Left to right, Connie Brenton of NetApp, Janet McCarthy of Santa Fe Group and Jennifer Warner of Columbia Sportswear speak at CLOC. Photo credit: Caroline Spiezio/ALM

In an era of #MeToo and #TimesUp, it seems appropriate that the Corporate Legal Operations Consortium would choose to kick off its annual institute on Sunday with a frank discussion about gender inequity in the law.

CLOC founder and chief executive officer Connie Brenton of NetApp Inc. led a conversation with Santa Fe Group chief legal officer Janet McCarthy and Columbia Sportswear Co. vice president of legal Jennifer Warner about their experiences as women leaders in law.

“Each of us have a story,” McCarthy said. “[Mine] is characterized by some incredible men who sponsored me along my journey, and then some people along the way who tried to take me down a few notches.”

McCarthy told the audience that she took her first two general counsel roles, at Mitsui & Co Precious Metals Inc. and Metalor Technologies SA, because men at the companies reached out to her, saying she'd be perfect for the role. She says they were roles she hadn't even considered, and that she may have never applied if they hadn't put their faith in her.

But her climb to the top of the in-house world wasn't obstacle-free. After starting her first general counsel role, a male colleague told her that she couldn't properly do her job because she was a woman, and that her gender would intimidate men who might want to approach her with their legal problems.

When starting her second GC role, McCarthy was introduced to a company chairman who said, upon seeing her in-person, “Now I see why the CEO hired you.”

But McCarthy said her breaking point came during a negotiation years later, when opposing counsel called her aggressive, referred to her as a “girl” and then threatened her.

In all these cases of sexism, she said male colleagues were in the room, heard the remarks, and said nothing.

“We at CLOC are about change, and we need to start calling out this behavior,” McCarthy said.

Warner also spoke on her experiences, as someone who rose to her current top legal role through mostly male-dominated environments. She said that, like McCarthy, she's had male allies in the workplace but has also seen harmful stereotypes against women perpetuated by both men and women.

In her experience, female candidates may be judged harshly, with employers assuming they're planning to have a child soon or get married. Oftentimes, she added, these assumptions are far from the truth, and rob the candidate of a good job and the employer of the best person for the job.

“Ask yourself, what decision would I make if I hadn't made those assumptions?” Warner said.

She also recounted her own pay gap story. At a previous position, she had been making 25 percent less than her male counterparts for equal work—something she didn't find out until a new general counsel came to her company. He told her about the inequities in her salary and then raised her pay.

Small steps and calling out inequities when they appear, as her former GC did, is one way Warner said the legal profession can move closer toward greater fairness to women.

“This can feel overwhelming,” Warner said. “These are big sociological issues. You don't have to try to solve everything. Figure out what your piece is and try to do that.”