Sexism, Sexual Harassment, Women's Issues

The Pink Ghetto: If You Look 'More Like A Dominatrix Than A Lawyer,' You'll Get More Callback Interviews

We're examining the way women in law school and law practice are treated based on their age and the way they look.

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Casual Woman on white backgroundWelcome back to The Pink Ghetto, a series where we take a look at some of the most appalling stories from one of the most sexist industries in the world: the legal profession. Today, we’ll be examining the way women in law school and law practice are treated based on their perceived age and the way they look. These are real emails that we’ve received from real readers.

When you see things like this happening, say something. Together, we can inspire the change necessary to stop this disturbing behavior from being so prevalent in the law.

As a third-year lawyer (27-year-old), I was deposing the female plaintiff in a sexual harassment case. Her attorney was a good ol’ Southern boy from a small town who felt the need to constantly remind me of his decades of experience. At one point, opposing counsel got mad that I was being aggressive with his client and told me to “chill out, baby.” I managed to not take a swing at him, but instead reminded him that this was a sexual harassment case where that kind of language was at issue, and if he felt comfortable using it with opposing counsel, it couldn’t possibly be that extreme and outrageous. I also reminded him that I had a name he could use, just as his wife/mother/daughter does.

I’m a 3L at a T14 school and I’m good-looking (I did a lot of modeling before law school and I still do some on the side to help pay tuition fees). I get a lot of attention from my male classmates and it has always annoyed and bothered me, but until this incident, it was always in a respectful and non-harassing manner.

A few days ago, I got a Facebook friend request from a guy I didn’t know, but I saw that he was a student of the same law school I go to and that we had a few friends in common (all students of our law school), so I figured it was maybe someone in one of my classes who I had simply not noticed. I accepted him as a friend and he immediately came to talk to me. He was very forthcoming, and immediately ask me out for a drink in big city next to our law school.

I politely replied that I had absolutely no idea who he was and that I was not interested in going out for a drink with him. He did not accept no for an answer and kept insisting, telling me things such as, “If you never try, you’ll never know.” I politely declined one more time and specified again that I had never even noticed him in the law school building and that I was not interested in grabbing a drink. He kept insisting. I was busy writing a paper and had a lot to do, so just to get rid of him, I told him I was seeing someone at the moment (it is true that I am seeing someone, but I usually prefer to decline only by stating “I am not interested,” but “I am not interested” clearly was not working with him and I was out of time and patience). He then responded to me that he accepted this “good excuse,” and that he wouldn’t ask again. I was shocked. I replied to him, “Good excuse? Just so we’re clear, you do realize that a woman is allowed to say no, even if she is 100% single?” He didn’t reply to this accusation; he just mentioned he was “very respectful” and “sorry if he annoyed me.”

I just hope I never have to work with him at school or in a professional capacity. Also, if this guy feels it’s okay to talk to a classmate that way, I can’t imagine what kind of things he feel are acceptable to say to a girl he was no professional affiliation with.

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I went straight to law school after college, so when I was interviewing for summer associate positions after my 1L year, I was 23. I probably looked young at the time, and I’m also attractive (the kind of attractive that makes some people assume I’m not intelligent). One of my first OCI interviews was with a big firm in a major city. The interviewer was a senior partner, and one of the very first things he said to me was, “You look young, how old are you?” He then proceeded to ask me how I thought I could adjust to the long hours required by an associate position at a big firm when I had never had a full-time job before. I mumbled some nonsensical answer about being “dedicated,” and then left the interview early. I highly doubt he would have asked the same questions to a man who had gone straight to law school after college.

My law school (T-14) had two days of on-campus interviews with potential law firms for summer associate positions. One of my classmates thought it would be fun to conduct a little experiment. For Day 2 of the interviews, she dressed professionally. For Day 1 of the interviews, she did not. She wore a jacket, but the “shirt” underneath was actually a corset and was ridiculously low cut. She was also wearing a micro mini-skirt and hooker heels. She looked more like a dominatrix than a wannabe lawyer.

Every time she came back into the “holding room” after interviews that first day, she had stories to tell about the men complimenting her on her outfit and staring at her assets. Of course, we law students figured she wouldn’t get any callbacks from the first day of interviews. Boy, were we wrong!

She had 8-10 interviews each day (all Am Law 100 firms). For Day 1 interviews, every single male interviewer gave her a callback. None of the women did, but of course there weren’t as many of them. For Day 2 interviews, she had about a 50/50 callback rate across male and female interviewers. That meant she got more callbacks from Day 1 than Day 2.

Do you have a law school or law firm story you’d like to see appear in The Pink Ghetto? Please email me with “The Pink Ghetto” in the subject line (or find me on Twitter: @StaciZaretsky). You will be kept anonymous. Submissions are always welcome!

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Staci Zaretsky is an editor at Above the Law. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments. Follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.

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