my
first professional job. I went to law school
right after college.
AFW: Was practicing law what you
expected?
Danielle: I was in the courtroom
trying a civil case alone the day after I was
sworn in. I definitely did not expect my
career to start off that way!
AFW: How are you different from
other attorneys?
Danielle: I am a 32-year-old
commercial litigator with more than 40 jury
trials under my belt, plus some bench trials
and many arbitrations. But more than that,
I love really helping and getting to know
my clients and as well as other attorneys
(especially women) and try to make that a
focus in my career.
AFW: If you had to do it all over
again, would you choose to become an
attorney again?
Danielle: Yes, I would be an attorney.
AFW: If you could change the
practice of law how would you change it?
Danielle: Unfortunately, gender
stereotypes and biases are still very
prevalent in many aspects of the legal field.
I wish I could eliminate those stereotypes
and biases entirely.
AFW: Why did you join the Alliance
for Women?
Danielle: I deeply care about the
advancement and retention of women
attorneys in the workforce and about
joining together with other women to not
only accomplish those things, but also to
share experiences and make the road less
bumpy for all of us along the way.
AFW: What are the ways you make
a difference in the world?
Danielle: I run races for the American
Cancer Society. In the past, I have acted
as a volunteer tutor and mentor for underprivileged
elementary school children.
AFW: Tell us about your best and
worst day as a lawyer.
Danielle: I think both are still to come.
AFW: What else would you like
people to know about you?
Danielle: I am a full-time working
mother. Though I am at the beginning of
that journey, I hope to be another example
for others that doing both successfully
really is possible.
Would you like to share your journey
with us? We’d love to hear your story.
Answer the above questions (or others
you would like to answer!) and send to
the co-chairs of the newsletter committee
for publication in the next newsletter. Sue
Pipal at sue@blueprinttours.com, Cindy
Van Ort at Cynthia.van-ort@harrisbank.
com, or Jill Russell at jrussell97@gmail.
com.
AFW Domestic Violence & Advocacy Gift Card Drive
Huge Success
By Rachel Fleischmann
This year the Alliance for
Women’s Domestic Violence
& Advocacy Committee’s
winter gift card drive raised
over $2,065 in gift cards (up from just
over $1,650 last year). The proceeds
will go to help women and their children
escaping domestic violence and seeking
shelter at Connections for Abused
Women and their Children in Chicago.
Women fleeing violent homes
often arrive at shelters without any
money or belongings. They do not
have the necessary clothes to wear to
work the next day or the basic items
required to care for their children. The
donated gift cards empower women
and allow them to buy their own clothing,
toiletries, and other much needed
supplies as they begin to reclaim their
independence and build their new lives.
The Domestic Violence &
Advocacy Committee thanks everyone
for their generous contributions
and especially thanks Michelle Talbot
for donating her services as a graphic
artist and designing this year’s flyer.
Rachel Fleischmann is the AFW Programming
Co-Chair and an associate
at Katz & Stefani, LLC.

Who is Training New Lawyers? Evaluating a Consequence
of the Current Legal Market on the Profession
By Nancy Mackevich Glazer
Originally printed in the January 2012 edition of the CBA Record
I
graduated from law school back
in the Dark Ages. Then, a new
lawyer freshly- minted and
passed-the-bar licensed, worried a
little bit about getting hired but never
about being trained. We assumed with
gusto that our first positions in law
would be full of training and direction.
Back then, we were generally right.
Law graduates’ plans and
expectations all changed in the past
three years. Law firm clients tightened
their overly- stretched budgets and
refused to pay to train new lawyers.
As a result, law firms put the brakes
on hiring new graduates. All law
firm hiring went down. Way down.
I. “Experience required”
In the past three years, the
supply and demand pendulum has
swung widely in the legal industry,
knocking itself far off-balance. As a
result of the market, new admittees
have competed fiercely for jobs, and
most job postings frequently scream
two disappointing words, “experience
required.” So pardon my naïveté in
asking, like the kid who shouted out that
the Emperor had no clothes, but how
do we expect recent law school grads
get trained to compete for starting and
lateral jobs? Are they supposed to waive
a magic wand and just become trained?
