AN ONGOING COMMITMENT

In recognition of our initiative to retain and promote women lawyers,

Sidley Austin LLP was honored with the 2005 Catalyst Award. The

Award is given annually by Catalyst, the leading research and

advisory organization dedicated to expanding opportunities for

women and business. Sidley is one of only two law firms that have

received the Catalyst Award.

Our initiative, Strategies for Success: An Ongoing Commitment toDiversity, was recognized for bringing diverse talent into the firm and

promoting women to partnership and positions of authority within

firm management.

As of July 1, 2006:

• Sidley has 116 women partners, comprising 18.4 percent of our

partnership

• Thirty-five percent of our women partners currently hold

positions as firmwide or office committee chairs or co-chairs

• Sidley has 542 women lawyers, comprising thirty-four percent of

our firm

• Twenty-five percent of our women partners work reduced

schedules

BEIJING

BRUSSELS

CHICAGO

DALLAS

FRANKFURT

GENEVA

HONG KONG

LONDON

LOS ANGELES

NEW YORK

SAN FRANCISCO

SHANGHAI

SINGAPORE

TOKYO

WASHINGTON, D.C.

Virginia L. Aronson

Kathleen L. Roach

One South Dearborn

Chicago, IL 60603

T: 312.853.7000

F: 312.853.7036

Laurin Blumenthal Kleiman

787 Seventh Avenue

New York, NY 10019

T: 212.839.5300

F: 212.839.5599

www.sidley.com

VFITJun1206.qxp 6/30/2006 4:49 PM Page 1

Q&A with Virginia L. Aronson

What advice would you give a young woman considering a career in thelaw today?

Choose the very best law school that your credentials will permit. Having a strong resume will open doors and allow you toaccess a variety of opportunities, not only admittance into the best law firms, but also positions in government or in corporateAmerica. I would also suggest that it is fairly irrelevant what subject you majored in as an undergraduate. So whether youwere an art major, or focused on biology or the classics, don’t let that sway you from a career in law.

The first year of law school is difficult because it involves learning almost a new language. Once you have mastered that lan-guage, the learning process will accelerate. However, it is critical that you do a very good job in your first year because lawfirms in their second year summer hiring process will be looking at grades in that first year. Since most law students will acceptoffers of permanent employment from the firm where they spent their summer, the first year law school performance can be adefining event in their career.

You mentioned you can have any major as an undergrad. What was yourmajor?

I have both a BA and a master’s degree in sociology.

Did you find that that helped you as a lawyer?

Somewhat. One of the skills that you learn as a sociologist is statistical analysis. Some of my early work experience involvedreal estate litigation and damage analysis. I found my statistical background to be particularly valuable. However, my writ-ing style required a fairly complete overhaul. Sociologists back then took pride in having a sentence begin at the top of thepage and end at the bottom of the page, whereas legal writing is very pithy, logical and rational. So in that respect, it was a bit

Sidley Austin LLP

Virginia L. Aronson – PartnerVirginia L. Aronson is the global head of the real estate practice group inChicago and is a member of the firm’s executive committee and the manage-ment committee. Her experience includes securitizations; bank portfolio sales;real estate investment trusts; construction and permanent mortgage financing,including hotels, office buildings and shopping centers; debt restructuring andworkouts; acquisition and sale of office buildings, shopping centers, industrialsites and hotels; negotiation of joint venture agreements and three-dimensionalconveyancing.

Ms. Aronson is a member of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers, theChicago and American Bar Associations, the Chicago Mortgage Attorney’sAssociation, and The Chicago Network. She is the author of “Leaseholds andMortgagees,” an IICLE article in the Commercial Landlord/Tenant Handbook(June 1990, 1992, 1996, 1998). She is on the board of directors of theChicago Central Area Committee and the Leadership Council of the ChicagoPublic Education Fund.

She earned her BA and MA from the University of Chicago and her JD fromthe University of Chicago Law School.

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of a handicap. In sociology, you study social justice and constitutional issues, particularly issues of equality. That clearly washelpful during my years in law school.

Have you personally experienced any advantages or disadvantages in thelegal industry because of your gender?

I’ll start with the disadvantages. I began practicing law in 1975. There were very few women in the profession at that time.I believe we had about 160 lawyers at Sidley, and there were only a handful, probably five, women at the firm. My experiencewithin the firm was very positive, but lawyers on the other side of transactions tended to be somewhat patronizing or conde-scending. With respect to advantages, when you did perform well, people seemed to be astounded. I suspect that I receivedmore nice letters from clients than my male colleagues.

I think there are many advantages to being a woman in the legal profession. Many of the skills that are necessary for a suc-cessful career are skills that come rather naturally to women. Let me give you an example. An important key to success as alawyer is the ability to listen and to put one’s own ego at bay, at least for a short time in order to hear the various points of viewin, say, a negotiation. Generally women are more willing to hear people out rather than focusing on making an impressionthemselves. This allows them to craft a creative solution that will further the client’s interests. That doesn’t mean, as I’ve oftensaid in the talks I’ve given on mentoring and on success, that you’re not going to take control of the room. You may interruptpeople in the middle of their conversations because you don’t like the way the discussion is going. But if you listen, you canhear what people really need and really want, and may be able to bring the deal to a very successful conclusion.

