Women’s Initiative Committee

This series brings S&C lawyers together for presentations, panel discussions, brainstorming and lively conversation on a host of timely topics.

All of our associates are paired with mentors at the Firm, beginning when they arrive as summer associates and throughout their time at the Firm (including through partnership). Because mentoring tends to work best when a mentee feels a strong connection with her mentor, associates at S&C choose their own mentors based on their personal interests and professional goals. In addition to our formal mentoring programs, associates at the Firm have several informal opportunities for mentoring and networking, including those described below.

• Lunch Program – a series of informal, small group lunches co-hosted by two S&C women partners. Discussion topics vary and are chosen by the partner hosts from a list of topics suggested by S&C associates.
• “Office Hours” Program – across the Firm, women partners set aside specific windows of time during which associates are invited to stop by for one-on-one or small-group, impromptu discussions about any topic of interest to the associates.
• Conversation & Cocktails –lawyers at the Firm meet on a bimonthly basis to check in, catch up and spend a few hours together in a social setting.
• Book Club - program to provide opportunities for our lawyers to engage intellectually in a different environment.

We regularly invite thought leaders to come and speak to our lawyers about a wide range of topics that are relevant to the practice of law. Some recent programs have included:

• Alumni Perspectives Panel Discussion: recent alumnae of the Firm returned to discuss their career transitions from S&C associates to in-house lawyers
• Women in Law Panel Discussion: “Opting up, Not Out” and “Modern Techniques for Inspiring Excellence in the Modern Profession”
• Grit & Growth Mindset: Personality Traits That Predict Success for Women Lawyers – presented by Dr. Milana Hogan, chief legal talent officer and author of Grit, the Secret to Advancement: Stories of Successful Women Lawyers
• Kim Azzarelli, founder of Seneca Women, co-founder and chair of Cornell Law School’s Avon Global Center for Women and Justice, and co-author of FAST FORWARD: How Women Can Achieve Power and Purpose
• Carla Harris, vice chair of Global Wealth Management and senior client adviser at Morgan Stanley, and author of Expect to Win: 10 Proven Strategies for Thriving in the Workplace
• Baroness Patricia Scotland of Asthal, the first black woman to be named Queens Counsel, and the first woman and first black person to be appointed attorney general in the United Kingdom since the creation of the position in 1315
• Mona Sutphen, former White House deputy chief of staff in the Obama administration, Partner, Macro Advisory Partners and author of The Next American Century: How the U.S. Can Thrive as Other Powers Rise

The WIC also hosts a wide range of social events. Most of these events happen on an informal, ad hoc basis when we want to get together (which happens often!) but we also have annual events, including our New Associate Welcome Breakfast and our Annual WIC Dinner, which is held during the summer.

We’re focused not only on creating a supportive environment within the Firm that positions our women lawyers for success, but also on supporting women in the legal community more broadly. To that end, the WIC sponsors several external events, including:

• The New York City Bar Association’s (NYCBA) Ruth Bader Ginsburg Lecture
• The Kate Stoneman Project (named for the first woman admitted to practice law in New York State)
• The Dress for Success® Annual Breakfast
• Legal Momentum’s Aiming High Luncheon
• The Judges and Lawyers Breast Cancer Alert

S&C offers a number of programs designed to support lawyers seeking to balance their professional and family needs. These benefits include paid parental leave, backup childcare facilities, an infant transition program and alternative work or “flex-time” schedules.

Since 2012, the Firm and our lawyers have won, or been shortlisted for, awards in a number of categories by Euromoney Legal Media Group’s Americas Women in Business Law Awards, Asia Women in Business Law Awards and Europe Women in Business Law Awards.

We look forward to meeting you and discussing your own path to success at the Firm.

S&C Women in Leadership 2023