I know a young lawyer who
graduated from a Chicago law school
last year. He was hired at $13 an hour
as a litigator for a small firm. While
he was hungry for experience and
worked very hard, he was fired some
months later because a complaint he
drafted almost went out the door with
a typo. In 2012, the guys in the corner
offices expect new grads to come to
them knowing the finer nuances of
practicing law. Novice lawyers are
supposed to know that all pleadings,
motions, briefs or letters must be crosschecked
to perfection before being
Page 7
blessed --by virtue of the simple
fact that they are now practicing law
This lawyer’s story is not
unique, and it stresses the underlying
point – that new attorneys have to
somehow get themselves trained
How does that happen? How can
an inexperienced lawyer guide and
mentor her own legal development?
The answer lies in part with novice
attorneys themselves as well as
with the legal community at large.
New lawyers can find
training in a few places: (a) at nonprofits
that provide legal services,
(b) from the legal tech and temporary
staffing worlds, or (c) from private
practitioners, perhaps, with busy
practices and overloaded credenzas.
As a legal community, we
need to talk about this industry-wide
dilemma and come up with real ways
to meet the unmet need of training.
There are novel ways emerging to train
attorneys that we should also consider
such as (a) creating law firms sponsored
by the law schools themselves to
teach practical skills (the South
Carolina Model), (b) hiring private
companies to teach firm associates
and new grads, investing their own
money, needed hands-on skills, and
(c) formalizing a training framework
similar to that used in the medical
profession.
II. Help me help you – what new
attorneys can do to help themselves
A. The Let Them Eat Cake
Model
In today’s legal climate, doing pro bono
work is one way for an industrious new
attorney to get trained. This means
(a) selecting one or more of Chicago’s
outstanding legal services non-profit
agencies, (b) being accepted as a
volunteer, (c) attending training
sessions taught by practitioners in
the various practice areas of choice,
and (d) representing clients. In this
way, a new attorney learns to practice
law and also receives mentoring
from seasoned staff or a senior
volunteer attorney. Most non-profits
cover their volunteer lawyers under
their malpractice insurance as well.
In many cases, a new
volunteer attorney gets out into the
legal community and away from
the solitude behind her computer
screen. She also meets people along
the way who try to help her make
connections and get hired. I have
seen this over and over again; getting
out and “doing good” does some good
for all concerned. It’s a real win-win.
However, letting the nonprofits
train our newbies, obviously
isn’t a perfect solution. A new attorney
has bills to pay, rent, groceries and
student loans … Moreover, from an
industry point of view, we as lawyers
need to decide if this is a training model
we want to follow. Perhaps even more
importantly, can organizations like
Chicago Volunteer Legal Services,
John Marshall Law School’s Veterans’
Clinic, and the Center for Disability
and Elder Law, to name a few,
handle all the training of Chicago’s
new attorneys? Do non-profits even
want to assume this enormous task?
B. Training from the legal
tech and temporary staffing world
As most firms are employing fewer
attorneys, hiring staff attorneys, and
even engaging temporary staffing
agencies to review documents for
document productions, firms once-
picky about who they hired and how
their associates were trained, appear to
be more lax. Many Big Law Chicago
firms have taken a gigantic leap of
cost-cutting faith in recent years,
taking their chances with cheaper labor.
The attorneys hired for document
reviews by temporary staffing companies
Continued next page

Who’s Training New Lawyers
Continued from page 7
are typically paid $20-$28 an hour with
no benefits. Many of these attorneys seek
my career counseling services, looking
for help to find permanent employment
in law. In rare instances, clients
call me from cold, dirty warehouses
where they are working with only
a foot or two of personal space between
attorneys. Notwithstanding these
few occasions, in my view, these
short-term discovery projects can
usually work well for all concerned.
For the new grads hired as
contract attorneys, they feel fortunate
that at least they are getting paid to
do actual legal work. They are doing
aspects of the work that they went
to law school to do. Hopefully, too,
they are receiving good training about
how to use a particular tech
firm’s software and how to ascertain
relevant documents in the litigation.
