News Scrapbook 1985

San Diego, CA (San Diego Co.) Dally Transcript (Cir. D. 7,415)

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/1/1~11•• P " 8. t8U Wome*gal PartnJs Gain In Popularity Discrimination Ea es, But Time Off For Golf Easier Than Child Care By PAULI. E REPARD • n Dl,ro Dady Tran ript u,n I+ rl~r Chn tm Pate did something in this county that only one woman had ever done before She bccam a partn r m a maJor law firm. Th t wa 10 year ago. Only J phine Irving - aunt to U.S. D tnct ourt ,Judge J. Lawrence Irving h d preceded her, at Gray. Cary, Ame & 'Frye And 1t wa y ar or two, Pate recalls, before th • next woman was to intrude upon the male domain of law firm partn r hip. Now Pate 1s an integral part of ,J nning , Engstrand & Henrikson. But th Univ r tty of San Dwgo aduate ( a. o mbers that spring afier passing the bar, wh n he had h r first "real eye- pener" as she began job-hunting. "A leading personal injury at- torney I talked to called th senior partn r, who laugh d out loud over the phon~ at th idea of a female m a person I injury law firm m San Diego," Pate recalled, till little ngry at the memory. In a urvey taken by the woman-ori nted Lawyer Club a few months hack, 17 percent of the 2 members who r ponded said their c r r goals mclud makmg partner at their firm . Another 12 percent k Judgeships, while 16 p rce nt imp y want mor money and clients. And a Lo. Angeles survey last vear showed women wer n't mak- ing partner as quickly as men - of 5 maJor firm m that city, only 5.6 percent of the partners we re women. Ba •d on t he number of women out here in firms since 1980, s urveyers figured 8 to 10 percent of the partners should have enfem·1le No s1milar analysis is available for San Diego County, but from a Mmpling of women law partners here, the picture is apparently pr tty bright- a nd getting better. "There 1s a feeling, " said Helen Roberta Rowe, a partner in her firm for two year:;, "that our (Continued on Page A) 111

MONDAY JULY1 1985 WomenL w Partners Gaining--- (ContinuedfromPage1A~~ partners are given administrative cause I'd earned it," Bonar said. gender is an impediment, that we workloads equal to men, but may "Whatever the criteria were, I'd have to be more excellent than not always receive the full share of met them. It's necessary to have men But I feel that is on the wane. fringe benefits being handed out - criteria, to let it be known what we The Pressure Filters the club memberships, the golfing seek in a partner. If a firm doesn't

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·ervative an lJicgo has changed in 10 years, and those changes have been felt even in the dens of conservatism, the law firms. Now, Garwood said, she believes woman have just as good a chance as men to become law partners, once they make it into a firm The T ypical Route Laurel Hyde, first in her 1980 graduating cla,;s at USO, took the typical route of clerking at a mid- sized law firm Dorazio, Bar nhorst - during school and joining as an associate after passing the bar. After three and a half years, in May 1984, she was made a partner. Observing that partner Bonar is one of the few women whose names appears in the firm name (Rowe> is a nother), Hyde said the reason is probably pragmatic: Most of the larger firms got their names long before any women became part• ners. And, she oddPd, "There JUst aren't that many women working up through the practice." Hyde noted some major firms may require six to sev n years' ex- perience before inviting an associate to become a partner. Lugar recalled that, by indica- t10n from women around here 20 years ago, the environment for women lawyers is vastly improved. "Women tell t he horror stories, of partner meetings in sex- segregated clubs, with a woman having to go in through the kitch- en," she said, adding that back t hen there was overt resistance to women in administrative positions in law firms. And 10 years ago, "you could walk the length of the courthouse and not see one other woman at- torney. Today I saw dozens. It's an exhilarating feel mg, 'Lugar said.

have a policy on partners, should. The (U.S. Supreme) court dec1s10n for a woman who sued a firm in Atlanta (for not promoting her to partner) should have been it seriously with respect to partners. "A friend of mine in lititgation tells me she can't believe the patronizing, condescending ways opposing counsel treat her. But I think things are generally positive. There's been a new ballgame with partners and associates - pregnancy policies now apply to men as well as women You can't According to the Lawyers Club survey, though, only 28 percent of the respondants' law firms have seven percent said they had none, and 7 percent didn't know. Lynne Lugar followed Bonar into San Diego's legal scene. She was a member of the California Western School of Law Class of '78, then All Women Partners She didn't just wind up making partner ma local law firm, though. She helped found the largest all- woman partnership in the county: Copeland, Kemp, Lugar & Pohl, which celebrated its first anniver- sary in February. They have one associate. A male, John Scott Loosen. Lugar said her law class was the first with a substantial number of women - almost 25 percent of the total. It was, she said, viewed by the administration as a risk. "It sent shock waves through the administration and faculty," she recalled. "At the end of three years, women took almost all of the top honors in the class. Most law schools now are about 50 percent women. The class ahead of me had six." Lugar added she's noticed "a pleasant change" in the number of women partners in local law firms over the past three to four years. "The women of my class are just now into their seventh yea r of practice, and you need time to make partner. You need seven to eight years m with some maJor firms. More women are now part- nership-competitive. Julia Garwood, graduating from Cal Western School a year after Lugar, has been with the law firm of Carl lngwalson Jr. since 1981. She hasn't been made a partner because, "I haven't asked. It's not a big prestige thing with me," she said. went into private practice. looked at by all firms, taken discriminate." pregancy leave policies. Forty-

