Litigation
Jun. 15, 2002
Dressing for Success
Top 30 Women Litigators - N. Denise Taylor - After a legal publication chose her as Defense Trial Lawyer of the Year in 1997, Los Angeles attorney N. Denise Taylor had to wait months to get the plaque commemorating her honor.
N. Denise Taylor
After a legal publication chose her as Defense Trial Lawyer of the Year in 1997, Los Angeles attorney N. Denise Taylor had to wait months to get the plaque commemorating her honor.
That's because the statue on the award always had come in the shape of a man, she says.
Taylor has come across other examples of sexism in the legal profession. Aside from occasional chauvinistic judges and opposing counsel, she senses female litigators also are treated differently by the jury.
For example, a male attorney can get away with wearing only two different suits during a two-week trial, she says.
"If we did that, it would be a big problem," the partner at Bonne Bridges Mueller O'Keefe & Nichols says. "It's cultural, I guess. Jurors are constantly commenting on your outfits."
Taylor, 44, ought to know; she's had at least 60 trials during her career in medical malpractice defense. The last plaintiffs' verdict against her came in 1993, she says.
With so much experience, medical terms such as "glottic web" and "hypoxia" don't faze her. It didn't hurt that, growing up, she worked at her physician father's office.
The Indianapolis native is a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates. She also sits on the board of the Association of Southern California Defense Counsel.
On her way to success, she admits having stepped on some toes.
"My so-called abrasiveness has probably mellowed over the years," she says. "I know so."
Eron Yehuda
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