That’s all mostly good. It’s
all different, though, too. Are we
senior lawyers complacent to allow an
emerging industry of e-discovery tech
firms and temporary staffing agencies
train our new lawyers? Should we
worry that new attorneys may become
pegged in the e-discovery industry and
may not be trained to practice? I think
it would be easy to agree that this not
the most effective way to transition law
students to the practice of law.
C. The Back Credenza Model
Even though law students and new
grads will look at me quizzically
when I advise them to create breathing
space in their tight schedules, perhaps
over a school break, I dare go one
step further. I suggest they reach
out to attorneys in a desired practice
area and offer their services for free.
I know that most lawyers
have enormous, bulging files on
their back credenzas—files they just
can’t seem to get to. These might be
cases involving a difficult client or
perhaps poor fact patterns that are not
supported by governing state law. The
credenza may even hold a file that has
already reached its maximum billing
amount. There may be an article back
there that is waiting to be written.
Practitioners, perhaps a new
attorney who has approached you
Page 8
for guidance or even a job might
entertain an opportunity to handle
a file or two on your back credenza
with no charge in exchange for your
guidance and training. Not in every
matter, but in many, two problems
of our industry could be solved
simultaneously. In fact, the Illinois
Supreme Court recently inaugurated
a Lawyer Mentoring Program through
its Commission on Professionalism.
Supreme Court Rule 795(d)(12),
adopted in October 2010, outlines the
requirements necessary for mentors
and mentees to receive CLE credit
for this type of teaching arrangement.
III. New training methods for
the legal community to consider
A. The South Carolina Model
It has been suggested that law schools
should take on the responsibility of
opening law firms where new graduates
could be trained in the practice of law.
This is essentially an extension of
law clinics that already exist at many
schools. These firms would be run
and mentored by seasoned
practitioners. As the clients who retain
new attorneys’ legal services would be
paying something for these services,
the new grads would also receive
salaries in this venture. “What If
Law Schools Opened Their Own Law
Firms?” Karen Sloan, The National
Law Journal, August 17, 2011.
University of Maryland
School of Law Professor Robert Rhee
and Brooklyn Law School Professor
Bradley Borden write, “[Junior
attorneys] will be expected to do client
work but will also learn how to be
successful attorneys. They will learn
how to develop a book of business
and make contacts in the community
that will benefit them as practicing
attorneys.” More on this “South
Carolina Model” will be presented
in a forthcoming issue of the South
Carolina Law Review. While this is
a new concept with some kinks in the
armor, we need to seriously consider
this training model for the profession.
B. A private trainer
Perhaps private trainers, like the
tech firms, should train our legal
graduates. These private companies
are springing up, providing trainings
for new lawyers, ranging from one to
three- day long seminars. Some law
firms are paying these new companies
to do their associates’ training. Job
seekers are also participating to
gain an edge on the competition.
Similar to the other suggestions
raised in this article, hiring a private
trainer also has its drawbacks. Chiefly,
committing to a private trainer can be
a considerable financial undertaking.
Fees typically start around $900.00.
New attorneys would have to determine
whether any competitive edge from
this training would outweigh the cost.
C. The Show and Tell Model
Maybe we lawyers should adopt the
model of “Show and Tell.” Here, firm
elders actually hire recent grads and pay
them a reasonable sum. This model
wouldn’t cost firms any extra financial
outlays in the long run. Firm would
be able to hire more attorneys, show
them how to practice law and tell
them about winning methodologies
in their respective practice areas.
Show and Tell: Feeling Much
Better. The medical profession plays
this game well. Medical programs
transition students from medical school
to medical practice. Depending on
the area of specialty that the doctor
wants to practice, training programs
can run from three to six years.
As a result of this transition
period medical students have a clear
understanding of what the future holds
for them; they know what they are
getting into, how long their training will
take, and what their salary expectations
should be before they are accepted
into medical programs. These students
enter the medical profession knowing
they will work ridiculously hard for
three or more years, depending on their
specialty. They also know that they will
be well-trained to practice medicine
after they finish their programs.
Show and Tell for Lawyers.
