Until 2016, it was only possible for one attorney to be listed as the person making the motion for a lawyer to be admitted to the practice of law in Tennessee. My parents and another set of parents who were both attorneys made a simple request for the rule to be changed so that both parents of a child being admitted [to the bar] could be listed on the motion. Their request was granted. I share this story as a reminder that the battle for equality is sometimes fought in inches.  — Stella Mallinak

Authors’ Note: As part of this issue’s spotlight on women in the profession, interviews were conducted with several Tennessee lawyers whose daughters followed in their footsteps. The women interviewed graduated from law school and were admitted to practice between 1976 and 2022 — a span of 46 years. As we weave their stories together, one thing is clearly gleaned from the experiences and wisdom of these women: Tennessee’s women lawyers are still fighting to move toward equality, even if the move is in inches. Our sincere thanks to Margaret Behm and Margaret Dodson, Tasha Blakney and Caroline Rogers, Linda Knight and Katherine Knight, Marlene Moses and Marissa Russ, and Helen Rogers and Stella Mallinak for their assistance with this article.

Before WWII and After Title IX

In general, the first female attorneys in this country entered the legal profession in the late 19th century. Their numbers grew very slowly after women gained the right to vote, with a bump in the number of women working as lawyers occurring during World War II when many male attorneys left the practice to join the war effort.¹ Unfortunately, many of those women lost their positions after the war ended and the men returned. Women did not enter the profession in substantial numbers until the 1970s. According to the American Bar Association (ABA), women made up just 3.4% of law school graduates in 1960, and by 1970 that number had more than doubled, to 8.6%. Over the next 10 years, there was a major wave of women entering the profession. By 1980, 34.2% of the attorneys in the country were women.² Those numbers have continued to grow, albeit incrementally.

The ABA says that women’s en masse entry into law school is widely attributed to the passage of a new law, originally known as Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972.³ It was renamed by Congress in 2002 as the Title IX — Patsy Takemoto Mink Equal Opportunity in Education Act. A belief in equality prompted U.S. Rep. Patsy Mink (D-HI) and Rep. Edith Green (D-OR) to include gender nondiscrimination into a larger education bill. Mink, of Japanese-American heritage, was the first woman of color elected to Congress and knew from personal experience the effects of race and gender discrimination. Mink was denied entry to medical school, and, switching to law, graduated as one of two women and one of two Asian Americans at the University of Chicago in 1951. But she couldn’t get a job. The effect of Title IX was astounding. After three years, regulations were in place and Title IX began doing its work. In 1970, only 10% of law students were women; by 2021, 56.26% of 1L classes were female.⁴

Nineteen women, the largest delegation of female judges ever to take office in Davidson County, were sworn in Aug. 30, 2022.

While the numbers have grown and some things have changed, as the saying goes, some things have also remained the same. When asked why they went to law school, the answers of our interviewees were similar — it was for the opportunity to effectuate change and to make a difference in lives. As current TBA President Tasha Blakney, a 1999 University of Tennessee Law graduate, puts it, “Lawyers are at the center of things that change, things that improve. That’s the place where I wanted to be, too.”

Helen Rogers & Stella Mallinak

Balancing a Law Practice and Family Life

Recently retired after a 40-year career at Gullet, Sanford, Robinson & Martin, Linda Knight was admitted to the practice of law in 1976. She notes that her law school class at Samford University’s Cumberland School of Law was the first to include a substantial percentage of women. She went on to become the first female attorney at what is now Balch & Bingham in Birmingham, Ala. She reports that she was treated well and given interesting work, which included an opportunity to argue a case before the Alabama Supreme Court as an associate! Knight says that “the firm was nice about the fact that both of our daughters were born while I was an associate.”

Margaret Dodson & Margaret Behm

Being a woman lawyer in Tennessee often comes alongside the familial responsibility of childbearing and childrearing, which is an ongoing theme among the women interviewed. Helen Rogers, a graduate of Nashville School of Law who was admitted to practice in 1980, notes that, after going to Atlanta to purchase professional maternity attire because none was available in Nashville, she only took three weeks of maternity leave with each of her two children. She says that now, “women can be themselves,” take maternity leave and also leave the office early to pick up their children. Rogers, like many women, felt a lot of pressure to not let male colleagues see her struggle to juggle home and career, and she is thankful that has changed for the current generation of female attorneys. Knight also notes that “newer and stronger laws have been passed,” and cites laws that enhance parental leave as an example.

