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Study Shows Masculine Name Can Better Odds of Success in the Legal Field

By Carolyn Elefant

Looking to improve your odds of finding a job in the legal profession these days? If you're a woman, perhaps a name change might do the trick. The Vancouver Sun reports on a study by the American Law and Economics Review that shows "females with masculine names fare far better in legal careers than females with feminine names." According to the study, changing a woman's name from something feminine to a gender-neutral name increases the odds of her becoming appointed a judge by five percent, and moving from a feminine name to an exclusively male name -- like Bruce -- can quintuple her chances. I'm not convinced that names matter when it comes to the legal profession. After all, Sonia Sotomayor, Sandra O'Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsberg have all made it to the pinnacle of the profession in spite of their feminine names. Do you have any proof that the gender of a name matters for lawyers these days?

Full post as published by Legal Blog Watch on September 02, 2009 (boomark / email).