U. alums discuss careers in law

The themes of hard work, dedication and luck dominated last week's "The Many Faces of Law" panel, sponsored by the Trustees' Council of Penn Women. Each of the four women featured on the panel found careers in fields they never anticipated they would be working in today. The panel is one of a series designed to offer students the benefit of hearing creative career options from University alumni, according to moderator Francine Butler. "I though all of the women were very dynamic," said College senior Mary Jane Lee. "There seems to be great variety within the legal fields, and they all seem satisfied with what they do," she added. The four panelists -- College for Women graduates Christine Hikawa, Ruth Price, Susanna Lachs and Phyllis Lachs, Susanna's mother -- spoke eloquently and honestly about the different paths they each explored with a law degree. The women all agreed that combining a career and a family has its difficulties. "The message that we left Penn with was that you can have it all --marriage, career and family," said Lachs, a commercial litigator with a private law firm. "Maybe so, but it's difficult to do it all at the same time." Lachs said law gave her a solid foundation, but it was not without sacrifices. Working part-time in law is still an anomaly, she said. "When you do have that one case going to trial, you can't be part-time," she added. Lachs clarified that the term "part-time" in the law field represents the equivalent of full time in other fields and could mean working almost a 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. workday. Hikawa, ABC's vice president of broadcast standards and practices, added that "law school hones your mind and toughens you up." "There's a lot of luck involved in terms of being in the right place at the right time," she added as explanation for how she ended up working for ABC. Phyllis Lachs said she understood this combination of luck and creativity. Switching careers midstream from academia to law, Lachs created her own job as the in-house counsel at Bryn Mawr College. "A legal foundation is fantastic," Price said. "People grow and the challenge of getting older is continuing to grow." She advised the audience members to work hard and learn how to balance out the different components of their lives. Price recently started her own small law practice. "I decided I wanted to build something for myself and create my own law firm," she explained. Many audience members said they were considering careers in law and hoped to gain some insightful advice from the panelists. College sophomore Jessica Lentini said the panel helped finalize her decision to go to law school. She noted that she was especially impressed with "their positive attitudes and that they weren't afraid of anything." "Family is very important to me and I was afraid of putting too much emphasis on work and disregarding my family," she said. Lachs said prospective law school students have to "prove yourself no matter who you are," adding that law firms have evolved to become more accepting over the years. "There's less of the traditional associate-partner track along with a heightened awareness and improved attitude," she commented. Lachs told the audience that they should get a "good foundation in lots of disciplines," stressing the importance of "critical thinking and writing" skills.