Career advice from a female lawyer in a male-dominated field

Interviewer 1: How was your experience going through the education system and getting your master’s degree at Harvard?

Ruth: Great. You know, I was married, actually. There weren't many opportunities for women in those days. There were only four women in my law school class. It was the 60s, and I think, in many ways, we were kind of a transitional generation of breaking ground in law, medicine, business, etc.

Interviewer 2: It's inspiring to hear about going through a field where women aren't represented that often, especially since you said you had a child before starting law school, right?

Ruth: Yeah, it really was a little crazy. But now I think law schools are more than 50% women. I don't know anything about medicine but probably the same. So it's a huge change.

Interviewer 1: Could you share any advice on how you overcame those barriers?

Ruth: You just do it. I don't know, I was lucky. A couple of the deans were interested in having women. And I think it's a lot easier today. You know, engineering, of course, and computer science was unheard of in our day. But just do it.

Interviewer 2: What got you first interested in law? Is there something that sparked that passion?

Ruth: I taught for each of those years in a different school. We were in Ohio for a year, and then we moved to Atlanta. My former husband was a doctor and spent two years at the CDC as part of the military. I had spent that year before in Cleveland and I had a baby in September, so I stayed home that year and sort of thought, “Now what?” 

I had a roommate from Smith who was at Harvard doing a master’s in history, which was what I had majored in. It all seemed very irrelevant at the time. But somebody said that I should think about law school. 

Anyways, I went down to Emory, which I'd barely heard of. I'd never been to the South, and the dean was very keen on getting women. All I had was my Smith transcript. I had nothing else. And this was like in August. He said, come because they had a part-time program. About a couple of months later, he came to me one day. He said, “I'm a little embarrassed to ask you this, but it's a requirement that all our students take the LSAT. The law school aptitude test. So would you mind taking it next Saturday?” 

Sometimes you have people that just open a door for you. I don't know whether that still happens, but I just loved it. I wanted to do something in public service. You know, I was married to a doctor. Back then, I never thought about earning a living or anything until we got divorced. 
But suddenly I thought, “I have to start thinking about earning a living.” So I've remarried, and my husband is here with me. We've been together 43 years, so it's a long time, but my first job was really in the Attorney General's office here in Massachusetts. You know, just public service, and then gradually, with the divorce, I went into private practice. I was in a firm in downtown Boston that's now the oldest firm in the city, and I was their first woman partner to claim fame. So, it just evolves.

You know, I wasn't into science much. Law just seemed to fit. And I always thought, you know, if this doesn't work, I can always drop out.

Interviewer 2: That’s good to hear now.

Ruth: Yeah, well, I mean, you've got lots of time. Don't even think about that. Just go for your interest. You know, I would not recommend that you think, “Oh, I want to be this.” Just go to college and just take a lot of courses and follow your interests. 

Don’t think about preparing for a college career. Don’t think about a career. The last president of Harvard gave some advice; I think it was just wonderful. He gave some advice to the first-year students when they were first here. He said that you have to help. Help those left behind. Treat school like a nine-to-five job, and control your time. I thought this was wonderful. Be slow to judge and instead understand. 

If you're interested in English literature, pursue that even if it's not going to get you a job. And he said career is often more than not the result of serendipity and chance. Even if those of you who went to public school feel intimidated by those who went to private school, by the second year, everybody's equal. But I love the idea of a career being serendipitous, you know. 

Interviewer 1: Do you think any of what he said applied to your life? Did you use any of that advice in any specific moments?

Ruth: Well, I love this statement. You know, don't judge. Just be curious. And he talked about how he had a roommate that was about as different as he was in college. Different love of music, different interests, different activities, and they've just become lifelong friends, you know? I mean, just be curious about people around you, but maybe you are already in high school, so you got this advice when you were a youth.