Learning to Lead: What Really Works for Women in Law

by Gindi Eckel Vincent, Mary Bailey Cranston

Overview

You could fill a train from the East Coast to the West Coast with the research done about gender inequality and what makes women successful. It is important research. These are important books. Learning to Lead: What Really Works for Women in Law, however, does not attempt to add another cargo load to that train. Instead, this book has three simple goals:

• To synthesize and distill the research, anecdotal evidence, and key concepts on leadership techniques and success that help working women, in any field, develop in their careers
• To tailor these ideas and principles for women practicing law, regardless of practice area, and create practical actions that lawyers can implement in their lives and workplaces
• To recognize the uniqueness of what success and leadership look like for each individual woman practicing law and to put the learning into practice by hearing from women who are leading in legal fields, including the judiciary, and by transforming ourselves with a total leadership makeover

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781627222150
Publisher:	American Bar Association
Publication date:	06/10/2014
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	140
Sales rank:	829,689
File size:	372 KB

About the Author

Gindi Eckel Vincent, Counsel, Exxon Mobil Corporation, Houston, TX 0414

Gindi is Counsel in ExxonMobil Corporation's Law Department. Her responsibilities include providing strategic environmental counsel to all business lines, including refining, chemicals, pipeline, and upstream and development.

Prior to joining ExxonMobil, Gindi served in private practice for 15 years. Most recently, Gindi was Counsel at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman where she worked with energy companies to solve complex environmental challenges. While at Pillsbury, Gindi was awarded both Pillsbury's Working Mother of the Year Award and the Houston Young Lawyers Association's Outstanding Young Lawyer Award.

Currently, Gindi is the President Elect of the Women's Energy Network of Houston. The Women's Energy Network is a national organization with over 2,200 members empowering women in the energy industry. Prior to her leadership with the Women's Energy Network, Gindi chaired the non-profit Houston Young Lawyers Foundation and the 23,000 member Texas Young Lawyers Association as well as served as Vice President of the Young Audiences of Houston.

Gindi earned her B.A. from Ouachita Baptist University and her J.D. from Vanderbilt Law School. 

Mary B. Cranston is the retired senior partner and immediate past chair of Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP. Pillsbury is an international law firm with over 800 attorneys in fifteen offices, including San Francisco, New York, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, London, Tokyo, and Shanghai. In her eight years as chair, she expanded the firm from a regional California base into an international platform through two large mergers and the addition of seven offices. Ms. Cranston is an expert in complex class action litigation, antitrust counseling and litigation, regulated industries counseling and litigation, and securities litigation. She has litigated over 300 class actions in the state and federal courts and is an expert on class action procedural and trial issues and all aspects of class action settlements. She currently serves on five public company boards: VISA, Juniper Networks, International Rectifier, GrafTech (where she currently serves as lead director), and Exponent. She has also served on numerous nonprofit boards, including Catalyst, the Stanford University Board of Trustees, the San Francisco Ballet, the Commonwealth Club, the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital (where she currently serves as chair), and the Stanford Hospital. Ms. Cranston has been named one of "The 100 Most Influential Lawyers in America" by the National Law Journal, one of two "Best Law Firm Leaders in the United States" by Of Counsel, and one of the "Top 100 Lawyers in California" by the San Francisco Daily Journal and the Los Angeles Daily Journal. She has been profiled as "One of the Best Female Antitrust Lawyers in the World" by Global Competition Review. For the past eight years, she has been included in the San Francisco Business Times List of the Most Influential Women in Bay Area Business, and in 2004, she received the Athena Award given to the outstanding Bay Area businesswoman for lifetime achievement. In 2005, Ms. Cranston was the recipient of the Margaret Brent Women Lawyers of Achievement Award, the American Bar Association's highest award for women lawyers given for legal excellence and for paving the way for other women lawyers. In 2010, she was awarded the Stanford Medal by Stanford University for exceptional lifetime contributions to the university. In 2013, she was selected by the San Francisco Business Times and the Silicon Valley Business Times for their Outstanding Director Award. 18 July 2013

Table of Contents

From the Chair of the ABA Commission on Women in the Profession vii

Prologue ix

Chapter 1 Understanding the Lay of the Land-The Statistics on Working and Leading Women 1

Chapter 2 The Men, The Myths, The Legends-Understanding Myths and Stereotypes 7

Chapter 3 What We Know-What the Experts Tell Us about Women Leaders 13

Chapter 4 How Does It All Work-Applying What We Know to Women in Law 23

Be True to Yourself 26

Be Optimistic 29

Take Risks 32

Chart Your Course 37

Have a Vision (and Communicate It) 40

Build Relationships (Including Mentors) 45

Toot Your Own Horn 49

Speak Up 51

Chapter 5 Insight from the Top-Interviews with Legal Leaders 57

Chapter 6 View from the Bench-Interviews with the Judiciary 77

Chapter 7 Total Leadership Makeover-Transforming Real-Life Lawyers 97

Conclusion 113

Appendices 114

Author Biography 119

Advisor Biography 121

About the ABA Commission on Women in the Profession 123

Endnotes 125