Law firms that wanted to adopt the
medical internship model to train new
associates would start by adjusting the
Continued on next page

Who’s Training New Lawyers
Continued from page 7
pay of first year associates to reflect the
training period. First year associates
at firms offerering training would be
offered perhaps $45,000 a year. Paying
this salary would allow the firms to
hire nearly four times more associates.
That’s also four times more new
associates being trained in the practice
of law, all at roughly the same cost that
is paid to one top associate today. In
addition, after investing the firm’s time
and effort into associate recruiting and
training, the firm has the opportunity to
increase its chances of retaining talent.
Hypothetically, if new grads
can be billed out at a reasonable rate,
say $100 - $125 an hour, our cherished
clients might not mind footing the bill
for their training. What a concept!
Think of it this way: if you were
ever in the hospital, did you receive a
visit from the residents or the interns?
You may or may not have liked their
services to you, but did you ever
quibble about their charges? I’m
guessing you didn’t. I’m guessing that
you accepted those charges as fair and
reasonable, as a price of being admitted
to a teaching hospital. Perhaps part
of you, too, may have accepted those
charges as part of something bigger,
the importance of training new doctors.
There is another advantage
to the Show and Tell Model. We all
know that good grades in school do
not necessarily transfer to the skills
actually needed in the practice of law.
The showing and telling paradigm
might cut out the class warfare that
permeates our law school classrooms.
It could provide opportunities to new
attorneys with great potential but more
limited exposure than their more wellheeled
colleagues. If new attorneys
start their training on a relatively level
financial playing field, each can succeed
on his or her own merit, earning a
growing salary based on performance.
Overall, the hiring and
training model utilized in the medical
industry could be effective in the legal
profession as well. Creating internships
and residencies for new lawyers would
be extremely helpful for them, relieving
their many pressures about their
Page 9
unknown futures. Law firms engaging in
this training practice would not have the
risks associated with hiring untrained
associates, or poorly trained associates.
IV. How do we achieve balance?
In the post-2008 legal world,
new lawyers’ training is getting lost
in the shuffle. Especially for inexperienced
lawyers who want to apply for
available lateral positions for which
they are not yet qualified, the challenge
of finding threshold training is substantial.
Perhaps by the time the corner
office folks are looking to hire new
talent (because the trained attorneys
are burned out, no longer care about
the money and have left the practice),
the pool of trained attorneys will be
meager. The attorneys eager to work
in law firms simply won’t be qualified.
In order to preserve the quality of services,
law firms will have to develop a
solution to attorney training.
I hope we will create a way to
take care of our own. I hope we will
soon stop cringing and retreating into
our safe, comfortable, corner offices
when we hear about new attorneys’
outstanding debt and their lack of
health insurance.
Perhaps the hiring freezes
will thaw somewhat when our very
own children and grandchildren come
knocking on our corner office doors,
wanting to follow in our professional
footsteps. “Sorry, honey. We’re not
hiring.”
Nancy Mackevich Glazer is
founder and manager of Legal Launch.
She founded Legal Launch to help law
students, recent law school graduates,
and attorneys land rewarding traditional
and non-traditional careers.
She can be contacted at nancy@legallaunch.net
or (847) 650-1535.
