Unit D - Blog #24

When I talked to my cousin Terri who was a former lawyer, I asked her a lot about the expectations were in her office because she was a woman. She told me that as an intern starting out she was doing a lot of woman based secretarial errands such as making coffee, copying papers, and getting the lunch orders for the day. She commented that the male interns were usually not assigned these duties. Once she earned rank she commented that cases were subject to gendered roles. She received a lot of child cases because women around the office were seen as motherly and better able to handle the distraught parents. Big, important cases that involved corporations and billions of dollars were given to men. While her interest lie in family court, she knew a lot of female lawyers who worked solely in tax court with businesses that would be much more useful in these big cases. As a law student, she said that women were always expected to read but not called on for answers as much. They were to know the details while the male students were to understand the big picture and were much more likely to be called on and used as an example. When asked about her fashion choices she said that it was just assumed you never wore anything flattering or bright because older women students and faculty would look down on you and no professor would take you seriously. From the get-go fashion was denied as an aspect in a woman lawyer's life.