Founding Partner, Michelle Foster, Interviewed by Daily Business Review on a Seasoned, Female Attorney's Perspective
/A Seasoned, Female Attorney’s Perspective: How the Legal Community Has Changed Over the Years
Despite change in the legal community being slow to unfurl, it happens. I’ve had a front-row seat to major shifts in the community I am a part of, and that experience has colored the way I do my job and approach our legal recruiting firm, The Foster Group.
Over my years in the legal profession, one thing has remained constant: slow change. The legal community is tight-knit and primarily set in its ways unless a significant catalyst for change occurs. These change-making events can be anything from major societal movements to worldwide upheavals like the COVID-19 pandemic.
Despite change in the legal community being slow to unfurl, it happens. I’ve had a front-row seat to major shifts in the community I am a part of, and that experience has colored the way I do my job and approach our legal recruiting firm, The Foster Group.
The Change-Makers
Every industry has its leaders, those who act as change-makers, and the legal community is no different. Major advancements have occurred over the decades that may have all been labeled legal profession disruptions at one time or another. Automated discovery processes, access to mentorships and blockchain technology have all been heralded as the innovations the legal community has been waiting for. They all enacted changes large and small in their own right.
Disruptors can come in various forms, and there is continued room for innovation and ongoing change.
Global Change Through Technology
Ask any lawyer, seasoned or not, what the biggest change has been in the legal profession and community as a whole, and they will likely say “technology.” Technological advancements have upended most industries, especially since the advent of social media and smartphone technology.
Today, clients can sign legal documents on their phones as they sit in the school pick-up line.
The online community that caters to those in the legal profession has been a game-changer as well. These online communities offer mentorship and idea-sharing. Linking lawyers through social media and technology makes the community a truly global partnership.
Changes in Diversity Initiatives
Diversity initiatives have been at the forefront of change in the business world. Involving an ever diverse population in the legal field stands to only lead to positive outcomes. Scholars and top law professionals agree that there needs to be a stronger emphasis on initiatives towards more opportunities for women and minorities in the legal field.
Only 20% of top roles in the legal field are held by women and women of color hold only 3% of those positions.
In recent years, initiatives have been implemented to address the imbalance of women and minorities in leadership roles within the legal profession. Most notable perhaps is the 2017 Mansfield Rule. Named for the first female American member of the bar, Arabella Mansfield, this rule states that firms must consider “at least 30% women and minority lawyers for leadership positions, lateral position moves, and equity partner promotions.”
The Mansfield Rule is currently into its fourth “reboot,” and hundreds of law firms have become Mansfield Certified, pledging to put diversity at the forefront of hiring and promoting decisions.
Change that ushers in diversity is good news not only for law firms but also for clients. Clients report greater satisfaction when they can work with people they can relate to. It sets clients at ease to see themselves reflected in those they hire to help them during what can be difficult times.
Leaders Need to Remove Barriers to Change
If change within the legal community is going to accelerate and remain consistent and long-lasting, it will take the community leaders stepping up to the plate and leading the charge.
A noticeable shift has happened in the past decade toward an idea of community lawyering. The Shriver Center in Chicago defines community lawyering as, “using legal advocacy to help achieve solutions to community-identified issues in ways that develop local leadership and institutions that can continue to exert power to effect systemic change.” Applying the idea of community lawyering to the legal profession to effect change from within is one tool to accomplish major change.
A Witness to Change
Spend any reasonable amount of time in the legal profession, and you are bound to be a witness to some measure of change. It’s sometimes the only constant, even if it is slow to come.
The longer you spend in your profession, the more you learn, and the more of a leader you become in the legal community, the more you can start effecting change yourself. The leaders in the community are the changemakers. Recognizing your role as a changemaker and then going out and making that change happen can solidify your place in the modern global legal community.