New from Victoria Pynchon at ADRtimes.com

It’s self-evident that women have a commercial dispute ADR problem.

If women mediators are successful, we are either the Sally Rides of mediation practice (doing it weightless, backwards, and in heels) or we are segregated in “pink collar” specialties—family, elder and employment law—all of which focus on people rather than on commerce or finance.

When I ask AmLaw200 attorneys whether they’ve ever hired a woman mediator, they pause for a very long time, eyes canted upward as if searching that part of the brain storing lost socks, keys, and sunglasses. Sometimes they are silent for so long that I have to answer the question for them.

“The answer is no,” I say. “You’ve never hired a woman mediator and that’s OK because I never did either.” My former colleagues and opponents are always baffled and a little embarrassed at this recognition, which is why I always add the permissive part of my commentary. The part about it being “OK.”

...We cannot control who is willing to hire us or who is willing to publish us. But we can control how often we submit articles in our own professional journals and the magazines, blogs, and journals our market readers. We can control how often and how well we speak about our profession to business and professional groups likely to refer clients to us or give us business directly. We cThe an control how we deploy our energy, skill, and vision to advance to leadership positions in the Bar and in commerce.

My own writing, which began with a free blogger blog in 2006, brought me my own company’s branded negotiation column at Forbes.com by the end of 2011. By that time, so many women had asked me to speak to, consult with, and train them to negotiate better deals, I was on the verge of leaving the ADR field forever.

Read the full article at ADRtimes.com [HERE].