While women have made great gains in the legal profession, a one-day conference hosted by Stanford Law School this March illuminated the considerable obstacles that still exist.

The March 16 “Women as Powerbrokers: Advancing Your Career Through Networking” conference, organized by the Office of Career Services and Women of Stanford Law, addressed common roadblocks to women’s advancement in the legal profession—including work/family balance and lack of business development experience—and explored the role of networks in overcoming these barriers. “Formal attempts to diversify fail because they are undermined by informal social structures—these informal networks hold the key to why there’s continued gender inequality in the workplace,” said keynote speaker Dr. Gail McGuire, associate professor of sociology at Indiana University South Bend. McGuire’s research found that, contrary to popular belief, women network as often as men. However, they often don’t have as many high-status people in their network as men.

The keynote was followed by discussion groups in which attendees discussed strategies for developing contacts and ways to effectively network in the legal profession. The groups were led by prominent members of the Bay Area legal community including Suzanne Young Bell ’88, Kathleen Borrero Bloch ’81, Michelle Greer Galloway ’89 (BA ’87), Dr. Linda Grais ’93, Jacqueline Moore ’77 (BA ’74), Sarah Anne O’Dowd ’77 (MA ’73), Karen Jensen Petrulakis ’93, and Miriam Rivera ’95 (BA ’86, MA ’89, MBA ’94).