What Legal Organizations Can Do to Get More Senior Women Leaders

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.

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.