Avenues to Advancement: Ms. JD’s 3rd Annual Women in Law Conference
By Jessica Titlebaum (Chicago)
“Roll up your sleeves!”
This is the advice Karen Lockwood, of the Lockwood Group, told the audience at Northwestern University at Ms. JD’s 3rd Annual Women in Law Conference on Friday, November 20th. “Exposing your wrist bone,” she explained, “exudes confidence and makes you look taller.“
The advice was symbolic as the day unfolded. The women ‘rolled up their sleeves’ and participated in intense workshops and break-out sessions. It was the second time Linda Bray Chanow from the Center for Women in Law at University of Texas Law School organized this conference focused on communication, networking and self-promotion.
Chanow explained the importance of the breakout sessions. “We try to create an applied learning environment where [the women] can network, get critiqued and then apply their skills again,” said Chanow. “The [women] have the opportunity to see their skills improve immediately.”
Chanow kicked off the day’s activities saying that exceeding expectations was only the admission into a new job. The keys to success were business development opportunities, high quality assignments and mentoring.
She recommends finding people that are good at business development pitches and watching them. “Take the opportunity to sit in and get involved in these pitches,” she advised
Chanow also stressed the importance of mentors. She suggested finding three mentors. The first is the one assigned to you by your firm. The second is the one that helps you build skills and whom you will call for advice. And the third is a “sponsor” mentor, who is someone who will recommend you for advancement.
“You meet any successful person and they will tell you the name of the mentor who took them from where ‘you’ are to where they are now,” she said.
Karen Lockwood led the second session about composure, clothing and communication. She walked on stage in an elegant green jacket and mentioned it was new. She explained that women only need two pair of black pants. “Spend the rest of your money on jackets (with the sleeves rolled up),” she said.
She also talked about powerful versus powerless communication. “Women that use powerful communication are more believable, likeable and thought to be more intelligent. Women defy society’s expectation when using powerful communication, which gives us a double benefit.” And Jane Direnzo Pigott, from R3 Group LLC advised “ to look out for powerless tendencies such as rising intonation, frequent repetition, or phrases with negative impacts like: “I’m sorry”, “To tell you the truth” or “Can I ask you a question?”
One of Lockwood’s final recommendations was to remember that “quietness equals security” and “visibly thinking equals power.”
The conference continued with a session about networking led by Lauren Stiller Rikleen Esq. from the Bowditch Institute for Women’s Success. Her advice was to create a professional presence at networking events by knowing the people who will be attending and the issues that will be discussed. At the event, she recommended approaching people that are standing alone and to “treat everyone as if they are the most important person in the world.” She also said women should strive to be memorable. “Be personally interesting and say something distinctive.”
In Effective Self-Promotion, Pigott suggested asking for what you want and to be persistent. “If the answer is no, ask ‘why not?’ Then go back to your superior and ask again, solving the why nots.” She also recommended speaking up at meetings. She said that additive comments like “good point” or “I agree” sounded more credible than saying nothing at all.
After Pigott’s session, the audience participated in one final break-out session to apply the information they’d learned throughout the day.
And all of their sleeves were definitely rolled up.
