On Demand
Audio
Ending the Discriminatory Consequences of Age Bias in the Legal Profession
Produced on March 15, 2018
Course Information
Course Description
In this program, Andrea S. Kramer (“Andie”) and Alton B. Harris (“Al”) begin by explaining the nature and operation of age stereotypes – those about both younger and older lawyers. They discuss how these stereotypes result in discriminatory biases against persons at both ends of the age spectrum. They convincingly explain why it is so important for legal organizations to combat age discrimination. Next, they present a series of effective, practical practices, policies, and techniques that legal organizations can use to eliminate age bias and improve generational harmony. They also review the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, the status of litigation under this Act, and the likely impact of ABA Model Rule 8.4(g) on age discrimination.
Married to each other, Andie and Al have been working together for more than 30 years to promote gender equality in the workplace. Their writing, speaking, and mentoring all have as their objective helping women, men, and organizations to recognize and eliminate the discriminatory consequences of stereotype bias of all sorts, including gender, racial, and age.
Learning Objectives:
- Analyze the nature and operation of age stereotypes and the biases that flow from them
- Examine how these age biases limit career opportunities for both older and younger lawyers
- Recognize how gender stereotypes interact with age stereotypes to particularly disadvantage women lawyers over 45 years old
- Come away with practical, effective techniques and practices that will allow you and your legal organization to eliminate the discriminatory consequences of age bias
Credit Information
Faculty
Andrea S. Kramer
McDermott Will & Emery LLP
Andie has vigorously worked to remove discriminatory barriers to women’s career advancement for over 30 years. Despite her successful and demanding legal practice, Andie has helped thousands of women navigate both obvious and subtle gender-based obstacles to successful careers. Her keen insights into the nature and operation of gender bias and her pragmatic techniques for avoiding or overcoming these obstacles have made her a nationally recognized authority on gender discrimination, the nature and operation of stereotypes and biases, and practices and policies to increase women’s leadership opportunities.
Andie is the co-author, with her husband, Al Harris, of Breaking Through Bias: Communication Techniques for Women to Succeed at Work (2016) and It’s Not You It’s the Workplace, Women’s Conflicts at Work and the Bias that Built It (August 2019). She is a co-author of the American Bar Association’s guide “What You Need to Know About Negotiating Compensation.” She has written hundreds of articles and blog posts, and she’s a Forbes contributor.
Andie is a partner in an international law firm where she was the first chair of its Gender Diversity Committee and now takes great pride that her firm has recently been named one of the “10 Best Big Law Firms for Female Attorneys.” She was named one of the 50 Most Influential Women Lawyers in America by the National Law Journal for her “demonstrated power to change the legal landscape, shape public affairs, launch industries, and do big things.” She also received the Founders Award from the Chicago Bar Association, the Women with Vision Award from the Women's Bar Association of Illinois, the Inspiration Award from the Coalition of Women in Law Initiatives, and was named the 2014 Gender Diversity Private Practice Lawyer of the Year by ChambersUSA for her outstanding contributions to furthering the advancement of women in law.
Andie is a dynamic, inspirational speaker who conducts workshops around the country on gender, bias, communication, and workplace relationships. She draws on her research, work advocating for women, and professional experiences to provide realistic, detailed, and readily usable advice. More about Andie, her writing, and her upcoming speaking engagements can be found at www.AndieandAl.com.
Alton B. Harris
Nixon Peabody
Al was a founding partner of a Chicago law firm that, having grown from five lawyers to 125 lawyers, merged into a much larger national law firm. Al served for many years as managing partner and then as a member of its Executive and Compensation Committees. In these roles, he had extensive experience mentoring and advising women in many career fields.
Over the course of his career, Al has grown increasingly concerned about the barriers and biases women face in gendered workplaces, characterized by masculine norms, values, and expectations. Al’s extensive research, astute observations, and pragmatic voice have made him a nationally recognized advocate for women’s career advancement.
Al focuses on the communication skills women need to advance in their chosen fields, despite the prevalence of negative gender stereotypes. A frequent lecturer and keynote speaker, Al speaks to women about what male colleagues expect from future leaders, offering creative ideas and useful techniques for women to be seen as talented leaders. Al also speaks to organizations about the negative effect that gender bias has on their organizations, providing practical steps to eliminate gender bias.
Al is author with his wife, Andie Kramer, of the book Breaking Through Bias: Communication Techniques for Women to Succeed at Work, which was named one of the best business books of 2016 by Women@Work and “a well-organized, well-thought-out call to action: by Publishers Weekly. Their second book, It’s Not You, It’s the Workplace: Women’s Conflict at Work at the Bias that Built It was released in August 2019. He is the coauthor over 175 articles and blog posts on promoting diversity and overcoming stereotypes and biases.
Reviews
the "BUT FOR" rule is very helpful in evaluating the merits of a claim of age discrimination.
These presenters were great!
As an older nationally certified paralegal, I know too well of the biases against older persons in the workforce, but I agree it can be demonstrated against young ones too.
Made many good points.
Very good presentation
Excellent lecture. Definitely raised awareness of the issues and how to approach them.
Well done.
This was very informative. Thank you
As a 55 year old female attorney, this course was extremely relevant. Thank you.
Interesting topic.
Excellent content and helpful suggestions
Extremely interesting and informative.
Good presentation.
Thought provoking for sure. And certainly some practical methods for improving a systemically discriminatory profession. - such an important topic!!
Thanks to the presenters for keeping this relevant and interesting.
excellent program, speakers were extremely good, presentation was well thought out
Very good, well-presented, timely!
Well done. Thoughtful presentation.
Really enjoy you two - thank you.
Great course and got me thinking about age bias which is just as important to tackle as some of the other biases that are out there including intersectionality bias.