Alliance Committee Chairs
To participate in an Alliance committee,
please contact one of the chairs
Domestic Violence Task Force/Advocacy
Margot Klein
margot.klein@comcast.net
Jennifer Escalante
jce@case.org
Annual Awards Luncheon
Cheryl Dancey Balough
cbalough@balough.com
Emily Masalski
emasalski@yahoo.com
Cross-Career Networking
Danielle Kays
DKays@gradypilgrim.com
Kristen Prinz
kprinz@prinz-lawfirm.com
Holiday Party
Liz Epstein
esepstein@gmail.com
Membership
Stacey Austin
staceyaustin@wkalegal.com
Jennifer Kobayashi
jenkobayashi@wkalegal.com
Sasha Reyes
sasha.reyes@bakermckenzie.com
Mentoring Circles
Mary Curry
marykcurry@gmail.com
Rachael Pontikes
RGPontikes@duanemorris.com
Programming
Esther Chang
esther.chang@bakermckenzie.com
Rachel Fleischmann
rfleischmann@atg.state.il.us
Women’s Leadership Institute
Michele Jochner
mjochner@gmail.com
Sandy Morris
smorris@chiconunes.com
Girl Scouts Legal Track
Maureen Aidasani
maureen.aidasani@us.gt.com
Monica Weed
monica.weed@navigant.com
Legislative Liaison
Madeleine Podesta
mspodesta@gmail.com
Newsletter
Susan Pipal
spipal@sbcglobal.net
Jill Russell
jrussell97@gmail.com
Cindy Van Ort
cynthia.van-ort@harrisbank.com

Building Relationships Through Service: More
Than Just This Year’s Theme: Reaping Rewards
by Networking through Service
By Jill Russell
Networking, networking,
networking. We hear that
phrase constantly—how
important it is to network,
to make contacts, to develop business.
When I first heard the word networking,
I thought “oh no, a dreaded
night of small talk at a cocktail party
sponsored by my office with people I
don’t know. What could be worse?”
But over time, I have come to some
important realizations about networking.
First, networking is relationship
building- something I like
to do. Second, there are more (and
better) ways to network than by attending
random professional development
events. Third, and most importantly
for me, networking is most
successful when you find a way to
network and build relationships that
works with your personality. Coldcalling
potential clients is never going
to work for me. What does work
for me is developing relationships
with people through doing things I
love to do and am passionate about.
In my case, that’s service- both to
the profession and to the community.
I’ve always loved to give
back to the community through the
organizations in which I participated.
In college, I was involved in
many extracurricular activities, but
not just as a member—as a student
leader who was responsible for shaping
the vision and path of the organization.
This experience gave
me a chance to work closely with
and get to know a variety of people
with a lot of different ideas. By
serving in the organizations, something
I loved so much, I had actually
been engaging in networking!
During law school, I was involved
in our women law students’
organization, and as a part of that, got
Page10
to know an amazing group of women
from around the country who
were interested in looking at the
problems facing women law students
from a national perspective,
not just at their own school. As a
result, I worked with other women
to found Ms. JD, which serves to
connect women law students and
lawyers both nationally and internationally
to discuss issues facing
women in the profession today.
My experience with the group culminated
in organizing a conference
in Chicago in 2009 that consisted
of over 20 panels and 100 panelists
speaking to young women lawyers
and law students from all over
the country. It was a lot of work,
but I loved every minute of it, and
I met amazing people through it.
The relationships I’ve built
through this experience proved to
be extremely valuable in my career.
I participated in the development of
Ms. JD to make a difference, but an
unintended result of my participation
was the many business contacts
I made. When I went through
a career change last year, I reached
out to the people that I had met
through Ms. JD and through the
Alliance… and they came through
for me. I called on them for advice—on
interviewing, on how to
find the organization that was the
right fit for me, and much more. It
was amazing how often the people
that I’d met through my service
experience—even briefly—would
go above and beyond just giving
me the advice I had sought. They
put me in touch with a friend or
colleague who they thought might
be able to help, checked in on me
repeatedly after the initial conversation,
or even called prospective
employers to put in a good word.
All this from people who knew
me only briefly through a conference
for a service organization!
The relationships I’ve
built through service to Ms. JD,
to the Alliance for Women, and
through the pro bono work I’ve
done have turned into friendships
and great professional connections.
Service provides a great
opportunity to do something you
love and to network, connecting
with people over that shared interest.
If you’re passionate about
anti-trust, join the anti-trust committee.
Or you can check out pro
bono opportunities that might
be available—or better yet,
join a mentoring circle! Giving
back to the community and
the profession feels great, and
the relationships you build can
change your life and your career.
Jill Russell is co-editor of the
AFW newsletter committee and
an Assistant Corporation Cousel
in the Federal Civil Rights
Litigation Division of the Chicago
Department of Law. If you
want to practice your networking
skills, she can be reached at
jill.russell@cityofchicago.org

Chance Favors the Prepared: Lay the Groundwork
Early for Business Development Success
By Pamela DiCarlantonio
Managing Director, Major, Lindsey Africa
As a legal recruiter who
focuses on placing lateral
partners in law firms, I
have had the pleasure of
meeting many female partners with
large and growing books of business.