The other reason I think women have an advantage is that clients need different things from their lawyers. Lawyers need tobe able to display a range of styles. The client may need someone who can just be the scrivener and basically document thedeal, but that’s fairly unusual. They may need their lawyer to “drive” the deal. Some clients want to take a back seat and knowthat they are being taken care of, that they are being protected, and that is something where women often excel.

Thankfully, I found that the kind of situation that I was describing previously with respect to a patronizing or condescendingattitude disappeared very quickly once you demonstrated your talents. Every young lawyer, whether male or female, faces thedisadvantage of youth when first starting out in the profession. Most look like they’re teenagers. 25 or 30 years ago, womenstarted out with the additional disadvantage of being rather rare in the marketplace and people not being sure if they could beeffective advocates. Would they have the confidence, the aggressiveness, when necessary, to provide that care or that feelingof safety that I was talking about earlier? Particularly if your client was himself young, or if your client was older and expect-ed some gray hair. Again, I do not think that that is much of a problem now, but it was then.

It is important to speak confidently, even if it is to say “I don’t know the answer, but will seek advice from the partner.” WhenI’m working with a young lawyer, male or female, and I get the sense that they lack presence or confidence, I just encouragethem to remember to look at your client or the other people in the room, get eye contact, and raise your voice up half a notchlouder. Even that simple tip makes a difference. They do know what they’re talking about; they just have to act like they knowwhat they’re talking about.

What kind of steps have law firms and other legal employers taken in thelast few years to create a better working environment for women? Whatelse do you think needs to happen in this area?

Let me use my own firm as an example. Sidley has a very fine record in this regard. We won the Catalyst award last year.Only one other law firm has ever received this honor. The programs that Sidley has put in place to promote and retain womenreally began decades ago, and that’s why I take such pride in the firm. For over 20 years, Sidley has offered part-time orreduced work schedules for women. Because that policy has been really embedded in our culture, reduced schedules are justnot an issue. 25 percent of our women partners work reduced schedules, and have for many, many years. Several of our part-ners have made partner while working part-time, which I think is a very significant indication of the firm’s commitment.

But in addition to the reduced work schedules, we have a rather unique mentoring program-we call them mentoring circles.We found that one-on-one mentoring assignments really don’t work, because of the difficulty of getting the right combination

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of interests and personal chemistry. So what we have done is create groups of four or five partners and 10 or 12 associates andthat mentoring circle will have various events-mainly social events, but sometimes serious programs. The concept is there willbe somebody in the circle that the associate will feel comfortable with, whether it be a junior associate and a senior associatepairing, or an associate and a partner. We’ve given them a range of mentors to choose from. This program has been quite suc-cessful.

We also have programs like our Women in Leadership series. We generally sponsor events about three times a year. These aregatherings for women clients and other women business leaders. The series often features panel discussions — in some caseswith panelists from the firm, as well as other women business leaders from around the country. Those programs have beenvery successful as bonding events and client entertainment. Finally, there are a variety of internal social gatherings, where allof the women lawyers in the firm can get together and talk. We deal with issues like child care and the use of technology thatwill enable one to seamlessly work from home. So much of our work is done through e-mail and voice mail, the client does-n’t really know or care where their lawyer is and that works very well for our lawyers who are balancing work and family.

All of these programs help create an environment which encourages our women to stay. It doesn’t alleviate all the problems.It is still very difficult to do everything, to be a good mom, a good wife, and a good lawyer, and still have a little bit of timefor yourself. But many of our women have become very successful and it, at least in part, due to the efforts of the firm.

Let me discuss one more program, because the firm’s focus is not just on associates. We have a variety of programs that helpour women partners become more successful and attain leadership positions within the firm. At this point, over a third of ourcommittees, (and much of the firm’s management is done through committees) are chaired or co-chaired by women. We’repretty proud of that. Then, of course we have women on our executive committee and management committee.

What sort of structures need to be in place to increase the number ofwomen law leaders at top law firms and in corporate counsel capacities?

Sidley is known as a really good place for women, and that reputation has had a significant impact on both our associate recruit-ment and retention and also on our lateral recruiting. The programs I’ve described tell you a lot about the law firm. Our cul-ture is something that is very important to us. Our compensation system, how we manage ourselves, the consensus that webuild on every issue within the firm-all of that is very compatible with the firms’ view and attitudes towards trying to recruitand retain women. That extends to our diversity program as well. It’s all part of what I call the weave in the tapestry.

What impact has a career in law had on your personal and family life? Doyou have any special techniques, methods and philosophies that help youmaintain a work/life balance and be a successful lawyer?

