Blog #39

English’s “re-imagining the Future” outlines several organization initiatives that need to occur before work/life balance can be obtained and equality among men and women is gained in the legal profession.
She starts by pointing out that the “expectation gap” is to be narrowed down. This can be done by offering a “realistic assessment about the status of gender issues in the profession, tempering disappointment of any perceived lack of progress with the realization that stereotypes don’t disappear overnight, and that one generation is a short time for major social change”. This means to not dwell on the problems, but more so to look upwards, toward the future and those changes cannot be instant and take much time. She also points out that this re-calibrated understanding shouldn’t be an argument for abandoning efforts to influence change that are already in effect, but rather address the question of how change can be pursued profitably. This means that we should ignore the leaps made in the past, but to alter them into being more effective. There is a need of a common set of principles to bracket discussion. This is because it is hard to talk about victims without pointing out the “bad guys”. The final and what I believe the most significant technique that needs to be articulated is the vision of the future. Usually these visions have been displayed in numbers. She exemplifies this as being “more women partners, more women general counsel, and more women in leadership.” But this goal does not need to focus strictly on women because it may alienate men. The benefits need to be produced for both genders.
English describes that these new goals cannot be adjusted until the first principles about how best to deliver legal services (who/what makes a good lawyer, the best way to manage a workplace and the most effective way to deal with the intersection between personal and professional lives) are addressed.
I very much agree with her idea that a different, more flexible view of “commitment” to work during a person’s life span should be re-evaluated. “Rather than viewing every new lawyer as a potential lifer, working day in and day out, this vision assumes from the start that there may be times in people’s lives that they need to expand and contract their work schedules.”