By Suzanne Swaner

I was recently at the dentist when I found myself with a few minutes of down time while the numbing agent took effect. "Grab a magazine. I'll be right back," the dentist said. I got out of the chair and flipped through the choices in the Lucite magazine rack on the wall. Field and Stream? Uh, no thanks. Parents? Only as a last resort. MORE? What is MORE? Reading more closely, I saw the complete title. MORE For Women of Style and Substance. Hmmmm. Style? I looked down. A navy Lily Pulitzer blouse and scarf, semi-cool jeans, and navy blue patent leather Tory Burch heels. A lot of blue, admittedly, but I am proud of those shoes. So, for that day and perhaps that day only, an enthusiastic "yes" on Style. Substance? I think so, although candidly I am not above the occasional idle chit chat a/k/a gossip if there is something newsworthy that requires vetting among friends. So "yes" on Substance, albeit with slight pause. I picked up the magazine and turned around to head back to the dental chair. As if to somehow validate my magazine selection, I made a pit stop at my purse and applied some Laura Mercier lip gloss (Style) and checked my iPhone for an important email I was waiting on for work (Substance). Satisfied with the legitimacy of my choice, I sat down and started reading.

By Suzanne Swaner

Change, it seems, truly is inevitable, isn't it? By way of introduction, I am excited and honored to be the new Courtroom Diva. Let me start by thanking my fellow Divas for their posts. I read and learned from all of them, especially early on where each of them defined "diva" and put this new role into perspective for me. I'd also like to thank the Divas for the invitation to join their ranks in the world of social networking. I hope to provide posts that are engaging, entertaining, insightful and true to the Courtroom Diva spirit, with a Texas spin.

A little about me. I am a native Minnesotan, turned Texan, by way of four years in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Dallas is home, as I have been here an unbelievable 18 years. ("Y'all" is part of my vocabulary, but "fixin" is not.) My husband and I have three energetic sons (ages 8, 5 and 2) who keep us busy to say the least! Every day an epic battle is re-enacted somewhere in our house, usually with minimal casualties. In addition to my roles outside of the office, I have practiced law for nearly 15 years and have worked alongside some of the best and most supportive attorneys in my field. This past year was one of professional change for me, as five of my partners from my former firm and I opened the doors to this firm's new Dallas office on February 1, 2011. We did so amidst record-breaking snowfall in the Dallas area that resulted in a "snow day" our first day in business. We survived those first cold and icy days, and a really really really hot summer, and look forward to toasting our one year anniversary with the firm in a couple months.

By Alana Bassin

It has taken me a while to blog because I was trying to find an interesting article and I find that so many articles are re-run on themes related to women: women attrition in the work force, the world needs more women leaders etc. Sadly, I have not been any more original . . . I have blogged about these exact topics. And then an article from The Daily Beast came across my desk entitled "Don't Call Me a Mom: Why It's Time for Women to Drop That Identity" by writer Amy Reiter where she essentially writes that once she became a mother, much of her identity in how she was perceived by others became the fact that she was a mom and no longer a writer. Separate and apart from the fact that this article created an extensive amount of discussion – women who agreed that this was a problem and women who were offended by the same - this article caught my eye.

By Suzanne Swaner

I had planned on making my debut as the newest Courtroom Diva with an introductory post, but then came something much more important than the back-fill on me, my life, and how I got here. We will get to all that later. For now, while I hate to be the bearer of any bad news, especially with my first post, the results of a recent study are a little concerning and worth disseminating as widely as possible.

An article recently appeared in the National Law Journal entitled, "Opportunities diminishing for women at large law firms, study finds." A study conducted by the National Association of Women Lawyers ("NAWL") reportedly found the percentage of female attorneys entering the country's 200 largest law firms dropped compared to last year, from 48 percent to 47 percent. This is, apparently, the first time that has happened in five years. One percent does not seem like a big deal, in and of itself. But when considered in conjunction with the apparent downslide in the numbers of women even entering law school, a fact also noted in the article, that downward trend could become downright scary. And then, when layered the fact that women tend to leave large firms more quickly than men, the numbers of female lawyers on the horizon at big firms could appear even more grim.

By Sandra Giannone Ezell

It is a privilege to "sing the praises" to a deserving colleague and a fellow diva! Check out the September, 2011, article Women in the Law: Andrea L. Moody - Michigan Lawyers Weekly. It's a great commentary about Andrea, both professionally and personally, leading-in with some delightful references to the Courtroom Divas blog, which is always a good way to start any report or conversation! It wasn't just about the author's observation of her as it also includes a good number of quotes by Andrea. One of particular significance to me is a reference by her on the subject of diversity: "We live in a very diverse world, but oftentimes our workplace doesn't reflect that. And when we talk about diversity, it's not just gender or racial makeup. It's really diversity in thought." Andrea is a brilliant woman and it makes me feel better about the profession generally to know that she is one of the next generation of leaders. She gets it and it is great to see her getting the recognition she deserves.

By Andrea Moody

I am disappointed to report that I recently received an announcement for a webinar, entitled, "Mean Girls: Female-to-Female Bullying in the Workplace". At first I asked myself, is this for real or is it just another gimmick mislabeled as a webinar. And while I did not attend the webinar, though I would have liked to, I began to give serious thought to this issue and was able to recall quite a few instances involving female-to-female contact in the workplace that could, if not qualify as bullying, certainly could be considered bad behavior.

