In August of 2004, the Women’s Leadership Forum (WLF) was established to further the firm’s commitment to the strategic retention and advancement of women and to provide a forum for our women attorneys to discuss issues and share information. A driving force for its creation was the recognition that as a national law firm we have an enormous amount of wisdom, experience and vision within our midst, which, when collected and shared internally and externally, can empower women at all levels in their careers to achieve success and satisfaction.

The WLF was the driving force behind the Coalition of Women’s Initiatives in Law Firms, which provides the leaders of women’s initiatives in Chicago law firms with a venue for sharing information and programming. Katten also was a lead signatory to the Chicago Bar Association’s “Call to Action” project, which promotes women’s leadership in the legal profession.

Additional examples of steps we take to fulfill our WLF mission include:

Professional Development
Mentoring Program
Internal Events
External Events
Annual Client Events
Recruitment
Surveys
Community Service

Professional Development
The WLF has been instrumental in organizing firmwide training in areas such as business development and networking.

Mentoring Program
The WLF has organized mentoring groups to create better lines of communication among women attorneys within the firm, with the goal of promoting professional growth and increasing retention of talented female attorneys. These mentoring groups, which meet regularly, consist of attorneys at different stages in their professional and personal lives who practice in various areas of law.

Internal Events
The WLF hosts regular internal events and roundtable sessions to discuss specific issues that affect women in the legal workplace today, including leveraging a professional presence, balancing work and life, how to achieve financial wellness and unleashing the power of personality for more success.

External Events
The WLF has joined hands, as an active event sponsor, with several community organizations that support and advance the value of women in business, including the following:

• American Bar Association’s Women Rainmakers Section
• Charlotte Business Women of the Year Leadership Forum and Luncheon
• Charlotte Women’s Bar Association
• Chicago Bar Association’s Alliance for Women
• Los Angeles Women’s Rights Committee on Human Rights Watch
• Simpson Academy for Young Women
• Women’s Bar Association of Illinois
• Women’s Bar Foundation
• Women’s Board of the American Cancer Society
• Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles

Annual Client Events
Katten’s Chicago, New York, Los Angeles and Charlotte offices each host an annual client event specifically for women in business and law. The purpose of these events is to network with women clients and colleagues in the local area, to showcase our women attorneys and demonstrate the firm’s commitment to diversity and women’s issues.

Recruitment
The firm is a regular sponsor of the Northwestern School of Law Women’s Leadership Coalition, and Katten women attorneys provide support in the form of mentoring and education by serving as panelists for ongoing programming for women law students.

Katten is also a sponsor of the annual conference at Harvard Law School.

Surveys
Katten was named as one of Working Mother magazine & Flex-Time Lawyers 50 Best Law Firms for Women for the last three years and one of Working Mother’s 100 Best Companies in 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010. In addition, the firm was named as one of MultiCultural Law magazine’s Top 100 Law Firms for Diversity for the past five years.

Katten participates in the Presumed Equal Survey: What America’s Top Women Lawyers Really Think About Their Law firms, which facilitates a conversation between law students, practicing attorneys and law firm leaders about issues that are important to women. It also allows participating firms to reflect on their womens’ initiatives, which instigates positive change.

Community Service
Katten’s Women’s Leadership Forum is committed to volunteering and sponsoring various service projects at Simpson Academy for Young Women, the only Chicago Public School exclusively for pregnant and parenting students (grades 6–12). The firm’s attorneys engage students in a variety of projects designed to help them develop critical life skills, particularly in the areas of parenting and careers.