Women Lawyers of Sacramento Kicks Off No Glass Ceiling Task Force

Margaret Hastings' daughter, Marika, 10, has been spared the countless hours of daycare that her older sisters endured when they were her age. Now grown, her two older sisters watch Marika while their single mother tends to the legal affairs of Aerojet Fine Chemicals, a manufacturer of pharmaceutical chemicals, where she works as corporate counsel. "My two oldest, they spent so many hours in childcare, that they re-arranged their schedules so that Marika doesn't have to go through that," Hastings said.

Hastings' comments were not complaints - rather, they were words of encouragement and hope spoken to a number of Sacramento's top law partners and business persons. They gathered at a reception sponsored by Women Lawyers of Sacramento and held at the law firm of Livingston & Mattesich, mainly out of curiosity, to an event aimed at breaking what has been described as a "glass ceiling" for women in management positions in Sacramento law firms and businesses.

Approximately 35 people attended the event, which kicked off the "Sacramento No Glass Ceiling Task Force." The Task Force, while in its infancy, consists of approximately 15 of Sacramento's top law partners and business persons, aimed at increasing management statistics and the quality of life for women in Sacramento area law firms, businesses and state agencies.

The event was attended by partners of Sacramento's top law firms, and businesses, as well as representatives of UC Davis School of Law, and Elizabeth Rindskopf Parker, Dean of the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law, and spearheaded by Women Lawyers of Sacramento through its immediate past president, Grace Bergen.

The Sacramento No Glass Ceiling Task Force is being modeled after a similar movement that heeded substantial change a few years ago in the Bay-Area. Angela Bradstreet, co-chair of the No Glass Ceiling Task Force and Monitoring Committee of the Bar Association of San Francisco, urged that the glass ceiling is hurting Sacramento area businesses.

"This is not a gender issue, it's a business issue," said, Bradstreet, managing partner at the San Francisco law office of Carroll, Burdick and McDonough. "It is simply not profitable for law firms to hire on female associates and lose them due to lack of partnership opportunities."

While nearly 50 percent of law school graduates are female, Sacramento law firms are lagging behind in inviting women to the partnership table. Only about 16 percent of partners in Sacramento are female - the same percentage found in a national survey two years ago.

Reception participants acknowledged that there is indeed a Glass Ceiling in Sacramento law firms and businesses. Eighteen key figures in the Sacramento Legal Community agreed to sign on to the No Glass Ceiling Task Force. The Task Force seeks to reverse the dismal outlook for female law associates and businesswomen in Sacramento seeking to advance to management positions, recognizing that there is a need for businesses and law firms to retain the women that they hire. The plan involves what Bradstreet calls a business-based approached. Reception participants discussed setting goals for area firms to promote women in management positions, and add incentives to keep women employed, such as instituting flex or part-time options and access to childcare that could be partially funded by local law firms.

A study in the late 1990s by the National Association of Law Placement foundation found nearly 73% of white women and 100% of female minority associates leave their first law firm within eight years. "Women aren't looking for less hours or cushier jobs than their male counterparts," Bradstreet said. "What they are looking for is the ability to have children and keep their jobs. This isn't practical for women and families, and it doesn't make business sense for law firms."

The American Bar Association Commission on Women in the Profession reported in 2001 that it costs firms approximately 150 percent of the employee's annual salary to recruit and train a replacement associate. According to American University Washington College of Law's Program on WorkLife Law, the loss of a single associate can cost a firm as much as $500,000 in lost time and training. Bradstreet and Women Lawyers of Sacramento contend that these are hard numbers and that area firms need to sit up and take notice that losing women hits them where it counts - in the pocketbook.

For Sacramento, the Center for Women's Business Research reports (based upon US Census bureau statistics) that as of 2004, there are an estimated 60,394 privately-held, 50% or more womenowned businesses in Sacramento, accounting for 52.5% of all privately-held businesses in the metropolitan area. These businesses generate more than $17 billion in sales and employ 104,854 people. The rate of ownership of women owned businesses in Sacramento is increasing faster than the national average.

The San Francisco No Glass Ceiling Task Force was instrumental in leading Bay-Area firms to increase the number of female partners to at least 25 percent between the years of 2002 and 2004. San Francisco did it by sending out surveys to Bay-Area firms regarding the number of female partners they employed at the outset, and inquiring as to the existence of flexible policies.

After one year, the firms that achieved that goal were published in the San Francisco Chronicle. "People clamored to get on that list," Bradstreet said. "Firms were calling me, big name firms, at the last minute double checking to see that they were on the list five minutes to deadline." A November 5, 2004 study by the National Association of Law Placement showed that the percentage of women partners increased by 3% in San Francisco. By July 2005, 65% of the firms responding to the Task Force survey reported that at least a quarter of partners were women.

Women Lawyers of Sacramento envisions the same type of plan here, but the numbers and goals to be reached will be determined by the Task Force. The ideas and the goals of the San Francisco No Glass Ceiling Task Force were received with a welcome reception by those who attended the event.

"It's encouraging, because we know the demand is there," Bergen said. "Now we just need to get it jump-started." The Sacramento No Glass Ceiling Task Force expects to have three meetings by the end of the year to define its goals. After that, Bergen anticipates that letters will be going out to Sacramento-Area firms urging them to jump on board and to improve the outlook of work for women graduating from law schools today.

One idea that emerged from the event was the concept of developing a childcare co-op with other Sacramento firms. Afterwards, Marcia Augsburger, a partner at McDonough Holland & Allen PC, was so inspired that she gathered information from established childcare programs and plans to propose an action plan at the first Task Force meeting. She also found a warm reception for the idea among women in her firm. "Their comments underscored one of the concerns expressed at the reception - that women cannot meet the challenges of a full-time law practice without high quality, accessible, flexible, affordable childcare."

As a former elementary school teacher and mother of a 20- year old, Augsburger has a special interest in promoting a childcare program. "I missed too much of my daughter's life because of the demands my litigation practice imposed. I didn't have a choice, and she turned out great, but I would like to see Sacramento firms band together to create a program that gives their young women a meaningful opportunity to continue practicing in and contributing to our legal community." Contributing authors to this article include Committee Members Kristi Fettig, Barbara O'Hearn, and Megan Lewis.

November / December 2005