Holmes Promotes “Authenticity” in Front of a Jury
According to a soon-to-be released survey of 3,000 lawyers by Joan Williams, University of California at Hastings law professor, there is a double standard for women lawyers expressing anger at work or in the courtroom when it’s justified. About to begin a six-to-eight-week federal trial, RSHC Managing Partner, former judge, and prosecutor, Patricia Brown Holmes shared, “… earn the trust of the judge and jury and show them that their stereotypes are wrong. One way that I do that is authenticity.”
In the August 6 ABA Journal article, “… when they (women) take the same action as a man, they may be judge differently,” said Deborah Rhode, director of the Center on the Legal Profession at Stanford Law School. Research by Williams shows that women lawyers are judged harsher when they display assertiveness, self-promotion, or anger. She advises using a strategy termed “gender judo.”