As an older attorney myself, I found the discussion very interesting.
It's a difficult problem to address especially since compelling enforcement will engender anger and increase a sense of false entitlement about those helped by the rules.
Good topic for CLE. Hope there are more like this dealing with other forms of discrimination in the profession. Thanks.
Interesting topic I hadn't considered. Well presented.
Age bias is an important topic.
Very practical and extremely thorough for the little over an hour aloted for the program.
Very good team and interesting perspectives
Excellent presentation.
Very informative
Really interesting program, good speakers.
Loved that many things I'd not thought of were covered.
Great interaction between presenters
Great information and examples.
VERY, Very interesting. I really enjoyed this
Thought provoking topic.
Good discussion on issues to look out for in the workplace where there is an ever widening culture gap between younger and older workers.
good discussion of an important topic (also loved the animals)
This was one of the best programs I’ve seen on Lawline.
One of the best I have seen. Excellent!
Terrific presenters!
Adequate and artful.
I liked the setting that the two people were discussing the issues. Very well done.
Very eye opening! Thanks.
Very clear and well presented, interesting content, very relevant.
Very informative program
Very interesting!
Awesome -- absolutely the only coverage I've seen on such an important topic!
Excellent program content and presentation!
Very informative Good speakers
Great job! Good ideas for both younger and older attorneys.
They work very well together.
Excellent presenters; solid and useful suggestions; practical approaches to real-world, challenging situations
Excellent grasp of the topic. Well presented. Worked together nicely.
Very well done.
Very well done!
Both instructors were very thoughtful and informative.
Instructors were very good.
Quite a good overview.
Thank you.
Like having two instructors
Engaging, informative and timely - thank you!
This was a good update on ageism issues.
Excellent!
well done
helpful tips about unconscious bias.
The presenters were very engaging and kept the topic interesting.
Great course.
Great format. A pleasure to watch.
Surprisingly interesting!
good
Great
Thank you for this course.
Good presentation.
I'm old ( lol ) good program
really great content
Great topic
Good course.
Excellent class. Thought provoking., but excellent.
I thought both speakers were excellent and provided ample balance to the discussion.
Very nicely presented.
Very interesting and informative, good presenters.
Very informative.
Two speakers are better than one. Excellent program. Great slides
Very interesting - as I am now an older lawyer.
Helpful course.
Excellent course.
well presented with good explanations
Excellent content, and very easy to listen to these presenters!
Excellent blend of policy oriented and practical considerations.
Very engaging presenters who handled an interesting topic well.
very good
well done
very good
Informative presentation.
Extremely thorough and timely
The statistics were used effectively to support the course content.
Andy is always amazing!
This program raised some interesting issues that are normally ignored.
Excellent
Raised many interesting issues.
This topic is pertinent and extremely important. Thank you! Great presentation.
Very thought-provoking. As I am a much older member of the bar, we should never forget the immortal words of Pogo: "We have met the enemy, and he is us!"
awesome!
Excellent speakers - I learned a great amount.
Excellent
Very interesting.
Very thought-provoking about the relative perspectives of the various generations.
Basic, clear, well-organized, personable, good points, excellent conclusion/summary
I appreciate the information shared. As someone who was admitted to practice at the age of 59, and as a former director of a large research department, everything they said rang true, both with regard to youth and seniority.
Unusual and useful presentation
Surprisingly informative and pleasant. And and Al are knowledgeable and interesting!! Thank you.
Good instructor tag-team chemistry.
Excellent
Very relevant for me.
I really enjoyed their dialogue, and their ability to present different perspectives, disagree where necessary, etc.
Great discussion
Thank you.
A solid presentation. Gave helpful tips.
great presentation on this topic
Remember what happened to Google's engineer James Damore, when he gave an an intellectual serious opinion? Therefore, I fully believe 100% with this and all legal ethics re-education. I am looking forward to being indoctrinated in the future.
Interesting presentation.
Great course and well taught.
Excellent course. Very thought provoking.
Great presentation!
Thought provoking
Very informative
This was the best course I watched. Having two people made it very engaging. They were also talking to each other and it was a conversation style. Not boring at all
Good refresher!
A great course. I wasn’t expecting a lot from this course, but my appreciation grew as I got into it. Keep these people around.
Both lawyers were outstanding!
Very important subject that does not receive enough attention. Great presentation!
Excellent course instructors and content.
Very interesting and well presented.
Good concise coverage.
very good presenters, and good balance between law and practical discussion of applications of law
It was nice to see two speakers on this topic, and they interacted to keep it interesting.
Good content.
Great presentation!! Slides were interesting and presenters were very knowledgeable.
This was an excellent program dealing with age discrimination in the legal profession. As an older attorney, I became a solo practitioner in the field of "elder law" in my late 50s and it was the right move for me. I found that older attorneys who find themselves looking for a job face age discrimination and an attorney, without a large book of business, should begin planning for alternatives when they reach their early to mid-50s if they don't want to retire as retooling of knowledge and skills most likely will be necessary. Being a solo in a field that respects my age solved the problem of ageism for me.
Interesting program with many practical suggestions. Also, it was nice to hear from Chicago-based instructors.
helpful and informative class
Good program
This program got me thinking about age discrimination in ways that I had not considered before. It certainly made me much more aware of the problems faced by older professional women, and provided strategies for thinking and behaving in ways that would lessen my own tendency to discriminate, and for coping with the discrimination I face in the profession.
Excellent coverage of age-related issues
This was an outstanding live webinar! Ms. Kramer and Mr. Harris are to be commended for presenting such an in-depth program in 1 hour.
Andrea S. Kramer and Alton B. Harris are a perfect team. This is my first webinar, but it won't be my last. I will be on the lookout for presentations by this team.