McKnight’s news stories can be a good source of ideas for quality improvement projects, long-term care attorney Janet K. Feldkamp recently told a webcast audience. Looking at our recent items, I’d say the time is ripe to review CPR policies: Three separate stories emerged last week about a variety of problems — and penalties — related to resuscitation.
McKnight’s news stories can be a good source of ideas for quality improvement projects, long-term care attorney Janet K. Feldkamp recently told a webcast audience. Looking at our recent items, I’d say the time is ripe to review CPR policies: Three separate stories emerged last week about a variety of problems — and penalties — related to resuscitation.
Benesch is pleased to announce that the firm has been named the 2011-2012 Ohio Women’s Bar Association (OWBA) Family Friendly Award recipient.
Established in 2003, the Family Friendly Award honors those legal employers in Ohio that best exemplify a commitment to work-life balance arrangements and assure that lawyers can take care of their families and still pursue a successful career.
The OWBA recognizes that Benesch exemplifies a strong commitment to work-life balance for all attorneys and staff, including a generous parental leave policy; part-time partnership track; and flexible work schedules. Benesch is committed to providing an inclusive and innovative environment, and the firm works to ensure that every attorney and staff member is provided with the support necessary to succeed.
Andi M. Metzel, a partner in Benesch’s Indianapolis office, has been elected Vice Chair of the Indiana State Employees’ Appeals Commission (SEAC). She will serve a one-year term in this position before becoming eligible to serve as the SEAC Chair in 2013.
SEAC is an independent commission with statutory authority to hear or investigate certain appeals from state employees and to fairly and impartially render decisions as to the validity of the appeals or lack thereof. SEAC hearings are conducted in accordance with the Administrative Orders and Procedures Act. Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels appointed Andi to SEAC in March of 2011. She is currently serving a four-year term.
Andi represents the firm’s corporate and individual clients through negotiating resolutions in complex business, personal and transactional disputes. Ms. Metzel practices in state and federal courts and before local and state administrative bodies and agencies.
Earlier this month, Wal-Mart’s Sam’s Club appointed Rosalind Brewer as its chief executive officer. Brewer will be the first woman and first African-American to lead a business unit of Wal-Mart. Not new to blazing a path for women in business, Brewer was the first chairperson of the Wal-Mart’s President’s Council of Global Women Leaders, is a member of the Lockheed Martin Corporation Board of Directors, and has been selected as one of the Most Powerful Women in Businesses by Fortune Magazine in 2010 and 2011.
In addition to Brewer’s appointment, Wal-Mart promoted Gisel Ruiz to Wal-Mart U.S. chief operating officer and Karenann Terrell to chief information officer.
These announcement are an encouraging step toward closing the gap that currently exists for women and women minorities in business. According to a 2011 Catalyst report, women only held 14.1% of executive officer positions in Fortune 500 Companies in 2011, down from the 14.4% reported in 2010. In fact, a quarter of the Fortune 500 Companies surveyed reported having no women executive officers. These numbers decrease dramatically when evaluating the number of minority women in similar positions. A 2009 report by the White House Project revealed that only 6 percent of all female corporate officers at 327 of the largest corporations were African American.
In light of these numbers, the appointment of Brewer, Ruiz and Terrell to executive officer positions at the world’s largest retailer is certainly something professional women and their advocates should celebrate.
Posted by Malisheia O. Douglas, Associate in Benesch’s Intellectual Property Practice Group and LaVonne E. Pulliam, Associate in Benesch’s Corporate & Securities Practice Group
Stephanie S. Penninger Accepted to Indiana State Bar Association Leadership Development Academy
12
19
11
Benesch is pleased to announce that Stephanie S. Penninger has been accepted into the inaugural class of the Indiana State Bar Association Leadership Development Academy.
The ISBA Leadership Development Academy was created to establish a leadership forum to empower and develop lawyers to be informed, committed and involved so that they may fill significant leadership roles in local and state bar associations, in Indiana communities and organizations and to serve as role models in matters of ethics and professionalism.
Ms. Penninger focuses her practice on representing national and regional clients in a wide variety of complex commercial litigation matters. She has experience representing employers and employees in labor and employment matters, litigating disputes arising out of the employment relationship.
A recent article by Forbes Magazine, “What Women Can Tell Us About Money””, highlights the differences between investment strategies undertaken by men and women. It notes that women tend to seek more advice before investing and prioritize slow and steady growth over more risky investments. As a result, women investors tend to have a higher rate of return than their male counterparts. The article goes on to highlight special challenges faced by women with respect to investing for retirement: gaps in earnings during child bearing years, longer life spans, and leaves for family care. It then provides strategies for women investors to maximize on their strengths and overcome the challenges facing working women. To read the full article, go to: http://www.forbes.com/sites/merrilllynch/2011/10/21/what-women-can-teach-us-about-money/
Posted by Krista Taggart, Associate in Benesch’s Business Reorganization Practice Group
A recent study published in PLoS One, and highlighted in a New York Times article, suggests that wearing makeup increases other people’s perception of a woman’s competence. The study judged how individuals’ reacted to women both barefaced and with makeup when given both an opportunity for a snap second glance and a longer inspection – both revealed that people tended to assume that the women with makeup were more competent, amiable, and reliable. The study suggests that a professional woman can use makeup as a tool and vary its application depending upon the impression she wishes to impart upon others. The study is the latest in a long line of studies that have argued that a “beauty bias” exists in our society. You can find the full study here: http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0025656 and the New York Times article summarizing the study here: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/13/fashion/makeup-makes-women-appear-more-competent-study.html?_r=1&src=me&ref=general What do you think? Do you perceive women with makeup differently than those without? Do you feel that others perceive you differently based upon your level of makeup?