I do have some techniques. I should mention first that I do not have children, although, if you knew my husband, you mightdisagree with that. My husband, in addition to being a lawyer, is also a magician. It is akin to having a permanent creativechild. I’ve always worked hard, but what I have done, and what I think has worked for me, is a concept that I call two-fers —you try to do everything so you’re getting a double benefit, kind of a two-for-one. I have managed in the midst of my careerand my management responsibilities to have interests outside of my job. I think this is very important for everyone, if for noother reason than that it makes you a more interesting person. Clients have many high quality lawyers that they can choosefrom, but if you can also be someone they enjoy being with and they have fun with, I think that’s a plus that will help yourlegal life be more successful.

I love to cook and I am also a part of the magic world. My husband and I perform a two-person mind-reading act. We did itprofessionally when we were in law school. We now perform at magic conventions and for friends and clients. This is a bitunusual, so clients love to hear about it and they enjoy seeing us perform. We’re also ballroom dancers. All of my hobbiesinvolve spending time with my husband, but we can also involve clients. Client entertainment might be: first, a great dinner;second, a dance lesson; and third, a magic performance. So my husband is spending time with me and also getting a chanceto do something he loves, which is perform. I’m entertaining the client and spending time with my husband. So all of that isa two-fer.

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It makes sense to try and tie things together. You have to be efficient when you have so many things on your plate. Some ofmy women partners — I know this is going to sound unusual — go shopping with their women clients. It’s hard sometimesto find time to go out to lunch, so instead go run errands together. Or do things with your kids and the client and his or herchildren. Take all the kids to the circus. You’re entertaining the client, but you’re not taking time away from your family.

What other careers and life choices did you consider before deciding on acareer in the law? If you were not practicing law and you could not be alawyer, what would your dream career be now?

I did not grow up wanting to be a lawyer. In fact, it would never have occurred to me. I wanted to be a teacher, so I was pur-suing a doctorate degree in sociology and had completed all requirements other than my dissertation. I started dating my now-husband when he was just starting law school, and he talked me into applying. He said, “You can go do this.” And I said, “No,I’m too shy.” But he really pushed me into it, and it was a good thing. Throughout law school, I still thought that I wouldteach law. But once I had spent a summer at Sidley and found out what practicing law was all about, I was absolutely hooked.

As to another career, I have to say that I gravitate towards medicine. I’ve always been interested in anything having to do withhealth. I even took a night course offered by the University of Chicago medical school called Mini-Med School. It was a 10-week course and I loved it. So if I had been better in science, I would have been a doctor. Now, when I occasionally thinkabout retirement, I try to think of what I could do in the health field without a medical education that could be useful. Thatwould be my dream job now.

What kind of doctor would you have been?

Oh, I don’t know. I don’t think I got to the point of thinking of a specialty. But what I have found is I like to help people. Oneof the joys of our profession is not only that you do get the intellectual satisfaction of dealing with complex legal issues, butyou also are a counselor and a teacher. I don’t know how many professions allow you to do all of that.

You mentioned that you initially thought you might be too shy for lawschool. Do you have any tips for potential lawyers who feel the same wayabout themselves?

The tip is — it’s not as hard as you think, which I found out very quickly. What I learned early on was if you prepare for some-thing then you will do well. If you’re not the kind of person who can speak extemporaneously, then just be the person whoworks harder. In fact, you will do better than those who can speak off the top of their head because you know what you wantto say and you will present it in a rational, organized fashion. I speak and make presentations many times a year, and was doingso within a year of starting my practice.

I’ll give you a tip that my husband gave me, because although as a lawyer and as a manager, I’m very comfortable in front ofaudiences, when we perform our magic act, I still get butterflies when I get up on a stage. My husband gave me an article, andit basically talked about getting your butterflies in line, and getting your butterflies to fly straight. Use the slight edge of fearthat you have when you perform to raise your adrenaline level, which will carry you to an even higher or peak performance.That’s now what I think about when I perform magic. I get my butterflies in order, and then use that energy. But probably thesimplest advice is what I said before: all you really have to do is look your audience in the eye, get good eye contact, raiseyour voice, be well-prepared, and you will do fine.

How do you expect the practice of law will change in the next ten years?

Some random thoughts: I think that the practice of law will continue to be more global than ever before, because that is whatour clients are doing. Global expansion will require an increased network of offices and contacts throughout the world, so thatwe can provide the kind of service that the clients need. An example: reading through my e-mail yesterday, we had three sep-arate requests, totally independent of one another, for lawyers in Sri Lanka. I’m used to seeing requests for contacts inFrankfurt and China and Brazil, but we’re all going to have to expand our horizons.

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The second challenge that I think we face and that we’re already facing to a degree, is that voice mail and e-mail have takensome of the personal quality out of the practice. I know that one of the reasons I have been successful in face-to-face meet-ings is that I am able to persuade people. I’m able to get concessions for my clients because I am very reasonable and estab-lish a rapport. It is harder to do that over a telephone. It is really hard to do with an e-mail. As lawyers, our job is to be anadvocate, and I think as technology overtakes our world, that kind of advocacy becomes more difficult. It’s very easy to sayno on the phone or in an e-mail. The personal touch will be less effective, particularly when you’re dealing with people whospeak different languages and are 3,000 miles away in a different time zone. On the other hand, it does permit more flexibil-ity as to where you do your work from and I think that it makes it much easier for people to have even more flexible sched-ules.

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