For women such as Sheri Porath Rockwell JD 1992, who took a hiatus from her legal career to focus on her family, returning to the workplace can pose significant challenges. Fortunately, she discovered the OnRamp Fellowship, a re-entry platform that matches experienced women returning to law firms, legal departments and financial services firms for year-long paid positions.
After graduating from Gould, Sheri held a clerkship with Greenberg Glusker, where she developed her career until she was a seventh year associate. At that point, she chose to leave the firm to focus on her family. She became active in managing a family business in affordable housing property management, as well as community work and volunteering with her children's school.
Seventeen years later, Sheri decided it was time to return to work in her chosen field and began seeking opportunities in law firms. The response was less than positive. One firm even noted that she did not ‘fit the model' for their needs and questioned whether or not she could still do the work. Sheri was frustrated and started to doubt her legal skills after such a long hiatus. "When women take time off from legal careers but remain involved in work, they are sometimes under the illusion that they are staying in the game, when in reality they are not," she said.
One day during an internet search, Sheri discovered OnRamp, which currently partners with 29 law firms and six in-house legal departments across the U.S., the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia. Since the organization's inception in 2014 it has placed 53 Fellows, while 85 percent of women who have successfully completed the Fellowship have received full-time permanent offers of employment.
Through OnRamp's admissions process, Sheri was given a battery of tests and took part in a lengthy phone interview. She met with Sidley Austin LLP and was offered a fellowship position as a litigation associate. Through her first year with the firm, OnRamp provided important/meaningful support including a career coach, monthly calls and a three day conference in the Bay Area which focused on issues and opportunities for lawyers re-entering the work force. "I am very thankful to both OnRamp and Sidley for giving me this opportunity and the support needed to continue my legal career," she said. "Although it has been challenging in some ways, I feel that women like me with diverse life experiences can really bring a lot to the table." At the conclusion of the fellowship year, Sidley offered Sheri a more permanent position as an associate with the firm.
Jennifer Hagle, a partner in the Los Angeles office of Sidley Austin LLP, has been closely involved with OnRamp since its inception and thinks it has been an incredible asset to the firm. Sidley Austin has made offers to 11 OnRamp Fellowship candidates at its U.S. offices, all of which have been accepted.
"The OnRamp Fellowship has allowed us to revisit a pipeline that we initially helped to fill. This includes women who have taken time off for various reasons, from raising families to building businesses," she noted. "OnRamp only refers candidates to law firms after a very thorough vetting process and the women come to us with an entirely different set of life skills, maturity and judgment than others at this career level. We could not be more pleased with the success of this program."
OnRamp is currently recruiting for over 60 positions in Northern and Southern California. The next application deadline is Sept.11, 2017. To start an application, please click here.
To learn more, attend OnRamp's next free information session in September, LinkedIn and Social Media: Building Your Network. To register, email [email protected].