The need for better childcare options is a pervasive struggle for women attorneys. Stella Mallinak was admitted to practice in 2016 after graduating from Washington University School of Law in St. Louis. She practices law with her parents, Helen Rogers and Larry Kahm at Rogers, Shea & Spanos. Mallinak points out that there are additional stressors that women of childbearing age face due to lack of affordable childcare options and lack of reproductive healthcare. She notes that during the COVID-19 pandemic, women attorneys were often expected to hit the same billing metrics as their male co-workers, even though women were more likely to have taken on the additional job of providing childcare during the workday.⁵

Tasha Blakney & Caroline Rogers

Margaret Dodson was also admitted to practice in 2016, and she and her husband welcomed their first child in December 2022. She expresses gratitude that her firm, Bass, Berry and Sims PLC, has greatly expanded parental leave benefits for both primary and secondary caregivers. “Benefits for primary caregivers rightly receive, and deserve, a lot of attention, but in my experience, the importance of leave for so-called secondary caregivers also cannot be overstated. I have been fortunate that my husband has been able to take significant time off after our daughter was born,” Dodson shares. “I cannot say enough about how much his support has benefitted me mentally, physically and emotionally during the past few weeks. I already feel like I will be a better attorney when I return to work because of our shared responsibility caring for our daughter during this time. When I hear stories about women attorneys in my mom’s generation, and what they went through as new mothers, I am grateful that the profession has made substantial progress in the area and hope that continues.” The issue of paternity leave should also be an important consideration in this era of family planning for women lawyers. Presently, only 23% of large firms offer the same amount of paternity leave as is offered for maternity leave, 14-23 weeks.⁶ Hopefully, there will be significant strides made in this area in the near future.

When asked about what she hoped for the future of women in the law, Margaret Behm, a University of Tennessee College of Law graduate who was admitted to the practice in 1976 and is Dodson’s mother, points to the systemic failure of support for mothers in society through lack of childcare and other resources. She encourages lawyers, as trained advocates, to take the lead in bringing about change for moms of all socioeconomic means.

Learning How to Lead

Caroline Rogers (no relation to Helen) is a law clerk for Federal Magistrate Cynthia Wyrick. As an attorney newly minted in 2022, after graduating from the University of Wisconsin Law School, Caroline joined the Tennessee Bar Association while it is under the leadership of her stepmother, Tasha. Caroline is the quintessential example of a woman who had a bird’s eye view into how other women lead and now has the benefit of the Tennessee Bar and other women’s bar associations in Tennessee for education, socialization, networking and mentoring. She says, “I grew up seeing my stepmom, Tasha, practice law, and I saw firsthand how she was able to make a significant impact in the community and individuals’ lives. I participated in Mock Trial in high school and Moot Court in college, and I enjoyed the legal research and writing aspects of both activities. By the time I graduated college, I knew law school was the best next step for me to hone my research and writing skills and also enter a profession where I could make a difference.”

Growing up in Jackson, Tenn., Linda Knight had the good fortune of knowing an inspirational attorney, Anne Wood Schneider Harris, who then practiced with her husband. When Knight was a senior in high school, she had the opportunity to shadow Harris on the equivalent of “take your daughter to work day.” It is through the mentorship of generous women like Harris, who took the lead for generations to come, that many women’s bar associations were born. Knight reminds us that women have now helped themselves by organizing “their own law student and women’s bar associations and committees, which mentor and support women from the time they enter the profession.”   

Professional Development and Seats on the Court

The Tennessee Lawyers’ Association for Women is Tennessee’s only female-centered and -led bar association, but it was not founded until 1989. Knight was among the founding members. The Tennessee Bar Association was founded in 1881, but did not see its first female president until Pamela Reeves took office in 1998. Since at least the early 1980s, we have seen many local women’s bar associations across Tennessee spring to the assistance of women lawyers and provide mentorship, education, personal connections and assistance to female attorneys in attaining elected and appointed positions, especially positions in the judiciary.