In most cases, luck had nothing to do
with their client development success.
Rather, these partners were savvy and
focused, kept their eye on the long-term
horizon, and took steps early and often
to position themselves with existing
and prospective clients. These partners
also worked hard to create their own
personal “brand” and, in doing so, were
able to land substantial business when
those opportunities became ripe for the
taking.
This article provides some
basic tried-and-true advice to junior and
senior female law firm partners who
have the business development bug and
are eager to develop and grow their own
practices.
“Grow up” with your clients.
When she was a young associate, one
attorney (now a junior partner) insisted
on tagging along to client meetings
and social events (and in many cases
agreed not to bill the time). She made
a point of getting to know the young
attorneys (her counterparts) at the client
companies, and worked hard to develop
and nurture close personal relationships
with them. As those in-house contacts
moved up the ladder into positions of
authority, this attorney was perfectly
positioned to obtain business from
them. She was able to start building a
book of business, which led to an early
promotion to partnership and ultimately
a successful and thriving practice with
clients who are also longtime friends.
This is another good reason
to join alumni organizations and
stay in touch with your law school
classmates (beyond an annual catchup
lunch where you have a good laugh
Page 11
over memories of the gunner in the
first row whose name you can’t even
remember). You never know where
your classmates will eventually land,
and you could be one of those lucky
law firm partners whose best bud from
law school ends up as General Counsel
of a major corporation. (It could be the
gunner from the first row, so be nice
to him, too!) Many law firm partners
have built enormous books of business
that evolved from such relationships.
Develop and continually
refine your own personal “brand.”
Any young attorney in private practice
faces a daunting number of decisions
when it comes to figuring out what
kind of lawyer she wants to be –
whether choosing a practice area or
examining the law firm environment
that best suits her and her long-term
goals. For any attorney who wants to
become a rainmaker, in today’s law
firm environment developing business
is the best way to be autonomous and
marketable. It is critical to think early
on about such things as:
• where you want to practice geographically
• what practice area (beyond just
litigation or transactional”)
• what type of firm
• what size firm
• what kind of culture is the best fit, and the
reputation of the lawyers who work there
• the overall rate structure that will be most
conducive to bringing in clients
• what the client base looks like and
whether conflicts are common
• your own network and where the most
opportunity lies (i.e., the“low-hanging
fruit”), and
• whether training and support is
offered to young attorneys who want to
develop business development skills.
By thinking about who you
are and who you want to be and feeling
comfortable in your own skin based on
the environment you have chosen, you
will be in a better position to develop
business and earn the confidence of
your colleagues and clients. The truer
you are to your personal goals and
ideals, the better your chances will be
of developing business. It should not
be a one-time exercise, though. You
should continue to refine your personal
brand as you move through your career,
and make adjustments when necessary.
Be loyal and trustworthy.
Many female attorneys tell me that
they find other female colleagues and
clients to be incredibly loyal. Even
though women demand the same high
standards that men do (as they should),
women are more likely to value (and
tend not to forget) hard work, loyalty,
responsiveness, and accessibility.
There is still no such thing as a free
lunch, but once you’ve earned respect
and loyalty from your female clients
and become their trusted advisor, the
business is usually yours to lose. The
same applies to female colleagues;
once you have developed a trusting
relationship, you may find yourselves
seeking out opportunities together and
watching each other’s backs.
Be a good person. Remember
the old male-female comparisons that
said things like “He’s assertive; she’s
a bitch”? This seems like obvious
advice, but in addition to doing a
good job and “holding your own,” it’s
important to treat others – men and
women, colleagues, clients, and even
adversaries – fairly and professionally.
Be honest. Don’t try to cut corners or
be cut-throat. Don’t back-stab. Always
take the high road. Most of all, try not
to fall into female stereotyping traps
that can be unfairly exploited. (And
remember it works both ways. We all
know men who are way more emotional
or oversensitive than we are!)
