Lawyers, Guns and Money

Oh my goodness, I have to tell you all about the STRANGEST dream I had. See, I went to Notre Dame, graduated with honors, went to law school (!), was on law review, was on editorial board for law review, got a good job, AND passed the bar in two states. Now this is just crazy talk because I'm a girl. And we ALL know that girls can't be lawyers. Silly silly dream. Thank goodness I woke up and was reminded at work that I there is NO POSSIBLE WAY I could be a lawyer. Thank goodness for that legal assistant who asked me if the lawyer would be filing an amended petition and to let her know what *HE* decides to do. Oh, silly me, I thought I filed that petition. Those dreams--so lifelike! It even looked like my signature on that petition!

Oh. Wait. It WAS my signature. And my bar number. And my name. Hmmm, maybe girls can be lawyers after all?

In case you are wondering what's going on, I filed a petition last week. Today, one of the defendants asked why they were served. The legal assistant defintely used the masculine pronoun when referring to the attorney. This really ticked me off. First, my signature is pretty legible. And my name was typed under my signature. And "Attorneys for the plaintiff" was typed below that. It is really offensive to me that someone automatically assumes when speaking to me that I am not the attorney. And how on earth am I supposed to fix this problem without coming off as a pretentious wench? I'm sure some of you think I'm overreacting. However, keep in mind that this is certainly NOT the first time this has happened to me, and I've only been practicing for two years! Maybe things are more progressive on the coasts, but here there is an assumption that a woman in a legal career is the paralegal or assistant, NOT the attorney. This makes me incredibly sad because what does that say about our world? I am just as capable as any man, a fact that I feel I have proven again and again and again and again. Why do I have to keep fighting this battle?

I know life's not fair, but really, all I want is a fighting chance. I just want to start at the same level as my male colleagues. Just once, I'd like to pick up the phone and not have to overcome the assumption that a female voice means the caller can't possibly be a lawyer.