Thank you to my friend Marlene Fischer for suggesting this blog topic.

One of the largest law firms in the world has been in the news recently due to the content of an internal "Presentation Tips" memorandum that went viral. The memorandum was created by the Women’s Committee and distributed to only the firm’s female associates. Included in the memorandum were the following “tips:”

You’ve got to lose “Um” and “Uh,” “You Know,” “OK,” and “Like.”
Your friends will still like you afterwards, even if you adopt a more formal tone.
Think Lauren Bacall, not Marilyn Monroe.
Don’t giggle; Don’t squirm; Don’t tilt your head.
Practice hard words.
Watch out for the urinal position.
Wear a suit, not your party outfit.
No one heard Hillary the day she showed cleavage

The Presentation Tips Memorandum was sent to all the female associates of the firm across the country, which angered the female associates, who said it unfairly singled out women as air-headed and unprofessional. Copious internet commentators called the memorandum sexist and condescending. Surprisingly to me, many professional female commentators as well as the law firm, have defended the memorandum arguing that, as it was written by women, it was clearly an attempt to “help out” younger female lawyers by giving them advice from older more experienced female lawyers.

As someone who has trained numerous attorneys, both male and female, I have many thoughts on the contents of this memo, none of which are appropriate to publish here. Most importantly, though, given that the stated purpose of the memo was to allegedly“help out” its associates, I have to question why the firm did not send out an analogous memorandum to its male associates. Clearly, many of the “tips”offered in the memorandum are gender neutral and, one in particular, “watch out for the urinal position” seems particularly directed at men.

Is it acceptable to send out a memorandum like this to only female employees?