Continued on Page 12

Continued from page 4
Meet Mary Smith
thoughtful advisors to assist me with
my career and whose advice has been
incredibly helpful over the years.
If you could give one piece
of career advice to young women
lawyers on the topic of service, what
would it be?
Make time for service – you
will not regret it. Now, maybe some
of you are thinking that you barely
have time to balance work and family
let alone have time for service.
That reminds me of a quote from the
Continued from page 5
Alliance For Women Deep Dive
This committee also coordinates
the luncheon at which time
the Founder’s and Alta May Hulett
Awards are presented to the winners.
The luncheon is held in May, with this
year’s final date still to be determined.
The luncheon also wraps up the AFW
“bar year” and offers a great opportunity
to network with colleagues. A
number of law firms purchase tables,
but many other women attorneys
come on their own or bring along
a junior lawyer whom they mentor.
This year, Cheryl Dancey Balough
(cbalough@balough.com) and
Emily Masalski (emasalski@yahoo.
com) serve as co-chairs joined by
Dana Blumthal and Kelly Parfitt. The
committee welcomes ideas about how
to increase participation in the always
enjoyable and motivating luncheon.
If you are interested in assisting with
the luncheon planning and promotion,
please contact the committee co-chairs!
Watch for other committee profiles in
future editions!
Page 12
Continued from page 7
Chance Favors
Work extra hard, and be
accessible and flexible in the early
stages of any client relationship. If
your firm allows it, agree to take on
smaller matters for new clients with
the idea that if you do a good job,
more work will follow. Offer discounts
and/or flexible fee arrangements, or
even handle the early work pro bono,
until you have had a chance to prove
yourself – and hopefully become
indispensable – to the client. Keep
the long-term relationship in mind.
To borrow a phrase coined by former
Goldman Sachs partner Gus Levy, “Be
long-term greedy.”
Take advantage of structured
business development opportunities.
Look beyond the obvious marketing
and business development avenues,
such as publishing articles relating
to your areas of expertise and public
speaking. Many law firms hold
women-focused events designed to
bring together female partners with
their female clients. (Men are usually
invited, too.) Chocolate, massages,
and manicures are often featured.
If you are a young female attorney,
take advantage of these opportunities.
Invite your contacts at the clients for
whom you work, and be sure to watch
more senior attorneys in action at these
events. You may learn a thing or two.
Make networking part of
your DNA, and remember, chance
favors the prepared. Putting
“network” on your to-do list is like
saying, “wake up.” It should become
so natural and automatic that you don’t
even think about it. And networking
efforts should not be limited to planned
and structured activities; some of the
most fruitful networking can happen
by sheer accident. Polish your elevator
speech, and be ready at all times to
seize opportunities. (I met an attorney
recently who had been injured and
shared a hospital room with a stranger
who, through networking from the
hospital bed, became his future boss.)
Don’t be afraid to ask. Many
people believe that women are not
wired to ask for what they want, but the
most successful female partners I know
have come to realize that it’s okay to
ask for business, and it’s okay to exploit
their relationships that have taken years
and enormous effort to develop. Men
do. And they don’t preface any of those
conversations with an apology. Know
your value proposition and always be
ready to communicate it with complete
confidence to current and prospective
clients.
Find a mentor, male or
female. Identify one or more senior
partners in your firm that you admire
and invite each of them (individually)
to an informal lunch. Find out how they
go about generating business, how they
were able to capitalize on their network
of contacts, and the firm’s platform to
grow their practice. Ask them about
the challenges, pitfalls or mistakes they
have made along the way. Share your
own thoughts about where you see
opportunities and seek their input. And
then, of course, execute!
Conclusion. Developing
business is becoming an increasingly
competitive endeavor, even more so
for young partners, but it is also an
important piece of a law firm partner’s
ultimate success. If you think of it
simply as relationship building one step
at a time, it may not be as difficult as it
looks; it might actually be fun!
Pamela DiCarlantonio is a Managing
Director in the Partner Practice
Group at global legal search firm
Major, Lindsey & Africa. Earlier in her
career, she was a litigation attorney at
Jenner & Block. She can be contacted
at pdicarlantonio@mlaglobal.com or
(312) 896-8554.

