MinnLawyer Blog

Kim Schmid became Bowman & Brooke's managing partner on Feb. 1

A couple of years back, it was proudly proclaimed that women had reached equality in attending law school. In 2001, the American Bar Association reported that 49 percent of entering law students were women. A few years later, it was announced for the first time there would be more women than men entering law school. There is some irony that, at the exact moment in history women have reached parity in becoming lawyers, the bottom has fallen out of the job market for new law grads and entering salaries appear to be on the decline. (Conspiracy theorists, you  may talk among yourselves now.)

Few people would seriously connect these things. New lawyers’ bleak job prospects are a byproduct of the down economy and a saturation of the market rather than a gender equality issue. The upshot is that both men and women now have the equal right to be unemployed with six-figure student debt loads.

Despite the parity in the number of male and female lawyers entering the legal profession these days (or at least trying to), a lot has been written on the unbalanced gender makeups of law firm governance and other leadership committees, which on the whole remain predominantly male. Locally, the Minnesota State Bar Association has pointed this out time and time again in reports looking at gender-equity in the profession.

The top position in a law firm is that of managing partner, and a handful of mid- to large-sized Minnesota firms have now had women as their current or past managing partners. Among this group are Dorsey & Whitney (Marianne Short), Gray Plant Mooty (Tamera Hjelle Olsen) and the Maslon firm (Terri Krivosha). On Feb. 1, a new name was added to this small, but prestigious list: Kim Schmid became the managing parter of Bowman and Brooke. Here’s a statement of Schmid’s bio from the press release making the announcement:

In her 22nd year at Bowman and Brooke, Schmid focuses her practice on defending companies in drug and medical device litigation in courts across the country, serving as national coordinating counsel and regional counsel. She has written articles and presented at national seminars on issues relating to the drug and medical device industry. In addition to her defense litigation practice, she advises her clients on FDA regulatory compliance and reporting requirements.

It’s great to see a well-qualified woman such as Schmid take the helm of a major local firm — and likewise good to see the growing number of women getting the top spot. But, just from the fact that this is still big news, we can glean that a lot more remains to be done. With law firms reassessing their models in light of the current economy, there’s no better time to look at gender differentials in rising through the law firm ranks and what can be done about them. The same old way of doing business just doesn’t cut it anymore.