Table Of ContentGENDER IN PRACTICE
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GENDER IN PRACTICE
A STUDY OF
LAWYERS' LIVES
John Hagan
Fiona Kay
New York Oxford
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
1995
Oxford University Press
Oxford New York
Athens Auckland Bangkok Bombay
Calcutta Cape Town Dar es Salaam Delhi
Florence Hong Kong Istanbul Karachi
Kuala Lumpur Madras Madrid Melbourne
Mexico City Nan-obi Paris Singapore
Taipei Tokyo Toronto
and associated companies in
Berlin Ibadan
Copyright © 1995 by Oxford University Press, Inc.
Published by Oxford University Press, Inc.,
200 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016
Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise,
without the prior permission of Oxford University Press.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Hagan, John, 1946-
Gender in practice : a study of lawyers' lives / John Hagan and Fiona Kay.
p. cm.
includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-19-509282-1
1. Women lawyers—Canada. 2. Women lawyers—United States. I. Kay, Fiona. II. Title.
KE332.W6H34 1995
349.71'082--dc20
[347.10082] 94-27128
246897531
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper
For the
Principles in Practice
of
The Honourable
Justice Bertha Wilson
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Preface and
A cknowledgements
The entry of large numbers of women into law and the growth and concen-
tration of firms are developments that demand the attention of the legal pro-
fession as well as academics. This is reflected in the appointment by bar
associations and other professional bodies of task forces and commissions
to analyze and propose changes in the organization and regulation of legal
practice. A series of issues addressed in this book — including barriers to
and ceilings on women's promotions and earnings, conflicts between careers
and family, and disappointments with and departures from legal practice —
are increasingly and intensively debated by members of the profession.
Some in the profession have adopted what we describe as a human
capital perspective on these issues, assuming that women are by choice less
committed than men to advancing their careers. Others have endorsed what
we identify as a gender stratification perspective, suggesting that what men
often perceive as choices are more accurately understood as constraints that
make women's persistent efforts to develop careers in law all the more nota-
ble. There is no perfect correlation between age and gender and these views
of legal practice, but fault lines are nonetheless clear, with a result that law
is today not simply a changing profession, but a contested profession as
well.
This book represents our efforts to better understand some of these
issues in legal practice. It hopefully makes constructive suggestions about
how human capital as well as gender stratification theories might better in-
form us about possibilities for change in the profession. If our approach to
some of these issues is in the end successfully pragmatic, it is no doubt
because of the unique and constructive counsel we received along the way in
developing our research.
viii Preface and Acknowledgements
This counsel derived from our participation in two unique profes-
sional undertakings. Hagan served as a member and Kay as a consultant for
the Canadian Bar Association's Task Force on Gender Equality in the Legal
Profession and its 1993 Report, Touchstones for Change: Equality, Diver-
sity and Accountability. The Task Force was chaired by the Honourable
Justice Bertha Wilson, to whom this volume is dedicated, and also included
Patricia Blocksom, Sophie Bourque, Daphne Dumont, Sharon Mclvor, Alec
Robertson and Her Honour Corrine Sparks. With the inspired leadership of
Justice Wilson, the Task Force provided a unique learning experience, and
its members were an invaluable sounding board for many of the ideas ex-
plored in this book.
In addition, Kay served as the author and Hagan as a consultant for a
1991 report on Transitions in the Ontario Legal Profession for the Women
in the Legal Profession Committee of the Law Society of Upper Canada.
This Committee was Chaired by Fran Kiteley and included as members
Thomas Bastedo, Denise E. Bellamy, Colin Campbell, Lee Ferrier, Ann-
Marie Stewart, Shelley R. Birenbaum, Mary A. Eberts and Mary Jane
Mossman. This distinguished group better informed us about many of the
issues addressed in this volume, and the Law Society allowed data gathered
for the Committee from across the Province of Ontario to be reanalyzed for
the present study.
Other individuals and organizations further contributed to our work.
Richard Tinsley, Secretary of the Law Society, James Spence, Treasurer of
the Law Society and Chair of the Research and Planning Committee, and
Alan Treleaven, Director of Education at the Law Society, provided gener-
ous support and assistance. So too did Denise Ashby, Meg Angevine, Andrew
Brockett, Linda Johnston and Gemma Zecchini.
The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada pro-
vided funding for two waves of data collection in the development of the
Toronto panel study of lawyers that is a focal point of this study. Patricia
Parker contributed her unique talents in administering the Toronto data col-
lection. The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council also pro-
vided Kay with a doctoral fellowship. Hagan was appointed a Killam Fel-
low for two years by the Canada Council. Melina Buckley, of the Canadian
Bar Association, was extremely helpful in facilitating many aspects of our
work. Jeff Leon and Eleanore Cronk were sources of important insights as
well as constructive scepticism. Dagmara Suszek provided invaluable as-
sistance in the preparation of the manuscript.
Preface and Acknowledgements ix
However, our greatest debt is no doubt to our respondents for answer-
ing our questions. As the pages of this book reveal, many of these hard
working lawyers took considerable time to comment at length on issues we
raised. These lawyer respondents are articulate and often eloquent spokes-
persons for their beliefs. Of course, lawyers are trained to be so. However,
along side the reality that these talents have become costly commodities, the
pages of this book also attest to a willingness of many lawyers to literally as
well as figuratively give freely of their time in thinking not only critically
but also constructively about their profession. We hereby acknowledge our
indebtedness to the lawyers who made this research possible, and at the
same time apologize for errors and omissions that may accompany our ef-
forts to fully capture their thoughts and experiences within the pages of this
book.
Toronto, Canada John Hagan
February 1995 Fiona Kay
