Female attorneys need to be more strategic than men to advance their careers, says Valerie Bell, an attorney, civil rights activist, and policy consultant in Clayton, Mo., who began her career in a New York law firm and later worked for a state economic development agency.

"Being as excellent as you can is key because it sets the tone for so many other things," Bell says. "Your own excellence becomes a strategy for being able to negotiate on your own behalf."

Women often face issues related to maternity that can slow their advancement in their firms, but there are also other stumbling blocks that affect all women. Bell, who is African American, once found out that her name had been removed from a large, extensive research memo she had prepared for a client, and that a white male had been asked to present the memo. "I thought I was going to go ballistic, but it's important in those situations to keep calm," she says. The next day, she went to the partner for whom she had done the work and demanded an explanation. He sheepishly - but honestly - told her the client did not feel comfortable with women or blacks." My response was, next time find a white guy to do the hard work," she says.  Find out more in the August Illinois Bar Journal.