Gender Trials: Emotional Lives in Contemporary Law FirmsThis engaging ethnography examines the gendered nature of today's large corporate law firms. Although increasing numbers of women have become lawyers in the past decade, Jennifer Pierce discovers that the double standards and sexist attitudes of legal bureaucracies are a continuing problem for women lawyers and paralegals. Working as a paralegal, Pierce did ethnographic research in two law offices, and her depiction of the legal world is quite unlike the glamorized version seen on television. Pierce tellingly portrays the dilemma that female attorneys face: a woman using tough, aggressive tactics—the ideal combative litigator—is often regarded as brash or even obnoxious by her male colleagues. Yet any lack of toughness would mark her as ineffective. Women paralegals also face a double bind in corporate law firms. While lawyers depend on paralegals for important work, they also expect these women—for most paralegals are women—to nurture them and affirm their superior status in the office hierarchy. Paralegals who mother their bosses experience increasing personal exploitation, while those who do not face criticism and professional sanction. Male paralegals, Pierce finds, do not encounter the same difficulties that female paralegals do. Pierce argues that this gendered division of labor benefits men politically, economically, and personally. However, she finds that women lawyers and paralegals develop creative strategies for resisting and disrupting the male-dominated status quo. Her lively narrative and well-argued analysis will be welcomed by anyone interested in today's gender politics and business culture. |
From inside the book
Page 15
... lawyers but actually accomplishable by workers who do not have law degrees ( Nelson 1988 ; Johnstone and Wenglinsky 1985 ) . Like other semi - professional occupations , this one is ... opposing counsel Gendering Occupations in Law Firms 15.
... lawyers but actually accomplishable by workers who do not have law degrees ( Nelson 1988 ; Johnstone and Wenglinsky 1985 ) . Like other semi - professional occupations , this one is ... opposing counsel Gendering Occupations in Law Firms 15.
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... opposing counsel . As a consequence , emotional labor is a substantial part of their job . Psychologist Isaiah Zimmerman ( 1983 ) observes that what is most stressful for litigators is keeping their own feelings in check while trying to ...
... opposing counsel . As a consequence , emotional labor is a substantial part of their job . Psychologist Isaiah Zimmerman ( 1983 ) observes that what is most stressful for litigators is keeping their own feelings in check while trying to ...
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Contents
| 1 | |
The Gendered Organizational Structure of Large Law Firms | 26 |
Rambo Litigators Emotional Labor in a Male Dominated Job | 50 |
Mothering Paralegals Emotional Labor in a Feminized Occupation | 83 |
Women and Men as Litigators Gender Differences on the Job | 103 |
Gendering Consent and Resistance in Paralegal Work | 143 |
Conclusion | 176 |
Articulating the Self in Field Research | 189 |
Lawyer Jokes | 215 |
Notes | 217 |
References | 231 |
Index | 253 |
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Gender Trials: Emotional Lives in Contemporary Law Firms Jennifer L. Pierce No preview available - 1995 |
Common terms and phrases
adversarial model adversarial role African American aggressive American Bar Association argues asked attor behavior Bonhomie Corporation boss Chapter Chodorow clients courtroom Cravath cross-examination culture Debbie deference described division of labor double bind emotional labor example feeling rules female paralegals feminine feminist feminized feminized occupation fieldwork gamesmanship gender identity interactions interview intimidation Jenna jury Kanter L.A. Law labor process large law firms law firms law school legal assistants legal department legal profession legal secretaries legal workers litigation Lyman and Portia male attorneys male paralegals masculine Michael mother National Law Journal nice norms opposing counsel paralegals and secretaries participant observation partner percent practice private firm professional psychoanalytic questions reassuring relations relationship sex segregation sexual harassment smile social Sociology status strategic friendliness strategy structure suggests talk theory tion tional told trial lawyers witness woman women lawyers women paralegals workplace York
Popular passages
Page 61 - requires the greatest ingenuity ; a habit of logical thought ; clearness of perception in general; infinite patience and selfcontrol; power to read men's minds intuitively, to judge of their characters by their faces, to appreciate their motives; ability to act with force and precision; a masterful knowledge of the subject-matter itself; an extreme caution; and, above all, the instinct to discover the weak point in the witness under examination.
Page 30 - To say that an organization, or any other analytic unit, is gendered means that advantage and disadvantage, exploitation and control, action and emotion, meaning and identity, are patterned through and in terms of a distinction between male and female, masculine and feminine.
Page 11 - ... hypersymbiotic" relationship. These mothers, then, perpetuate a mutual relationship with their daughters of both primary identification and infantile dependence. A son's case is different. Cultural evidence suggests that insofar as a mother treats her son differently, it is usually by emphasizing his masculinity in opposition to herself and by pushing him to assume, or acquiescing in his assumption of, a sexually toned male-role relation to her. Whiting (1959) and Whiting et al. (1958) suggest...
Page 55 - He pauses, blushes. . . [but seldom regains] control of the witness. With the really experienced trial lawyer, such answers, instead of appearing to surprise or disconcert him, will seem to come as a matter of course, and will fall perfectly flat. He will proceed with the next question as if nothing happened, or else perhaps give the witness an incredulous smile, as if to say, "Who do you suppose would believe that for a minute?
Page 54 - That means that the issue which we typically submit to juries is an issue which the jury cannot decide by the exercise of its reason. The decision of an issue of fact in cases of closely balanced probabilities, therefore, must, in the nature of things, be an emotional rather than a rational act; and the rules regulating that stage of a trial which we call the stage of persuasion, the stage when lawyers sum up to a jury, recognize that distinction.
Page 7 - Emotional labor requires one to induce or suppress feeling in order to sustain the outward countenance that produces the proper state of mind in others — in this case, the sense of being cared for in a convivial and safe place.
Page 9 - ... is gendered means that advantage and disadvantage, exploitation and control, action and emotion, meaning and identity, are patterned through and in terms of a distinction between male and female, masculine and feminine. Gender is not an addition to ongoing processes, conceived as gender neutral. Rather, it is an integral part of those processes, which cannot be properly understood without an analysis of gender (Connell 1987; West and Zimmerman 1987).
Page 11 - Mothers tend to experience their daughters as more like, and more continuous with, themselves, while experiencing their sons as opposites whose continuity with the mother must be ended to achieve adulthood.
Page 71 - ... or made an inquiry ; wooing them all the time with his magnetic glances as a lover might woo his mistress ; seeming to preside over the whole scene with an air of easy superiority ; exercising from the very first moment an indefinable sway and influence upon the minds of all before and around him. His manner to the jury was that of a friend, a friend solicitous to help them through their tedious investigation ; never that of an expert combatant, intent on victory, and looking upon them as only...