Holiday Party Highlights
By Elizabeth S. Epstein
This year’s annual all women’s
bar groups holiday party
was a festive occasion! The
annual party hosted by the
Alliance for Women, Black Women
Lawyers Association, Women’s Bar
Association of Illinois, Coalition of
Women’s Initiatives in Law Firms and
the Young Lawyers Section Women
in the Law Committee was held this
year at the Chicago Bar Association on
December 15, 2011. There was plenty
of food, drink and good cheer as women
attorneys across Chicagoland celebrated
their friendship during this festive
season. A special thanks to the sponsors
of the party: AFW, WBAI, BWLA,
Coalition of Women’s Initiatives in
Law Firms, YLS Women in Law, and
the very generous sponsors Baxter
Healthcare Corporation; Nielsen
Career Consulting; Wang Kobayashi
Austin LLC; Alice Keane; Janet Siegel;
Lynn Grayson; Regine Corrado; Lisa
Seilheimer and Liz Epstein. Without
your support, this party would not have
happened. Also a big thank you to the
AFW holiday party committee members
Elena Cincione, Dana Blumenthal and
Angie Cruz and Michelle Spodarek
of the CBA for hosting our event
again this year. Please enjoy these
photos from the 2011 Holiday Party.
Liz Epstein was the 2011 Holiday Party
Chair.
Page 13

Holiday Party Highlights
Continued from page 4
Page 14
Women’s Bar Association of Illinois
All Law School Event
The WBAI invites all law students to attend our spring law school event
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Chicago-Kent College of Law
565 West Adams, Chicago, Illinois
We will be hosting a panel event focused on leadership. The panel will then be followed
by a reception that will promote networking among law students and attorneys
in attendance. The goal of this event is to provide law students with practical career
advice and networking.

Page 15
Share Your Experience - Join the Mentoring Circles
Speakers' Bureau
The Chicago Bar Association (“CBA”) Alliance for Women’s (“AFW”) Mentoring Circles
Speakers' Bureau (“Speakers’ Bureau”) has been created to compliment the Mentoring
Circles program. The AFW understands that for some practitioners it can be difficult to
join an organization or group that meets frequently or requires consistent participation.
The Speakers’ Bureau allows senior-level attorneys, with 20 or more years of experience,
to participate in the AFW Mentoring Circles program without committing to a particular
Circle on a regular basis.
As background, AFW’s mentoring circles allow women of varying levels of experience,
and from different practice areas, to join a group of 6 to 8 other practitioners. In these
groups, the women are free to discuss many of the same issues at the heart of the AFW’s
mission: professional development, networking, and work-life balance. The Circles offer
a smaller, private forum, which allows each group to tailor solutions and strategies for
their members. Circle discussions might touch on, for example, the balancing act of a
new mother, the decision to change practice areas or a firm’s promotional practices.
They meet at least four times a year but some meet as often as once a month.
The Mentoring Circles were designed to benefit women of all ages and in all stages of
professional development because junior members learn from those with more
experience, and mid-level and senior attorneys gain an invaluable opportunity to hone
management skills, build relationships and develop referral networks. Under the
traditional rubric of mentoring, experienced practitioners give and junior apprentices
take. In the AFW’s Circles, each member is both a mentee and a mentor.
The Speakers’ Bureau is an addition to this setup. Because it is made up of senior-level
attorneys who are willing to share their knowledge and expertise, but are not able to
commit to a particular Circle, its members are available to visit individual Circles. A
Circle may invite a Speakers’ Bureau member to join them one time, or perhaps request
multiple visits to discuss a particular issue or concern members may be dealing with. It is
an ideal alternative for Circles that do not have a balance of both junior and more seniorlevel
attorneys within their group, or who simply would like another perspective on an
issue.
For more information, or to become a member, please contact the Mentoring Circle Co-
Chairs, Mary Curry at marykcurry@gmail.com, or Rachael Pontikes at
RGPontikes@duanemorris.com.