One specific example that I recalled involved a very seasoned female attorney, one admittedly who was at the top of her game and well respected in the legal community. She was working for a mutual client with a younger (in age and experience) female attorney. Apparently, there were some differences of opinion as to how the younger attorney handled a particular issue. And instead of using that moment as a teaching moment, the more seasoned attorney called the client to complain about the younger attorney. As a result, the younger attorney ended up being challenged every step of the way by the client because of this negative seed that had been planted. Because the issue was not one that was a "make or break issue" for the case or the client, after hearing this story, I always wondered, would it have been too much to ask for the more experienced attorney to pull the younger attorney aside and say, "Listen, instead of doing "X", I would recommend that next time you do "Y"". Would that have been too hard to do? Surely, that more experienced attorney would have wanted that same type of guidance when she was younger.

By Alana Bassin

Admittedly, a month ago I barely knew who Dee Dee Myers was. Quite embarrassing given that she was the former White House press secretary under Bill Clinton and is the recent author of "Why Women Should Rule the World."

About three weeks ago I saw her speak and I walked out of the luncheon inspired and invigorated to make positive change in the world. Three weeks have gone by and I'm, of course, bogged down by work and kids and my aspirations have dwindled a tad. However, I did buy her book. And I have read a few chapters. And I do think her message - both from her speech and book - are worthy of discussion.

For clarification, her message is not that men are bad people or leaders. She does not suggest that men shouldn't lead. She merely suggests that adding women to the leadership arena will have a positive impact.

By Andrea Moody

"Each of us has that right, that possibility, to invent ourselves daily. If a person does not invent herself, she will be invented. So to be bodacious enough to invent ourselves is wise." - Maya Angelou

Never more true are esteemed author and poet, Maya Angelou's words of wisdom than they are today in our competitive world. Any successful diva will tell you that success is a continuum and a real diva is able to honestly and critically look at herself, take inventory, and fine tune those details which are necessary to reinvent herself and her formula for success. A real diva is not a stereotype or created by someone else. Instead, she boldly invents and reinvents herself through her series of unique experiences and life lessons.

Richmond, VA (June 23, 2011) – After a successful first year with nearly 2,000 regular followers, the blog created for women by women has a new name – Courtroom Divas™. The blog, originally named Legal Divas Blog, will have an even savvier look and feel.

Courtroom Divas will focus on the many challenges and successes of female attorneys in the courtroom as well as help other professional women apply lessons learned to their own lives and careers.

The blog was launched on June 23, 2010, exactly one year ago, by female attorneys at Bowman and Brooke LLP, a national trial firm and pioneer in law firm diversity initiatives, to share ideas with female executives in law and other professions.

Since then, the blog has generated pages and pages of content and dialogue. Courtroom Divas will serve as a resource for female executives and professionals, updating them on best practices, benchmarking, current issues, and trends that disproportionately affect women in leadership, business, and law.

Believing the best way to help more women gain "diva" status and break through the glass ceiling, we are excited to create the Courtroom Divas as a targeted place where we can all share ideas.

By Eden Darrell

This month, DiversityInc published its list of Top 10 Companies for Asian Americans. According to DiversityInc, the companies that made the list have more Asian Americans on their boards of directors, at top level management, and in their workforce than other companies nationally, which means that they are better than others at recruiting, and more importantly, retaining and promoting Asian Americans. What makes them better? If you look at the description on diversityinc.com about how the companies made the list, you will see that all of the companies have Asian American talent development programs and employee resource groups, which ensure the inclusion and empowerment of their Asian American employees. Many of the companies on the list also have strong mentoring programs and contribute to Asian scholarship funds and nonprofit groups.

By Alana Bassin

Law 360 recently ran an article (April 11, 2011) entitled: Women Lawyers Less Valued, Lower Billing Rates Show. The article noted that male lawyers had an average billing rate of $312, while women averaged $259 per hour, according to an ALM Legal Intelligence survey of billing rates in small and midsize firms.

The underlying premise of the article is that this rate differential stems from undervaluing the work of female lawyers compared to that of male lawyers. In doing so, it suggests that men typically end up being the rainmakers while women are mentoring, doing committee work and developing firm capital. It further suggests that when women participate in business development pitches they don't get credit for the business within the firm. I take issue with both of these comments.

By Sandra Giannone Ezell

I had the smallest of glimpses of what it means to go viral last week when Jill Jacobson, former Legal Diva and now in-house lawyer, made her last post to our site. Because I have been "trained" in social media, I have (although I cannot remember how) created an auto feed for our posts to our Twitter account and my personal Linked In account. I want people to read our blog. I love our blog. We have worked very hard to stay interesting and relevant and I am personally excited to understand what the term "search engine optimization" means because it makes me feel cool. I am even more proud to contribute to our firm's SEO. Apparently, I have reached some success in proliferation and that would appear to be a good thing. But, as with anything, there is always the law of unanticipated consequences. It never occurred to me that when Jill said goodbye to all of you that so many of you would think I was leaving. I was fielding emails and calls for a number of days to the effect that I was still here, still in business, still trying cases, and still available for clients. It was both flattering and daunting. Thank you for reading, thank you for worrying, thank you for your emails and your calls. I am not going anywhere, I love my job, I love being a trial lawyer, I am staying. We are, however, saying goodbye, saying good luck, and looking for a new Diva and look forward to introducing her to you.