When Carolyn Park first landed in a big firm in New York after pivoting from associate to business development, her boss told her to mention that she had a J.D. when she introduced herself to other partners.

“They said, make sure you point out that you were a practicing attorney, because they’ll respect you more,” said Park, a former Texas attorney who has worked on the staff side at large firms including Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison and Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer. She declined to name the firm where these events happened.