Daniel Marsula, Post-Gazette Click photo for larger image.

Maria Bernier, a partner in Reed Smith's Pittsburgh office, was at home during a maternity leave with her first child in 2002 when she got a call asking her to organize an effort to help more women achieve leadership roles at one of the city's oldest and most traditional law firms.

Until that phone call, Ms. Bernier admitted, she was so busy with her own practice that she hadn't given much thought to the role of female attorneys.

"You go day by day unless you're forced to think about it," said Ms. Bernier, who specializes in patent and intellectual property law.

Once she began to research the issue, she knew why she had been tapped to be the first chair of the firm's Women's Career Advancement Initiative.

Nationwide, the number of female partners at law firms averages 17.3 percent, according to the National Association of Law Placement. At Reed Smith, 19 percent of the partners are female -- "so we're better than the national average but the national average is not that good," said Ms. Bernier. "That's what prompted the initiative. With fewer [female] partners, there are fewer women in management and fewer running committees and in leadership positions."

Reed Smith partnered with Catalyst Inc., the New York-based nonprofit that promotes the advancement of women in business, to develop a series of female-focused networking events for women lawyers and clients, classes to raise awareness of gender issues and career workshops that Ms. Bernier said help women in the firm "come up through the ranks in a meaningful way."

While more women than ever are choosing careers in law -- the number of female law school graduates is about 49 percent annually -- women still lag in the partner ranks and high-profile management jobs, Ms. Bernier said, because of a combination of factors. Among them: More women than men interrupt their careers to attend to children or elderly parents, societal conditioning teaches women not to ask for what they want and unconscious biases against women still pervade the legal and business worlds.

"If you have a family, you can't devote the same amount of time to a career," said Ms. Bernier whose children are 3 and 1.

The traditional steps to climbing the law firm ladder require hours spent outside the office at networking events, dinner parties, retreats and lunches "with people you know who are moving up," she said.

Women juggling careers and families sometimes decide to skip some of those functions because of the time involved. And by doing so, they miss out on opportunities to establish the kind of relationships it takes to advance professionally.

"Women tend to want to get the brief done a day early or at least by 6 p.m. to pick up the children. But if you choose to sit behind a desk and do good work, it's not enough. The key today is practice development," said Ms. Bernier.

So Reed Smith's Women's Initiative includes workshops on topics such as smart self-promotion to teach female attorneys how to "be a champion for yourself," Ms. Bernier said. "The point is giving women information to help manage their careers: How to ask for credit you deserve as you move through the ranks; when and when not to ask to lead a case or a deal; how to say, 'I'm good at this' and cultivate your reputation."

The workshops are targeted for women at different stages of their practice. "The issues can be a little different depending on where you are in your career," said Brande Stellings, senior director of advisory services for Catalyst who helped to develop the workshops.

Fifth- or sixth-year associates, for instance, need more advice about client and business development than second- or third-year female associates, said Ms. Stellings.

"When lawyers start out, they are inclined to keep their heads down and develop legal skills and do their work. There's no foresight on looking ahead to make your case to be a partner," Ms Stellings said. "As they become more senior, the focus should shift to establishing client relationships, to be aware of what it takes to make partner or to have a fulfilling career when you want [a flexible schedule]."

Outside of the office, Reed Smith's women-focused networking functions provide women attorneys and clients the opportunity to mingle in venues other than the places where men traditionally conduct business, such as golf courses or Steeler and Pirate games.

Next month, for instance, the firm will host an event for women at The Frick Art & Historical Center in Point Breeze. As they sip cocktails and munch on hors d'oeuvres and desserts, attendees can view a new exhibition of paintings of women by classic artists such as John Singer Sargent and Winslow Homer. The guest speaker will be Trudy Bourgeois, chief executive of The Center for Workforce Excellence, whose topic will be "Phenomenal Women Leaders."

Reed Smith isn't the only firm looking at how to help its women advance in a traditionally male-dominated sector.

At Fox Rothschild, the women's marketing group in the Pittsburgh office has sponsored two holiday teas in early December at a local bed & breakfast inn. The firm is considering a women's event at Phipps Conservatory next spring.

"These events are really an opportunity to invite clients and prospective clients," said partner Susan Jordan. "Men go out on the golf course. Their friends own businesses and that's how they get business. My best contacts are not necessarily business owners. But they'll go to their bosses and say, 'We really need to have Susan do things for us.' "

Firm-wide at Fox Rothschild's 14 offices, 24 of a total 169 equity partners are women; in its Pittsburgh office, there is one female among the eight equity partners and one female among seven non-equity partners.

The firm has an informal mentoring group for associates -- open to men and women -- in which it "tries to teach them some of the things they don't teach in law school," said Ms. Jordan, including how to deal with clients and senior partners and how to balance work and home life.

Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Nicholson Graham, where 15 percent of all partners are female, last year created a subcommittee for women's issues. The firm earned high marks in a recent Harvard Law School Women's Law Association survey for its positive treatment of its women attorneys.

The subcommittee is "not just a means to react to issues that women experience in the workplace," said Patricia Shea, partner in the firms' Harrisburg office. "It's more proactive: How can we ensure success for our women? What strategies and rules can we recommend to allow them to build a practice that is successful and a bridge to higher things within the firm?"

The firm sponsors networking events for its women "so women in law can connect with women and share experiences and do what men do on the golf course."

At Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney, the Women's Business Development Committee sponsors internal seminars for its female attorneys to provide tips on marketing and business plans. Its external networking functions included a 2003 event co-sponsored with Chatham College that featured Republican Party consultant Mary Matalin.

Meyer Unkovic & Scott has a women's networking series called Chicks & Chat, where female attorneys and clients exchange business leads and contacts during sessions where they participate in fun activities such as salsa dancing or manicures and massages.

Such informal events provide critical ways for women to connect and get "client development experience," said Catalyst's Ms. Stellings. "In a professional service firm like law or accounting, it's a key piece to advancement because who you know affects the work you get. That's really the crucial part of advancing in these environments."

Workshops such as the series Catalyst developed for Reed Smith "give women the tools to make opportunities for themselves ... get some visibility and exposure," said Ms. Stellings.

The biggest challenge right now, she said, is to establish a "critical mass of women in top leadership positions" at law firms.

"If you're a young associate, you look ahead and don't see many women partners," she said "You see the work required but no women in top positions and you might think, 'Why should I?' "