NOT THE SHARPEST KNIVES IN THE DRAWER: Man! I Feel Like A Woman!: NY Bar Association
During its annual meeting at the end of the month, the New York State Bar Association had planned a presentation, "Their Point of View: Tips From the Other Side," which was described as a "distinguished panel of gentlemen from the legal field" who would "discuss the strengths and weaknesses of women in the areas of communication, negotiation, medication [sic], arbitration, organization and women's overall management of their legal work." State bar president Michael Getnick tells the New York Law Journal that the purpose of discussion was “to identify unique issues facing female lawyers and to suggest how attorneys and their firms can address them.”
It turned out that the unique issues facing female lawyers include male lawyers thinking they know the unique issues facing female lawyers, three male lawyers evaluating the competence of all female lawyers and three male lawyers representing the embodiment of normative performance standards for lawyers of both genders. A boycott by female attorneys was threatened, and the V 2.0 presentation, now called “Sharing Their Points of View: Tips From Both Sides,” is described as “a distinguished panel of attorneys, comprising women and men” discussing “the challenges faced by women in the workplace in the areas of communication, negotiation, mediation, arbritration [sic], organization and management of work, as well as the role of mentoring.”
The Stiletto thinks the female members of the NY Bar did a great job communicating their displeasure, negotiating the terms of the state bar’s retreat and mediating a compromise that both sides could embrace. And BTW, they also seemed pretty organized and capable of managing the program change while keeping up with their legal work.
[Hat Tip: The Heel, an Ivy-educated attorney with a prestigious New York firm, and occasional contributor to this blog.]
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