Kerry Berchem Speaks with Corporate Counsel Business Journal on Evolving Attitudes of Women in the Law

Corporate Counsel Business Journal has featured Akin Gump corporate partner Kerry Berchem in the article “Confront Bias, Then Provide Support.” As part of a section in the publication on “Women in Business Law,” Berchem discusses how attitudes toward female lawyers have changed throughout her career.

Berchem, who advises corporate boards on governance issues, began with an observation about the legal industry that “there is a greater and more heightened awareness that both women themselves and their firms benefit from more formalized leadership opportunities than there was 20 years ago.” Law firms, she said, “are increasingly better at acknowledging, understanding and confronting unconscious bias issues, making sure that women on a deal get the ability to lead.”

Berchem also spoke of how companies are trying to make the transition toward gender and racial diversity. While some “have assisted in raising the volume of the diversity dialogue, particularly as it relates to women on boards and women in C-suites,” not everyone, she said, “is listening to the economic data and cultural benefits of diversity, which is much more compelling than checking a box. Moreover, racial diversity continues to lag both in the boardroom and in the C-suite. People talk about diversity, but words and actions have a ways to go before becoming synonymous.”

The article then shifted to the rise of sexual harassment as a risk factor in M&A transactions. Berchem pointed out that the #MeToo movement “has created a catalyst for discussion about past bad behavior, and hopefully a prophylactic to have less bad behavior going forward, in the workplace.” (Click here to read an article she wrote on the topic.)

Berchem also addressed the role that Akin Gump has played in helping women advance professionally, including a formalized flex-time program—a recognition “that we all have a lot going on at different times, and formalizing flex plans and contract lawyer arrangements, and then mentorship and sponsorship programs,” has provided many women lawyers with the ability to go “at different paces in their career.” (Click here to learn more.) She also advised that one of the best ways to develop one’s client base is “to find your own voice and be comfortable with it.”

To read the full article, please click here.