Tips From A Partner: How Should Women Deal With Sexism In Biglaw?
Should women learn to take sexism in stride and move along with their careers?
I never really focused on the fact that I was a woman as I navigated my career. Certainly, things happen and comments are made and, for the most part, I would either laugh it off or gently tease in response, just to point out that I noticed, but am not taking it to heart. Any woman my age has stories to tell about probably less-than-stellar behavior in other people. I never let it impact me. I frankly would just barrel right through it. If you’re female and young, it’s a little different than if you’re female and you’re a little bit older. Every once in a while I’d sense that someone wondered about my abilities. And when I sensed that was happening, my reaction was just to, without saying anything, but through my work and professionalism, just to show them whatever preconceived notion they had was not correct.
— Melinda Haag — the outgoing U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California, who will return to Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe to become the head of the firm’s global litigation department in March — offering advice for women in Biglaw, in an all-encompassing interview with Bloomberg’s Big Law Business.