Along with the proliferation of women’s bar associations has been the growth of the number of female judges on the state and federal benches in Tennessee. The highest court in our state, the five member Tennessee Supreme Court, now includes three women: Sarah K. Campbell, Holly Kirby and Sharon G. Lee. However, it was not until 1990 that the first female jurist was elected to the Tennessee Supreme Court. Martha Craig Daughtrey joined the Court after serving as the first woman on the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals. While a member of the Tennessee Supreme Court, she was selected by President Bill Clinton to serve on the federal Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. On our state trial court level, women make up 25% of the judiciary, and 18 of our state’s 31 judicial districts have at least one woman on the bench, with eight having more than one.⁷

Choosing How You Practice Law

Mallinak notes that since she graduated from law school, more than half of all people enrolled in law school nationwide have been women.⁸ However, in 2020, only one in five equity partners at law firms nationwide were women.⁹ With the rise in the number of women attending law school and graduating also comes a rise in the number of women hired on at large law firms, opening their own practices and establishing themselves in careers that are law-related, such as running nonprofit legal services organizations and even law and technology-related businesses. Women are leveraging their law degrees, creativity and the need for autonomy to change the landscape of the legal world.

Along with the freedom of choice to practice comes the freedom to choose areas of practice. Behm notes that when she became a lawyer, “Women did not generally practice in areas other than family law and estate planning.” Now we see women impacting and forging careers in all areas of the law.

Katherine Knight, Vanderbilt Law graduate admitted to practice in 2002 and daughter of Linda Knight, says “A concept that is of vital importance to me is ‘bring your whole self to work’ (or to your laptop if you work from home!) This means different things to different people, but I hope that women (and everyone) feel free to be themselves, to honor their other commitments, and to succeed without having to practice only within a very rigid framework that does not take individuality into account.” She hopes that firms and other legal employers will continue to expand upon the variety of ways in which women (and everyone) can practice, so that almost anyone with a keen mind has the ability to make valuable contributions to the profession. Katherine also hopes that those who have leadership roles and make the decisions continue to work towards a path to leadership that is perhaps more inclusive than the path most current women attorneys had. “I say that because almost everyone I know in a leadership role has had to make some significant sacrifices in their personal life or, in my case, is that rare person with no caregiving responsibility who actually relishes really long workdays.” She acknowledges that some choices and sacrifices will always occur, but Katherine hopes future women legal leaders no longer have to make massive sacrifices, nor work the equivalent of two full-time jobs, to ascend to and succeed in leadership roles.

Mallinak looks at these realities and hopes that even with all the strides made, “we will work together to address the barriers that prevent women from being able to advance into leadership roles and to help each other achieve our career goals, whatever those goals may be.” Again, we can see a steady rise in the number of women in positions of authority, though the rise may seem to occur only by inches at a time.

Wide Open Doors

When asked what, if anything, has changed for women in the profession since she started practicing, Linda Knight says that “there are so many more women in the profession,” and that “doors have simply opened wider for women in law, with more choices and avenues that they can pursue.” She commented on the wide variety of practice settings in which women are now working. Her comments were echoed by Behm, Marlene Moses and Helen Rogers. Moses, a Nashville School of Law graduate who was admitted to practice in 1981, noted that while women attorneys are treated with more respect than in the past, there is still room for improvement.

Because we now see more women in the public eye, we must note the ways that the perception of women attorneys is changing. Blakney shares that she has fewer clients who seem to focus on her gender as a factor in retaining her to represent them, while Behm’s experience was that women were typically held back from trying jury cases because the prevailing thought was that juries would not find women credible. Katherine Knight says that when she was still in her law firm litigation practice, she was often the only woman in court on motion day. “Now,” she says, “I work with a lot of amazing women litigators as outside counsel, and it has been eons since anyone called me ‘little lady!’”

Mallinak feels that more female attorneys are experiencing burnout now than when she first entered the profession seven years ago. This can be attributed to the fact that while women are gaining more ground in their careers, more is being required in the areas of home, life and community.

The attorneys interviewed for this article all state that they are grateful for their careers in the law. They were asked about their hope for the future of women in the law. Helen Rogers muses that she has a colleague who is a fifth-generation lawyer in his family. She looks forward to the day when there will be a fifth-generation lawyer in her family.

