Scholar Speaks Out About Discrimination Against Women Lawyers
Marina Angel, an internationally known women's rights scholar and the Kate Stoneman Visiting Professor in Law and Democracy at Albany Law School, will address the topic of "Women Lawyers: The New Contingent Workforce" at the Kate Stoneman Public Lecture on Tuesday, October 17, at 5 p.m. in the West Wing of Albany Law School.
Angel will draw on her own recent research about discrimination against women in the legal profession. Her cutting edge statistical studies document the fact that women are becoming the contingent workers of law practice:
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In large firms, they increasingly occupy contract or other at-will positions rather than equity partner/shareholder positions.
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In government and corporations, they seldom occupy general counsel positions but rather attorney or lower level supervisory positions.
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Experienced women attorneys are dropping out of the profession in disproportionate numbers.
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Changes in organizational structures and reward systems must insure that the profession attracts, promotes, and fully utilizes women lawyers in our increasingly diverse society and profession.
Angel has been a faculty member at Temple University since 1978. Shortly after arriving at Temple, Angel began her extensive research on women's legal rights and the status of women in law. She documented, for the first time, the nature and the scope of sexual harassment perpetrated by judges. New proposed amendments to the ABA's Model Rules of Judicial Conduct incorporate her anti-harassment recommendations. Later, she focused on abuse and violence against women and girls and the criminal justice system's responses, analyzing the relationship between gender stereotypes and violence. She has also written and spoken extensively about discrimination against women in academia. Angel has over 30 publications to her credit. She teaches a course on Violence Against Women at Albany Law School.
The Kate Stoneman Visiting Professorship in Law and Democracy brings a nationally and internationally acclaimed legal scholar to Albany Law School for one semester to teach students critical issues in the law and democracy. The professors spend a semester or a year in research, teaching, lecturing and writing. In 1898, Katherine Stoneman became the first woman to graduate from Albany Law School. She was the first woman admitted to the practice of law in New York State.
