Sex Discrimination and Law Firm Culture on the Internet Sex Discrimination and Law Firm Culture on the Internet Lawyers at the Information Age Watercooler Amanda K. Baumle SEX DISCRIMINATION AND LAW FIRM CULTURE ON THE INTERNET Copyright © Amanda K. Baumle, 2009. Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2009 All rights reserved. First published in 2009 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN® in the United States—a division of St. Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world, this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above c ompanies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-37780-0 ISBN 978-0-230-62220-3 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-0-230-62220-3 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Baumle, Amanda K. Sex discrimination and law firm culture on the internet : lawyers at the information age watercooler / by Amanda K. Baumle. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-230-61325-6 1. Women lawyers—United States. 2. Sex discrimination against women—United States. 3. Law firms—Social aspects—United States. 4. Sex role in the work environment—United States. 5. Internet—Social aspects. I. Title. KF299.W6B38 2009 340.08290973—dc22 2008049763 A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library. Design by Newgen Imaging Systems (P) Ltd., Chennai, India. First edition: June 2009 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Contents List of Figures and Tables vii Acknowledgments ix 1 Introduction 1 2 Methods—Exploring an Internet Community 11 3 Gender Inequality in the Legal Practice 47 4 The Dispute Process in the Greedy Associates Community 81 5 Employing Litigation to Redress Gender Inequality 107 6 L awyers Using Legal Discourse to Challenge Gender Discrimination 131 7 Conclusion 157 Notes 181 References 185 Index 191 List of Figures and Tables Figures 2.1 Home page 15 2.2 Message thread 16 2.3 Registration 24 2.4 Post a message 26 7.1 Multilevel interactions involved in attorneys’ claims to rights 158 Tables 2.1 G ender of community members posting during one week 30 3.1 Percentage of women and men in legal occupations, 2000 54 4.1 R esponses to sexual harassment claims by gender 98 5.1 Summary of discrimination cases 112 Acknowledgments During my graduate study of qualitative methods, I took one of the basic premises of ethnographic research to heart and made the decision to study “what I know,” that is, the legal practice. From the work conducted within my graduate program, I began to build the founda- tion for the research that was to become this manuscript. Dr. Sarah Gatson’s guidance throughout this work was invaluable, due in large part to her extensive knowledge and experience in conducting research in the areas of law and society, Internet ethnography, and gender inequality. I would also like to thank Dr. Gatson for demonstrating that it is possible to transform intellectual queries made during the course of everyday activities into exciting, scholarly work. In addition, I would like to thank Dr. Dudley L. Poston, Jr., Dr. Mark Fossett, Dr. Barbara Sharf, Dr. Nancy Plankey Videla, and Dr. Joan Manley. These individuals served on my dissertation committee, out of which this research emerged. They provided valuable insight into issues related to gender and work, definitions of discrimination, Internet ethnography, and qualitative research methods. I appreciate their candor and thoughtful suggestions, which served to strengthen this work. I would also like to extend my thanks to the editors at Palgrave Macmillan, Julia Cohen and Luba Ostashevsky, x ACKNOWLEDGMENTS and the individuals selected as reviewers of this book. The editors’ and reviewers’ comments and suggestions resulted in improved clarity and academic quality. I would like to attribute credit to shearmanditched, a member of the Greedy Associates community, for coining the phrase used in the subtitle of this book: “Lawyers at the Information Age Watercooler” (shearmanditched, 9783, 12/14/01). The artwork used for the cover of this book, “Mrs. Clinton at Work in Washington”, was designed by Brian Piana and depicts an artistic interpretation of Senator Hillary Clinton’s Web site; it was selected due to its focus on an Internet Web site and a woman attorney—two sub- jects of this work. I would also like to acknowledge and give thanks for the support and advice provided by my friends, fellow graduate students, faculty, and staff in the Department of Sociology at Texas A&M University. Finally, I would like to give special thanks to my hus- band, Larry, for his love and support during the course of this work. 1 Introduction During my second year practicing law, I had the opportunity to depose my first witness. Dressed in a conservative black suit and carrying files and a briefcase, I arrived at the office of opposing counsel. The reception- ist directed me to the appropriate conference room, and I soon struck up a conversation with the court reporter about the upcoming deposition. One of the opposing attor- neys working on the case came by the office to determine whether the deposition was ready to proceed. He turned toward me and, as I stretched out my hand to introduce myself, he asked: “Are you the court reporter’s sister? Did you come to watch her work?” I was flustered and, at first, attributed his assumption to the fact that I was young and perhaps did not look of age to be an attorney. When I reconsidered the incident later that day, however, I realized that his conclusion had at least as much to do with my sex as with my age. Had the opposing counsel found a young man in the deposition room, dressed in a suit and surrounded by paperwork, it is improbable that he would have assumed that the court reporter’s brother had accompanied her to learn about her work. This attorney, like many others, appeared to view women in the legal profession as secretaries, paralegals, or 2 SEX DISCRIMINATION AND LAW FIRM CULTURE court reporters by default, and attorneys and judges only upon further offer of proof. The challenges facing women lawyers are noticeably engrained at many levels, to such an extent that a woman must, at times, establish her iden- tity as an attorney, much less as a competent one. During my time practicing law, and since I left the law to pursue a career in academia, I learned of many inci- dents similar to this one—circumstances in which women lawyers encountered unique obstacles to their success compared to their male colleagues. Some of these experi- ences, such as my encounter with opposing counsel, sim- ply reveal the male-dominated nature of the legal practice. These incidents are not actionable in a court of law, but can nonetheless influence interactions between opposing counsels, colleagues, and judges; at times, these influences can create additional barriers to success for women attor- neys when handling a legal case. Other experiences, how- ever, do constitute situations that are potential violations of state or federal antidiscrimination laws, including sex discrimination and sexual harassment. Prior research has repeatedly documented the existence of gender inequality, discrimination, and harassment in the legal profession, an occupation that remains male- dominated both in terms of numbers and organizational culture (Pierce 1995; Rosenberg, Perlstadt, and Phillips 1993; Epstein 1970). Gender stereotyping, sex discrimi- nation, and sexual harassment are all actionable under Title VII of the United States Civil Rights Act of 1965, as well as under many state laws. Despite the availability of legal remedies, however, women attorneys rarely sue their employers and often do not challenge discriminatory behavior. This book explores this seemingly contradictory situation, where lawyers fail to employ the legal system