Katherine Knight’s sentiments about her mother Linda are consistent among all of the daughters interviewed: “I want readers to know that my mom is amazing. I didn’t realize it at the time, but because of her it never occurred to me that having total passion for legal work, being a law firm partner, being a Tennessee Supreme Court clerk, writing amicus briefs, holding leadership roles and generally pursuing excellence in the legal field, was anything unusual for a woman in the 70s, 80s or 90s. I did not give a second thought to pursuing this path as a consequence. Even though we are so different, she has probably influenced me more than anyone I know. She is a tough act to follow, and I hope I can do her legacy justice.”

When asked about what she hopes for the future of women in law, Linda Knight eloquently says, “I hope that women in the law will be challenged and satisfied with the work that they do and the choices they make; that they will work carefully and thoughtfully and always be prepared; that they will always strive for excellence; that they will conduct themselves ethically and will only have to deal with ethical lawyers; that they will participate in bar organizations for the betterment of the profession; that they will have balanced lives, including interests outside of the profession; that they will have fun and laugh a lot; and that they will be able to look back on their lives and this profession and say, ‘Well done.’” |||

JACQUELINE B. DIXON is a shareholder in the Nashville office of Lewis Thomason P. C.  She is a trial lawyer and a Rule 31 listed family law mediator. She currently serves as treasurer of the Tennessee Bar Foundation and vice-chair of the Tennessee Lawyer Assistance Program Commission. She is a past president of the Tennessee Bar Association and Tennessee Lawyers’ Association for Women.

PSONYA C. HACKETT is a partner at The Estate and Family Law Group in Memphis. She is a member of both the Mississippi and Tennessee Bar Associations, past president and member of the Tennessee Lawyers’ Association for Women and a fellow in the American Bar Association Family Law Section. She provides pro bono services to the Women’s Advocacy Center in Memphis.

NOTES

1. Cynthia Grant Bowman, Women in the Legal Profession from the 1920s to the 1970s: What Can We Learn from Their Experience about Law and Social Change?, 61 Me. L. Rev. 1 (2017), https://digitalcommons.mainelaw.maine.edu/mlr/vol61/iss1/2.
2. J. Gordon Hylton, “Women Are Still Relatively New in the Legal Profession,” Marquette University Law School, July 25, 2012, https://law.marquette.edu/facultyblog/2012/07/women-are-still-relatively-new-in-the-legal-profession/.
3. Cynthia L. Cooper, “Generations of Women Lawyers Pay It Forward by Advocating for Title IX,” American Bar Association, Dec. 14, 2022, www.americanbar.org/groups/diversity/women/publications/perspectives/2023/december/generations-women-lawyers-pay-it-forward-advocating-title-ix/.
4.  Id.
5. Gabrielle C. Pelura, “COVID-19 and Its Effect on Gender Diversity in the Law,” American Bar Association, Feb. 9, 2021, www.americanbar.org/groups/litigation/committees/woman-advocate/practice/2021/covid19-and-its-effect-on-gender-diversity-in-the-law/. “Specifically, due to remote learning and shut down childcare facilities, one parent has had to pick up the extra duties that come with children being home 24/7. While unfortunate but not surprising, mothers have often been the ones to assume this additional role during the pandemic, per Women in the Workplace 2020.” (www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/diversity-and-inclusion/women-in-the-workplace)
6. Elizabeth Olson, “Law Firms Botch Parental Leave for Men, Families, Survey Says,” Bloomberg Law, May 11, 2021, https://news.bloomberglaw.com/business-and-practice/law-firms-botch-parental-leave-for-men-families-survey-says.
7. “Tennessee Women on the Bench: A History of Firsts,” Mar. 26, 2021, Tennessee State Courts, www.tncourts.gov/news/2021/03/26/tennessee-women-bench-history-firsts.
8. Staci Zaretsky, “Women Are Dominating When It Comes To Law School Enrollment,” Above the Law, July 14, 2022, https://abovethelaw.com/2022/07/women-are-dominating-when-it-comes-to-law-school-enrollment/.
9. “NALP 2020 Report on Diversity in U.S. Law Firms,” National Association for Law Placement, Inc., Feb. 2021, www.law.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/2020_NALP_Diversity_Report.pdf.