This reading list was originally posted to the CFLS website. There are several suggested readings here that are worth checking out!
The NAWL Charitable Trust for Research and Education has published an alternative orientation guide to law school: Gender and the Law Manual: An Introductory Handbook for Law Students. The Manual was compiled by a working group of 8 law students from across Canada following a leadership summit held by NAWL in February 2011. It aims to provide feminist and equality seeking law students with hope, encouragement and inspiration as well as with some of the tools they may need to survive law school and legal practice. The Manual also aims to encourage feminist students and future lawyers to think critically about the law and take action to denounce inequality and injustice. The Gender and the Law Manual consists of manifestos, excerpts of articles and personal accounts written by 25 feminist students, professors, lawyers and activists.
This document was prepared in 2008 by the Allard School of Law Women’s Caucus.
The Law Society’s Business Case for Retaining and Advancing Women Lawyers in Private Practice, prepared by the Retention of Women in Law Task Force, was released in July 2009. The business case explains the competitive advantages that law firms can realize by retaining women lawyers. It also includes resources and best practices for firms to use to create solutions that work for them. While some women leave private practice because of family and parenting responsibilities, research shows that women also leave when they face unintentional obstacles to advancement, such as lack of access to networks and business development opportunities, and lack of mentors. Firms have the opportunity to develop strategies to overcome these obstacles and retain and advance women lawyers, which is good for the public, good for the profession and good for business. The LSBC is considering importing some elements of the Law Society of Upper Canada’s Justicia Project to British Columbia.
“Women in the Legal Profession” is an article by Fiona Kay (Queen’s University) and Elizabeth Gorman (University of Virginia), from the Annual Review of Law and Social Science, published in December 2008.
“In recent years, the legal profession has undergone significant change, with rapidly rising numbers of women among its membership. Scholars of legal history, sociology, economics, organizational behavior, and law have examined various dimensions of the feminization of the legal profession. This review traces the parameters of integration and inequality in the careers of women and men in the contemporary legal profession. We document and assess the theoretical explanations of gender inequalities that persist across legal education, hiring, remuneration, promotions, and other professional opportunities in law. We also examine women’s responses to their experiences and women’s impact on the law and the profession.”
A transcript of Elena Kagan speaking at Yale Law School in 2005 in the Leslie H. Arps Memorial Lecture.
An article by Herminia Ibarra, Harvard Business Review, February 2012.
By Pierre Bourdieu.
(This reading list was originally prepared for and posted to the CFLS website. This post is an archived copy of that list, and some of the material on the list may no longer be up to date. Dead links have been removed from the list as of the date of this post. This post will not be updated.)