games.

''The pressure to change has been felt at all the major firms I know of, and has filtered down to the medium-sized firms . The pressure is to be fair -minded: It is passe, embarrassing to be perceiv- ed as biased. That works for us." Rowe graduated from Western State University law school with honors in 1980. But she'd raised a family of five children for 15 years before tarting. She readily admits having hus- band Charles as managing partner of ht law firm eased her way. She worked at the firm as a clerk through school, and made partner thn.-e years after passing the bar. " It wasn't a meteoric rise. I thought it was an indecently long period," she recalled with a laugh. And though Rowe realizes she had more than an even break, she's aware it hasn't been as easy for all other women. "I think we're under-represented as partners. It's shifting favorably, but it's still not swell," Rowe said. Back in 1970, when Pate was trying to get inside a law firm door, Dewitt Higgs, then of Higgs, Jenn- ings, Fletcher & Mack, let her in. And he stayed. "It was a 'let's see how she works out' basis," Pate said. "I was hired as the only woman in a major law firm at that time." When the firm split, she :stayed with Jennings and got into domestic law By Pate's reckomng, the mid- '70s brought women up-to-date as desirable - but token - com- mod,ties. " The mujor firms were getting at least one woman for a few years. The next group of women to make partner were about two or three years behmd me. There was a ga p," she said, thinking of Marilyn Huff, who became a partner at Gray, Cary, Ames & Frye and Bonnie Reading at Seltzer, Caplan, Wdkins&McMahon. "Then I think women got com- placent," Pate continued. Market Turns Fierce " Fifteen years ago , women would have had to struggle to get a job, let a lone a good job. And 10 years ago , a woman could have been less qualified and still get a job because she was a token. Female law students were asking what was the problem. "The market is fiercer now, too. Women don't get in on tokenism any more." e ~aid she believes women

The Lawyers Club survey may bear her out: Though 65 percent of women are not treated differently, the 8 percent who said otherwise gave as examples sports outings that are often "men-only." One woman said only the men in her firm were invited to sports Rowe, the third name in Rowe, Konold, Rowe & Viviano, is an ac- tive member of several attorney organizations and has heard other women talk of their difficulties, At one gathering of women at- torneys, Rowe said, the tale was told of men in an unidentified law firm who could count on time for jogging at noon or golfing on wePkends. Their sports activities were seen as contacts with prosec- But a women who wanted to at- tend her child's afternoon school Children did nothing for the law firm. A consensus of those hearing the story, Rowe said, was that women should go ahead and take time for family - but be discreet and not talk about it a lot around the office. Unlike Pate, who started her family and law career at the same time (having her first child im- mediatedly after passing the bar in 1970, and three more during the next nine years) Virginia Bonar, 35, already had two children upon starting law school. Choosing a Small Firm After earning a master's degree in public health at UCLA and a law degree from the University of San Diego in 974, Bonar chose to work for a small law firm which Mike Dorazio and Mike Barnhorst had formed in 1977. "There was no doubt I felt I'd have an opportunity for recogni- tion as a law partner earlier at a small firm than at a large one," Bonar noted. 'I knew it would be tougher to become a partner at a larger firm. I don't want to be treated differently because I am a woman, but recognized for my suc- cess as a professional. I was definitely thinking about the ca- reer advantage. I was one of the few women being solicited by a large firm." She was offered a partnership in Septembe:- 1980, as the firm's first woman partner. " I was told I'd made partner be- play found Borne resistance. the respondants felt men and events or drinks at a bar. solutions and goals. t,ve clients.

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San Diego, CA (San Diego Co.) Daily Transcript (Cir. D. 7,415)

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~:er~t: of the Third A~s its seventh annual ummer session July 15. It's a physical activity and lecture series for those 55 or older. Classes are free, taught by USD faculty and other professionals, and range from "Trivial Pursuit" to tax law and health seminars. Two lectures are held every Monday through Thursday morning at 10 and 11:15. The first, 10 a.m. July 15, features Sonny Sturn leading a slide Jpur thro~rton P; aza. J._ °'fj":1 ./

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