Posted by Krista Taggart, Associate in Benesch’s Business Reorganization Practice Group
On September 22, 2011, Benesch attorneys’ and clients attended the Ninth Annual Stepping Out in Style event to benefit Dress for Success in Indianapolis. Benesch was a proud sponsor of the event which featured fashion, food, and networking in support of a great cause. The mission of Dress for Success “is to promote the economic independence of disadvantaged women by providing professional attire, a network of support and the career development tools to help women thrive in work and in life.” Dress for Success achieves this goal by providing women with professional attire appropriate for interview, the foundational pieces needed for a professional wardrobe once hired, employment retention and mentoring programs. Since its introduction to Indianapolis in 2000, Dress for Success has served over 7,000 women in the Indianapolis area and hopes to help an additional 1,200 in 2011. If you would like to learn more about Dress for Success in Indianapolis and its programs, please visit its website at: http://www.dressforsuccess.org/affiliate.aspx?sisid=31&pageid=18
Posted by Krista Taggart, Associate in Benesch’s Business Reorganization Practice Group
What Women Lawyers Really Think of Each Other We asked who they’d rather work with—men or women. The answers were surprising
By Stephanie Francis Ward, ABA Journal News Now
Would women lawyers prefer to work with men or other women? The answer may depend on the age of the female lawyer you’re asking, an ABA Journal survey has found.
Of more than 1,400 respondents who answered the question, 58 percent said the gender of their colleagues made no difference, while 42 percent expressed a preference for working either with men or women.
Female supervisors age 40 and over who said gender mattered to them preferred working with women. About 80 percent said female lawyers take direction better, take constructive criticism better (59 percent) and have more discretion (79 percent).
But younger female attorneys who are following in the footsteps of that trailblazing generation don’t hold their older colleagues in such high regard. Among female lawyers under 40 who thought gender matters, 58 percent said male supervisors give better direction, give more constructive criticism (56 percent) and are better at keeping confidential information private (64 percent).
A total of 4,449 individuals who identified themselves as female attorneys answered all or part of the survey. The survey was co-authored by Linda Marks, director of the Center for WorkLife Law at the University of California’s Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco.
Why do opinions about the role of gender in the workplace depend on the age of the female attorney?
Some experts cite generational tension: Female lawyers entering the profession often don’t want to make the same personal sacrifices as their predecessors, and they question whether such sacrifices are even necessary to succeed. Senior women may not understand this mindset, much less realize that the playing field has changed, experts suggest. And that can block useful dialogue.
“I’m concerned that more senior women don’t fully understand the profound demographic changes taking place,” says Lauren Stiller Rikleen. A senior partner at Bowditch & Dewey in Framingham, Mass., she advises law firms about workplace issues. She also wrote Ending the Gauntlet: Removing Barriers to Women’s Success in the Law.
Rikleen says female partners often tell her that there will always be associates who, like themselves, will sacrifice their personal lives for successful careers. But she says younger men are also less willing to make the personal sacrifices of their predecessors.
“It’s not purely gender-based,” says Rikleen, a member of the American Bar Association’s Commission on Women in the Profession. “That says to me that if I’m a leader of a workplace, I need to think about what’s happening here in the future—and how to position this place.”
When Rikleen talks to younger women lawyers, she says, they’re often relieved that she understands their complaints. Women closer to her age are often surprised that she doesn’t share their perspective.
Arin Reeves, a Chicago lawyer who focuses on diversity consulting, also sees differing views between women younger than 35 and those older than 45. She mentions that when female partners develop a women’s initiative, the female associates generally don’t find it useful.
“There’s no such thing anymore of all the women being in the same boat, who need a particular set of strategies to be kept afloat. Now that women have a lot more models to choose from, they are becoming more selective as to which women they identify with.”
Women can be one another’s best advocates, but senior women lawyers need to understand that younger women can build careers differently, says Deborah Epstein Henry, an attorney who advises law firms on the retention and promotion of female lawyers. And younger women, Henry says, need to think about how they can have better relationships with senior female lawyers.
“They don’t have to be a role model in every capacity, but the junior women can select different things from different people,” Henry says. Her company, Flex-Time Lawyers, has chapters in New York City and Philadelphia, where members meet to network, share information and effect change in the workplace. “I really do believe that women need to move away from placing judgment on other women,” she says, “and accept more diversity among ourselves.”
Click here for full article: http://theadvocates.com/news/WhatWomenLawyersReallyThinkofEachOther.php
Benesch
beneschwomen 