Almost every Friday morning I volunteer for the Thurston County Housing Justice Project where we counsel and represent tenants during the unlawful detainer calendar (evictions court).  I like it because I am a young lawyer so getting face time in front of a judge is great experience and the people we represent appreciate any help they can get.  The other lawyers who volunteer with me are caring and dedicated and generally amazing people who I learn from every time I volunteer.  I say this because this story is about entrenched and unconscious gender stereotypes that everyone has, even the most enlightened people.

There is a tiny room off the law library in the Thurston County Superior Courthouse where we are allowed to run our clinic.  At the end of this particular day three other volunteers and I were finishing up paperwork and waiting for the last cases to be called by the judge.  I was just about to get ready to leave when a woman came running in carrying her daughter and a folder bursting with papers, “You’ve got to help me, I can’t get evicted…”  We all straightened up, put on our thinking caps, and invited her to sit down and tell us her story.  Our administrator left the room to tell the judge that we had a late arrival and to please give us 10 minutes before he called her case.

For the next 10 minutes we questioned her about her case and came up with some desperate arguments to take before the judge.  When we entered the courtroom the woman tried to sit down in the gallery with me and the other two lawyers who weren’t arguing her case.  The lead attorney informed her that she would have to stand with him before the judge.

She looked at him and asked, “Can my daughter come with me?”

“Uhh, no.” he told her, “She should really sit back here.”

At that point all three male attorneys and the client turned and looked at me.  Now, I never expected to represent this  woman when there were 3 other lawyers with as many years of legal experience combined as all the years I’ve been alive.  What I found note-worthy was that there was no hesitation by anyone about who was stuck with childcare, despite there being two other choices.

I’m not upset about this, in fact the little girl was absolutely great.  We drew pictures together on a scrap of paper while I tried to listen to what was going on with the case.  When we got out of the courtroom she gave me a hug while her mom graciously thanked me.

The reason they all looked to me could have been because I am the most junior attorney, but I suspect that if I had been a man around my age they would have looked to the more mature guy with children.  In this instance it was no big deal to watch a little girl while the plaintiff tried to evict her mom.  I want to give what a client needs, and at that moment what she needed was someone who could entertain her 3 year old for 15 minutes.

When everything was over, I walked away feeling alternatively good about the small part I played in helping someone through a difficult time and melancholy about the client’s situation.  I don’t feel bad about the assumption that because I’m a woman I can take care of children.  But I am aware of it.  So I wonder, does this small incident foreshadow future assumptions that will be made throughout the rest of my career?

I was on Ms. JD this morning, a fabulous website, and found Adrienne Suarez’s “Code of Ethics for Female Attorneys” inspiring. Please find below Adrienne’s Top Ten List!

1.    I pledge to respect the female attorneys who came before me, because their paths were steeper, rougher, and unfamiliar.  I pledge to respect the female attorneys who come after me, even though their paths may be gentler, smoother, and well worn.  We are all traveling down the same path.

2.    I pledge to continue to make the way even smoother for future female attorneys.  While women make up 51% of the United States population, we constitute 47% of law students, 32% of lawyers in the legal profession, 18% of partners in private firms and general counsel for Fortune 500 companies, and this figure has remained static since the mid-1990s.  (Statistics drawn from reports published at http://www.abanet.org/women/).  Clearly, we still have work to do.

3.    As a woman, I will not judge other female attorneys who have come before me or who will come after me for (1) getting married; (2) not getting married; (3) having children; (4) not having children; (5) or making any other major life decisions because of, or in spite of, balancing a legal career.

4.    Given the choice of being a mentor or a tormentor to a younger, less experienced female attorney, I actively choose to be a mentor.  When a younger, less experienced female attorney comes to me with a question or for advice, I will not revel in how much more I know than she; I will share that knowledge and experience.

5.    There are no “dues” that a younger, less experienced female attorney needs to pay to me.  I will not waste my time minding tollbooths when I have a ways down the path yet to go myself.

6.    In the game of law, I will help younger, less experienced female attorneys as though we were playing leapfrog, not red rover.

7.    I recognize that even though we may be of the same sex, I will not like every female attorney I meet.  I pledge, however, not to call her a “bitch,” or any other name powerful because of its misogynist origins.

8.    If my voice is louder or carries more weight, then I will speak up for my fellow female attorneys’ needs, like a flexible schedule, even if those are not my personal needs at the moment.

9.    I pledge to reach out, through pro bono service, to the women in my community who need a lawyer’s help, who admire that that lawyer is another woman, and who appreciate how that woman may understand their problems and resolve them justly.

10.    I pledge to be me.  There is a younger female attorney out there who sees herself in me.  I pledge to succeed for her.