Prestigious Law Firm Sends Condescending and Sexist Memo to Female Attorneys

Law firm Clifford Chance has apparently distributed a memo to female attorneys outlining presentation tips that many are blasting as a sexist throwback to the 1950’s.

It suggests, for example, that female attorneys should:

  • Avoid using “Um”, “Uh”, “You Know”, and “Like”;
  • Not show cleavage;
  • Ensure that “[i]f wearing a skirt, make sure audience can’t see up it when sitting on the dais”;
  • “Lose the quirky mannerisms that are so charming to those who do know you”;
  • “Use a relaxed, open throat, breathe from the abdomen & keep your mouth open”; and
  • “Wear a suit, not your party outfit.”

According to Above the Law, one Clifford Chance female associate said in an email that, not surprisingly,

female associates are very upset by not only the elementary nature of the tips themselves, but the suggestion that these would only apply to women. We have never been a very female friendly firm, but this is beyond the pale.

The fact that the firm found it necessary to “advise” female attorneys – who have completed seven years of higher education and taken and passed at least one bar examination – not to wear a “party outfit” during a formal presentation is condescending in the extreme.

Federal, state, and city laws prevent discrimination on the basis of sex/gender, and the reference to (e.g.) cleavage indicates that this memo was directed to women only.  It is only a matter of time before this ends up as an exhibit in a discrimination lawsuit.

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