Phillips Lytle LLP Partner Anna Mercado Clark served on a panel for an event hosted by the Asian American Bar Association of New York (AABANY), the Institute for Inclusion in the Legal Profession (IILP) and the National Association of Women Lawyers (NAWL) titled, “Stronger Together: APA Women in the Legal Profession – Strategies to Support, Lead, and Advance.” The conference took place on Friday, September 25thand Saturday, September 26th.
Among the topics of discussion:
- Asian Americans are the most likely racial minority group to enter private practice upon their graduation from law school, and a majority of those new law firm associates are women.
- Success for Asian American women lawyers, however, brings with it challenges that many women may face, but that may be compounded by Asian cultural values, gender roles within the Asian American community, stereotypes about Asian American women, exoticism and fetishism about Asian American women and limited role models.
- What do you do when you look far younger than you are, or when being petite and pretty is a disadvantage?
- How do you handle the lawyers who make inappropriate advances without sacrificing professional networking opportunities?
- How do you deal with men who try to bully you?
- Can you make tough decisions without making lifelong enemies?
- Is it possible to balance family and community expectations with the career you are trying to build?
- How can Asian American women lawyers support each other beyond lip service?
- What structures can we build so that the power dynamics between and among sex and gender are diminished?
- Superficially, these issues may appear generational; they are not. These are issues that should unite all women and anyone else who believes that the legal profession generally, Asian American lawyers specifically and Asian American women especially are stronger together.
