In the early 1970s, two decades before she became a federal judge, Marjorie "Midge" Rendell was fresh out of law school at Villanova University and looking for work.

One of her first impressions when she landed at Philadelphia firm Duane Morris & Heckscher, Judge Rendell recalled, was meeting another female attorney there who had a young child and was pregnant with another.

The fact that the firm embraced a woman who was juggling career and family -- at a time before many firms did -- was one reason Judge Rendell stayed there for 20 years and eventually became its second female partner.

She joined the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in 1994 and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in 1997.

Not that she hasn't encountered gender issues in her career.

There was the time she denied during a conference call that her baby had burped on her shoulder. And the time she felt a male colleague was offered a bigger office with a better view simply because he was a man.

While some gender barriers have disappeared since she began practicing law, Judge Rendell, who is also the wife of Pennsylvania's governor, believes there are still outdated policies and practices holding women back in the legal profession.

"We have to ask, 'What are we doing that undermines women?'" she said yesterday during a kickoff lunch for the Allegheny County Bar Association's Institute for Gender Equality.

The judge addressed a crowd of more than 350 at the Omni William Penn Hotel, Downtown.

The institute was created last year as a result of a survey that concluded female attorneys in the Pittsburgh legal community had made little progress in advancing between 1990 and 2005. The institute will hold its first class next week and has a mission to educate male and female decision-makers at law firms, corporate legal departments and in other organizations about achieving equality between the genders.

As a young attorney building a practice in bankruptcy law and commercial litigation, Judge Rendell said she was frequently stressed by the demands of work and family.

"I cried to my husband but I wouldn't let on at work. I was a good soldier. I was a poster child for 'Women Don't Ask,'" she said referring to a book published several years ago about women's reluctance to ask for better pay and for other things they may need in the workplace as well as at home.

While her husband was a supportive sounding board and "my biggest fan," Judge Rendell eventually found career help through a male partner at her firm who became her mentor.

"Every woman lawyer needs this," she said.

The local Institute for Gender Equality will "pave the way out of darkness into light," and help maximize the potential of female attorneys, she said.

Laurel Bellows, a Chicago lawyer and former top-ranking official in the American Bar Association, told the audience the institute is a "powerful initiative" in helping women achieve equality and career advancement.

While some women have achieved seats on boards and high-ranking executive jobs, there are not enough females in prominent positions to stop shaping an agenda for future change, she said.

"Doing nothing is ... accepting the status quo," she said. "I fear our accomplishments create a false sense that inequality has disappeared. We've only picked the low-hanging fruit."

For more information on the Institute for Gender Equality, go to www.acba.org

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