BILLABLE HOURS IN 6-MINUTE INCREMENTS

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I graduated from law school just as women were entering the legal profession in large numbers.  Armed with our law degrees and dressed in tweed suits, silk blouses and bow ties, we marched into corporate firms, prepared to make our mark. 

 

Establishing ourselves within these firms, however, was far more difficult than we had anticipated.  Many of our male colleagues had either no desire or no clue on how to share the office space with female attorneys.  They did not know whether to treat us as mothers, sisters or girl friends.  Behind the firms' public facades of comraderie and competence, office life was full of turmoil and drama, exacerbated by long hours.

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In Billable Hours in 6-minute increments, I reflect back on my first job as an attorney at a large New York law office.  I remained at that firm long enough to pay off my student loans and then left to become a civil rights lawyer.  Fortunately, with the passage of time, I am able to look back with a sense of humor.

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