SAN FRANCISCO — Last weekend, a group of attorneys put together a plan to solve a little-discussed but serious obstacle facing women at big law firms: relationship credit and who gets it. Too often, the lawyers said, relationship credit is inherited, the sole discretion of a previous relationship partner. When it’s male partners choosing more men, women lose out.
Pitched at the Women in Law Hackathon held at Stanford University on June 23 and 24, the idea puts women in more visible roles for the client. The next time a relationship partner retires, the client intervenes—this time, with their own candidate in mind. In-house counsel called the idea refreshing and much needed, but said there might be short supply of women and companies to participate. Still, it’s worth a shot, they said.
