Washington Lawyer - March/April 2025 - 28

FEATURE
Henriques faced
challenges when
she first opened her
practice. Judges excoriated
her for arriving
a few minutes
late, and new
clients didn't believe
she was an attorney
because, as
a woman of color,
she didn't look like
who they expected.
She refused to let
her anger at the
blatant bias overcome
her, though
maintaining composure
sometimes
took effort.
GENNIVIEVE HENRIQUES
Henriques Law & Mediation Group
Most of the time,
Henriques says,
opposing counsel
were white men. Once, she was waiting outside the courtroom, dressed
in a suit, when the opposing counsel team arrived.
" They started discussing their strategies in
front of me, " she says. " They thought I was the
court reporter! " When the courtroom finally
opened for her client's hearing, the attorneys realized
their error. Henriques laughs, recalling, " I
didn't hear anything helpful to my client, but I
loved the look on their faces when I walked in! "
A SHIFT IN ATTITUDES
Women lawyers have also faced other challenges
as they juggle careers and caregiving. At a time
when women with children under the age of six
made up 24 percent of the labor force, Odell had
few models for how to be a full-time trial lawyer
and a mother - there were so few women litigators
to begin with.
Odell, who was single at the time, adopted two
babies and raised them with the help of her family.
" I had great support from everybody - my
mother, father, and sister. I wanted my career, but
it didn't seem like I couldn't have both. I did have
both, " she says.
Odell's family pitched in to watch her children,
and she paid for childcare. One time she asked the
Florida Supreme Court law clerks to watch her
baby while she argued a case because her babysitter
had not shown up. In hindsight, she recognizes
that she was fortunate to have resources and
support that many women lawyers do not.
28 WASHINGTON LAWYER
* MARCH/APRIL 2025
Henriques, married at 22, wanted children as well. She and her husband
raised two children, one of whom had special needs. She remembers
times when judges were rigid and unreasonable in scheduling court
dates. In the last few years it has gotten easier to set boundaries between
work and home, Henriques says, and judges are more accepting
today and have a greater awareness of the need for mental health and
self-care.
" Things have changed in terms of people respecting the fact that, as a female
attorney, you might need family time, " she says. " The men are also
recognizing that it's important for them to spend time with their family. "
FULL EXPRESSION OF HUMANITY
In the last five years, especially at the height of the pandemic, women
lawyers struggled with burnout to a troubling degree. The stressors are
numerous, from untenable billable hour requirements to work-family
conflicts to an adversarial structure that Shirley Horng calls " draining. "
Horng, who worked for 17 years for a legal services provider, found the
winner-take-all mentality to be emotionally depleting, even when she
was winning cases. Despite this, she remained committed to public interest
law. " My job was everything, " she says, " but when I entered a different
chapter in my life, I had to adjust. "
In just a few years, Horng experienced a life-threatening childbirth and a
pulmonary embolism, and her priorities shifted. These health crises were
SHIRLEY HORNG
Former Legal Services Attorney
Washington Lawyer - March/April 2025

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