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Displayed with Permission of Crain's
Cleveland Business.
Copyright Crain Communications Inc. 2004.
Breaking up the boys' club
Women are no longer just joining firms,
but instead are owning their own.
Attorneys Karen L. Giffen and Kerin Lyn Kaminski became pioneers
of sorts this year. They joined a growing trend of women law
firm owners when they opened Giffen & Kaminski, LLC, and
their focus is in an area into which few women venture —
business litigation.
Although successful in their careers at the Cleveland firm
Cavitch Familo Durkin & Frutkin Co., they researched opening
their own firm after a large client “opened their eyes.”
Specifically, the client was looking for a diverse law firm
to represent the face of its diverse work force better.
“Years ago, it used to be enough to say you were taking
your business to a woman or any minority at a law firm,”
Ms. Kaminski said. “Now in corporate America it’s
no longer considered enough. It has to be a business owned
by a woman or minority.”
Barbara Friedman Yaksic, chairwoman of the Ohio State Bar
Association section on Women in the Profession, said female
law firms are becoming more prevalent because more women are
practicing law.
She also said the trend might be attributed to women growing
dissatisfied with their progress at traditional firms.
According to the 2001 “Women in Law: Making the Case”
study, although women make up more than 40% of law school
students since 1985, they still comprise less than 16% of
law partners nationally and 14% of Fortune 500 general counsel.
The study, conducted by the nonprofit research organization
Catalyst, found the main barriers to advancement identified
by women were family and personal responsibilities, lack of
client development / general management experience, lack of
mentoring opportunities, and exclusion from informal internal
networks.
Women-owned firms sometimes receive business from shareholders
at companies who want their legal counsel to reflect themselves,
women and minorities, Ms. Kaminski said.
“It’s also driven by businesses themselves to go
out in the market, encompassing and embracing all avenues
of life because there’s business to be gotten,”
she said. “Fifty percent of startup businesses are owned
by women. It’s smart business.”
Ms. Giffen added that bringing more “voices” to
the table brings about more “interesting and innovative
results.”
Mary Ann Rabin opened her solo bankruptcy law practice 21
years ago. When her daughter, Julie, joined her in 1981 they
were the first mother-daughter practice in Cleveland. Over
the years, Mrs. Rabin said she’s seen more women attorneys
hang out their own shingles and thrive.
“When I started practicing law, I was 44 years old,”
she said. “I joined a law firm, but after five years
it really became apparent I needed to get out on my own. I
was too old to take orders from anybody.”
Mrs. Rabin said a lot of clients come to her female law firm,
Rabin & Rabin Co., LPA, because they respect the women’s
skills. But many also come because they think women will be
more empathetic, adding that a telephone book advertisement
picturing the mother-daughter team generates a lot of response.
Ms. Yaksic said people leave law firms all the time, but a
lack of training and mentoring for women is more pronounced.
She said larger firms are “used to doing business the
way they’re used to doing business.” For example,
she mentioned the practice of entertaining clients at venues
where women normally wouldn’t feel comfortable or be
accepted.
“It’s a business development avenue. As a female
attorney, do you go someplace you really don’t want to
go or do you step back from that because you don’t want
to go to a strip club or exclusionary country club? Ms. Yaksic
said.
There also aren’t a lot of women in management positions
at law firms who could contribute a different outlook on doing
business.
“It’s not so much (firms) don’t want to help
women as they don’t realize a need to do things differently,”
Ms. Yaksic said. “They’re used to doing it one way
that worked for them.”
Ms. Giffen, who was chairwoman of Cavitch’s litigation
department, said the challenges female attorneys face are
the same challenges women face in all business — juggling
home life, work life and family life.
As female attorneys in management positions at a medium-size
Cleveland law firm, Ms. Giffen and Ms. Kaminski, a former
Cavitch board of directors member, said they are trying to
be leaders in the community by branching out on their own
in an area very few women practice.
Displayed with Permission of Crain's Cleveland Business.
Copyright Crain Communications Inc. 2004.
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