Gender Trials: Emotional Lives in Contemporary Law Firms

Gender Trials: Emotional Lives in Contemporary Law Firms

This 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 tacticsâ€”the ideal combative litigatorâ€”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 womenâ€”for most paralegals are womenâ€”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.
Country USA
Manufacturer University of California Press
Binding Kindle Edition
ReleaseDate 1996-02-15
Format Kindle eBook

Country	USA
Manufacturer	University of California Press
Binding	Kindle Edition
ReleaseDate	1996-02-15
Format	Kindle eBook

Gender Trials: Emotional Lives in Contemporary Law Firms

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