WASHINGTON, D.C. April 26 (DPI) – A young lawyer who worked for a major US firm in Qatar for two years took to Reddit today, answering questions in an “Ask Me Anything” forum that raised some questions about Big Law’s role in the global economy as well as the ongoing treatment of women lawyers. Bottom line? Things are a lot worse for women in the rest of the world.
The AMA guest described herself as a “burned out international lawyer” who had worked in commercial litigation and arbitrations in Doha, Qatar, and quit the profession to launch a start-up. The lawyer describes a hyper-growth-oriented but ultra-conservative Middle Eastern culture that made life difficult for foreign women. In her intro:
For the past 9 years I have been a partner-track associate at a Big Law firm. They sent me to Doha for the past 2.5 years. While there, I worked on some amazing projects and was in the most elite of practice groups. I had my second son. I witnessed a society that had the most extreme rich:poor divide you could imagine. I met people who considered other people to be of less human worth. I helped a poor mother get deported after she spent 3 years in jail for having a baby out of wedlock, arrested at the hospital and put in jail with her baby. I became disgusted by luxury lifestyle and lawyers who would give anything and everything to make millions. I encountered blatant gender discrimination, sexual harassment, and a very clear glass ceiling. Having a baby apparently makes you worth less as a lawyer. While overseas, I became inspired to start a company making boy dolls after I couldn’t find any cool ones for my own sons. So I hired my sister to start a company that I would direct. Complete divergence from my line of work, I know, but I was convinced this would be a great niche business. As a lawyer, I was working sometimes 300 hours in a month and missing my kids all the time. I felt guilty for spending any time not firm related. In ever had a vacation where I did not work. I missed my dear grandmother’s funeral in December. In March I made the final decision that this could not last. There must be a better way. So I resigned. And now I am sitting in my mother’s living room, having moved the whole family in temporarily – I have not lived with my mother since I was 17. I have moved out of Qatar. I have given up my very nice salary. I have no real plans except I am joining my sister to build my company. And I’m feeling a bit surreal and possibly insane for having given it up.
https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/4gi04u/iama_burned_out_international_lawyer_just/
Several of the issues the lawyer touched on suggested that Big Law – in the US, and the world over – is an increasingly isolated segment of the profession, as well as one that maneuvers carefully in a global economy full of bad actors. Moreover, while Big Law attracts great minds and compensates them well, the pay disparity with the rest of the profession is striking – and growing. This graph was included in the Reddit string:
http://www.nalp.org/uploads/research_images/DistributionCurve2014.jpg
