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Having made its first woman partner thirty-five years ago, Ropes & Gray has a long commitment to recruiting women attorneys and supporting their progress once they arrive at the firm. The number of women currently practicing at the firm demonstrates the firm’s progress in this area: as reflected in our 2008 report to NALP (see Demographics), approximately 43% of the firm's lawyers are women — a percentage that is among the highest at large law firms. And that percentage is growing: in the fall of 2008, more than half of the entering class will be women.
The number of women lawyers in the partnership ranks is growing as well: over the last ten years, for example, our ratio of women partners has grown from 12% to 20%, which is well above the national average of 17%. In addition, of the ten lawyers named to partnership in 2007, seven were women. Women are partners in each of our six departments, and they hold significant administrative and managerial positions in the firm, as well. Thanks to successes such as these, Vault once again gave Ropes & Gray a Top Twenty ranking in “Diversity for Women” in its 2007 survey of the 150 most prestigious law firms in the country.
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Partners Jeanne Curtis, left, and Merrill Ulmer, center, serve as Assistant Heads of the Litigation and Corporate departments respectively. Joan McPhee, right, a partner in the litigation department, serves as a member of the Policy committee. |
Ropes & Gray has implemented a number of programs and policies specifically with the goal of supporting the retention and promotion of women attorneys. Since 1996, for example, the Women’s Forum has provided a venue for women lawyers to consider matters of common interest, to offer opportunities for mutual support and community, and generally to assist in the development and progress of women lawyers at the firm. The Women’s Forum is a very active committee comprised of more than twenty-five women throughout the firm, who share a common commitment to facilitating the career and personal growth of the firm’s female lawyers.
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Susan Galli, left, a partner in the Corporate department is the Hiring Partner. Loretta Richard, right, a partner in the Tax & Benefits Department is the current Chair of the Women's Forum. |
The Women’s Forum fosters growth and progress through various programs designed to help women lawyers manage their careers, augment their skills, and deal with issues faced by women generally. These programs have addressed such topics as networking, marketing, mentoring, strategies for career development and business development, and building communications skills. In May 2006, the Women's Forum invited Sarah Weddington, the noted lawyer and women's rights advocate who successfully argued the case of Roe v. Wade, to present “An Insider's View of Roe v. Wade by the Lawyer who Argued It.” |
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In November 2007, the Women's Forum invited Valerie Plame Wilson, former CIA Agent, to talk about how she succeeded in an area dominated by men and discussed career challenges that she personally faced as a woman.
The Women’s Forum also sponsors a series of programs on women’s health issues, geared toward women of all ages. And, the Women’s Forum organizes social events to enable women from different practice areas to get to know one another better. Pictured below are some of the attendees at a Women’s Forum event where Ropes & Gray’s women partners recounted experiences from their early years of practice.
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In 2007, the Women's Forum worked with Louisa Casdei, a communication consultant, to put together a communication skills program for the women lawyers in our DC office. This program, “How to Communicate Effectively,” was intended to introduce the skills and behaviors that enable women lawyers to present themselves effectively in their daily professional interactions.
The Women’s Forum, and other firm programs and policies, also recognize and address the special challenges faced by lawyers who have children. Together with the Associates Development Committee, the Women’s Forum has hosted “work/life strategy luncheons,” geared toward providing positive strategies for balancing work at a large law firm and home. Topics include issues such as financial planning, estate planning, and purchasing a home. In addition, the Women’s Forum has co-hosted a “parenting luncheon” series that brings in experts to talk about such topics as “Infants and Toddlers: the Go-Go Years” and “How to Find and Choose a Nanny.” The Women’s Forum has co-hosted a very popular co-ed Book Club, where lawyers from all offices meet monthly for round table discussions of authors, book reviews and selected readings of interest. Click on some of the names below to learn more about the Women's Forum from some of its current members:
Alyssa Albertelli
Alyson Allen
Marjorie Boone
Colleen Conry
Nicole Desharnis
Magda
Fleckner
Ching-Lee Fukuda
Jane Goldstein
Jessica Green
Yana Dobkin Guss
Kari
Harris
Gaby Higgins
Julie Jones
Ivy Kepner
Ann Lewis
Z. Ying Li
Joy Liu
Mary Marshall
Molly Moore
Amanda Morrison
Anne Pak
Elizabeth Reza
Loretta Richard
Jennifer Rikoski
Melissa Rones
Christine Santariga
Sara Stapleton
Anita Varma
Jenny Wallner
Ropes & Gray also has adopted a reduced time policy under which lawyers can work reduced schedules for family, health or other reasons. Currently, a number of women associates and partners are working reduced schedules pursuant to this policy. Four women lawyers have been promoted to partner while working on a reduced time basis, all of whom were working part time to accommodate their child care responsibilities. In addition, Ropes & Gray founded the first emergency child-care facility in the city and has established private lactation rooms for nursing mothers. The firm also supplies associates with tools such as remote network access and PDAs to enable lawyers to work from home and remote locations. Together, these policies help support women who are juggling work and family.
For more information about the firm’s diversity commitment
as it applies to women attorneys, please contact Loretta
Richard.
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