Trisha Widowfield, of Haliczer Pettis & Schwamm in Fort Lauderdale.

Recently, there's been increased attention on the struggles unique to female attorneys, from the daily struggles to the long-term disparate lack of opportunity. The bottom line is that we face cultural and political hurdles that men do not. While these remain unfortunate and unfair experiences for us, the benefit has been the creation of an intentional, cohesive community.

Many female attorneys have created both in-person and online groups, intended as a platform for sharing resources, networking, venting and referring cases to other female attorneys. Historically, it seems that the female attorneys had to be competitive with each other due to scarcity of opportunity, whether perceived or otherwise. Fortunately, however, the recent trend has been for us to recognize our collective impact.

Instead of putting other females down or finding ourselves in competition with one another, we have now recognized the power of surrounding themselves with other strong female leaders in the field. Studies have shown that women who support women are more successful. As the saying goes, "a rising tide lifts all boats."

While both men and women benefit from having a network of connected peers across different groups, research from Harvard Business Review finds that women benefit from an inner circle of other successful female colleagues. Truly, there is power in creating a tribe. Powerful, successful female attorneys can share experiences as to what hurdles we've experienced, including how we've overcome them and others we continue to face. There's comfort in hearing "you are not alone" in this seemingly unique struggle.

There are a number of in-person groups that focus on the female perspective of practicing law. The various chapters of FAWL consistently provide CLEs and features to actively promote the advancement of women within the legal community. On the more nontraditional spectrum, The Emery is a shared workspace and membership club designed specifically for female professionals. While it is not exclusive to attorneys, its concept is "designed and built on the support of one another, because together, anything is possible." It provides a community atmosphere for collaboration, networking and educational programming by and for women who are focused on succeeding and growing their business.

Surprisingly, one of the most effective ways to connect has been through Facebook. While previously seen as a personal space to post photos and experiences, Facebook has become a powerful platform for female attorneys for advice on starting our own businesses, resources for motions, client development, networking, coverage counsel, office management issues, transparent salary reveals, insight on judges, and, perhaps most empowering, referring business to each other.

Both "Ms. Esquire" and "Boss Lady, Esq.," among others, are pages where we can go for support. These sites have changed the way many of us view our resources. I've spoken with many female attorneys who have said that the first thing they do when they wake up and the last thing they do before they sign off for the night is to check these sites to see if there are any posts that could be beneficial to them or posts on which they can comment to provide support and guidance.

"Boss Lady, Esq." founder and South Floridian, Leisa Wintz, explained that she founded "Boss Lady, Esq." out of necessity as she had split from her law partner and needed to learn how to start her own firm, Family Law Matters, in a matter of days. She felt that she had "absolutely no tools to figure out how" but believed that there had to be other women who either were going through the same thing or had already started their own firms and would be willing to share information and support. She started the group and within a week had 1,000 members. It has grown to over 7,000 members nationwide with thousands more on a wait list. Wintz says she can't quantify or qualify the benefits of "Boss Lady" but believes that it has made the community better business owners. "Boss Lady, Esq." does not tolerate any "mean girl" content and administratively removes any negativity so that the group continues with the intent of "creating a platform to support, inform, uplift and educate its members."

"Ms. Esquire" was also founded by a local South Floridian, Rahysa Vargas Cheng. She started the group as a forum to provide more ways for us to elevate each other as she feels that the current generation of practicing females are trying to empower each other now more than ever. She recognizes that the "more ways we support each other, the more likely we'll see more of us climb up the legal ladder to open doorways for real change." She has personally experienced a change influenced by her own group. Her managing partner told Vargas Cheng that she changed the firm's maternity leave policy based on conversations in "Ms. Esquire." Vargas Cheng recently had her firstborn and was able to benefit from the new policy that her group influenced. "Ms. Esquire" has over 8,200 members across the United States with another 1,500 more on the wait list. That's a big tribe.

These groups allow us to build circles of trust, as we're finally seeing that we're experiencing similar challenges and recognize the collective gain form supporting each other. While I've been fortunate  with my experience throughout my entire career at Haliczer, Pettis, & Schwamm, many have experienced the lack of opportunity due to under-sponsorship by male colleagues. Therefore, the ability to develop powerful relationships with other female attorneys has been able to allow us to simultaneously develop both sponsorship and mentorship relationships with one another. As we have all experienced, we don't collaborate or base a referral on a firm, we do so based on people you know and trust. As such, all of these groups are invaluable.

The bottom line is to build up your tribe—those women who will support you and recommend you, knowing that you would do the same for them, whether online or in person. We're all part of the struggle of practicing as a female, let's support each other in our endeavors. There's more than enough work to go around and we're more powerful in the pack.

Trisha Widowfield is a  partner at Haliczer Pettis & Schwamm in Fort Lauderdale. Contact her at [email protected].