"I'm like so many other lawyers who are mothers, trying to fit into a culture that may be entrenched with Philadelphia lawyers," Mattiacci said, "but that collides directly with our needs and schedules."
It's a scenario that prompted her to help create Philly-MAMA (Mother Attorneys Mentoring Association) in 2009 as a way to share these concerns, gather ideas, and perhaps ultimately change the city's legal culture. Two years later, membership has hit 75, one indication that the legal profession is still not in harmony with the women's lives as mothers-in-the-law.
While there are no specific statistics about lawyers who are mothers, the general findings of a 2010 survey by the National Association of Women Lawyers suggested that women in large law firms don't do as well as men economically, and they are in the minority in the upper echelons of firm management and leadership.
Also, while they represented 47.2 percent of law school students, they are only 31 percent of American lawyers, according to the American Bar Association's Commission on Women.
Yes, the home-work conflict exists for mothers (and fathers) in many careers, but law firms are particularly tough when it comes to advancement for women. That's likely why MAMA chapters exist in Austin, San Diego, Honolulu, Washington, D.C., and the founding city, Seattle. It was there that attorney Rachel Black began the group, currently with more than 550 members, in 2006 after she was forced to finish a big trial in her last month of pregnancy, give birth, and then try to make partner in her firm.
"Fifty women showed up at our first public meeting," said Black, "and more and more kept coming. This organization has really tapped into some urgent issues."
![Laura Mattiacci (left) and Erin Gill at a lunchtime meeting of Philly-MAMA in the boardroom at Console Law Offices. Mattiacci, who helped start the group, has two young children; Gill has three. The culture of the Philadelphia lawyer may be entrenched, Mattiacci notes, but it "collides directly with [mothers'] needs and schedules." (TOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer)](http://media.philly.com/images/600*450/20110817_inq_mg1lawyer03z-e.JPG "Laura Mattiacci (left) and Erin Gill at a lunchtime meeting of Philly-MAMA in the boardroom at Console Law Offices. Mattiacci, who helped start the group, has two young children; Gill has three. The culture of the Philadelphia lawyer may be entrenched, Mattiacci notes, but it \"collides directly with [mothers'] needs and schedules.\" (TOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer)")
