Ann Israel is the legal profession's Dear Abby. A New York legal recruiter since 1979, Ann is a past president of the National Association of Legal Search Consultants. Advice for the Lawlorn is updated every Tuesday.

Q: I work at a Biglaw firm, and I am also a minority female junior associate and feel as if the firm I work for is trying to push me out. What I mean is that there is a certain type of junior associate in my class that is sought out by partners. These associates are always busy and always have work from myriad of partners for no substantive reason. I have worked with these associates before (we are in the same class), and their work is quite lacking, and the questions they ask me are quite elementary, yet they are chosen over me and the other minority associates time and time again.

I have talked to other minorities, and our experiences are the same across the board.

Perhaps the firm isn't intentionally trying to push us out, but it is definitely ignoring us and favoring others.

As a first-generation child of refugees, I have no political connections or powerful relatives. My father is not general counsel at a client like other associates. My uncle is not managing partner at another Biglaw firm like other associates.

I feel like I am hitting my head against a wall. I am told time and time again my work is good, but this uphill climb is starting to look more like a vertical wall then a hill with footholds.

I believe the law firm management believes in diversity and is very interested in retaining minority associates; however, the day-to-day partners whom we interact with feel differently or don't care.

If I lateral, will it be any better at another Biglaw firm? Getting out of the law is not an option, and going to a small firm is selling myself short. I would like to make partner and not just go in-house in my fifth or sixth year, but I'm daunted by the obstacles that are put in my way.

Am I stuck in a "grin and bear it" situation?

Dear Daunted: Your question has me at a loss for words -- not a common predicament for me. I really am not clear on how to respond to your situation, for I would choose not to believe that your firm is intentionally trying to push out and/or ignore all the minority associates and favor some dolts -- or, as you put it, a certain type of junior associate -- simply because they are not minorities or perhaps because they have political connections or powerful relatives.

Certainly, it doesn't hurt to have a father who is a general counsel at a Fortune 500 company or a relative who is the managing partner of an Am Law firm or an uncle with powerful political connections. However, if every nonminority associate in your class year has this type of connection, it is an unusual group of associates indeed.

I am not trying to belittle your interpretation of what is happening to you, but is it possible that there are other reasons that these associates are sought out by the partners? Is it possible that they are more aggressive in seeking out assignments from the partners? Could their work-product be better than you are giving it credit for being? It does not seem credible to me that a major law firm would allow its clients to pay for substandard work time after time, as you are suggesting.

It is unquestionably true that a number of years ago many firms were guilty of exactly what you are accusing your firm of now doing, but perhaps not always for the reasons you might think. A partner would be assigned an associate and like this individual for one reason or another, or just get used to this person, and then request this associate for the next assignment and the next and the next. What would then happen is that other associates would never have an opportunity to work with this partner, and, on the other side of the coin, this associate might be stuck with this partner for years on end.

Fast-forward to today, and you really do not see this happening in the Biglaw firms any longer. The assigning process is much more rigid and structured and follows a certain pattern where assignments are handed out in a manner so that all associates have an opportunity to work with each partner and have equal time and shares. This is why there are now assigning partners in each practice group and why I am disturbed by what you seem to be observing.

Additionally, law firms are under strict orders from their clients to staff up with minority/diversity associates and partners. The partners in the law firms are desperate to keep minority attorneys within the firms, not push them out, in order to appease their in-house clients.

My advice to you is as follows: Step 1 is to sit down with the assigning partner in your practice group and express your concerns. You need to let him or her know that you are not getting the experience and/or the assignments you want, and in fact, you believe that other associates are continually chosen over you. You need to find out that if indeed this is the case, why this is happening.

If the answers to this sit-down are not satisfactory to you, and/or if the conditions do not change as a result of this meeting, then of course you need to change firms. Your Biglaw firm may be one holdout from the cave ages and if this is the case, get out of there -- and fast. Move into a firm that is practicing in the 21st century and is attempting to run an assigning process that is fair to all junior associates.

Good luck!

Sincerely,
Ann Israel
President, Ann Israel & Associates