THE
Q&A INTERVIEW WITH ELLEN OSTROW, Ph.D.
On July 23, 2010, we interviewed Ellen Ostrow, Ph.D., CMC, a psychologist
and arguably America's premier coach for women attorneys. Unlike many
of our interviews over the years with academics, Ellen works in the
real world with organizations and, in her case, attorneys at both small
and very large firms. It was a fascinating conversation.
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About Ellen Ostrow, Ph.D., CMC
Ellen Ostrow is a psychologist, executive coach, and the founding
principal of Lawyers
Life Coach, LLC, a firm specializing in leadership, business development,
career, diversity and work/life integration coaching for lawyers and
consultation to legal employers. She is particularly known for her work
helping women and diverse attorneys to overcome barriers to their advancement
and to achieve career success without compromising the quality of their
lives. She is also passionate about positive psychology and, where appropriate,
actively applies it in her work.
After several years of providing psychological services to women attorneys,
it became clear to Ellen that many of these women were not seeking help
for the kinds of problems for which psychotherapy is designed.
Instead, these bright, high-functioning lawyers were trying to cope
with the challenges of working in an extremely demanding profession,
the norms of which reflect the lives of men far more than those of women.
Ellen founded Lawyers Life Coach LLC to provide professional coaching
services to women - and men - attorneys wanting to achieve professional
success without sacrificing those things that made their lives meaningful
and fulfilling.
Since founding Lawyers Life Coach in 1999, Ellen has gained international
recognition for her work advancing women in the legal profession and
on issues related to attorney well-being and is truly deep
in her niche.
She has been invited to address the American Bar Association, the National
Association of Law Placement, the National Association of Women Lawyers,
the state bar associations of Arkansas, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia,
North Carolina, Oklahoma and Texas, the women's bar associations of
Birmingham, Alabama, the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Maryland,
New Hampshire, North Carolina, Texas and Virginia, the Trial Lawyers
Associations of New York, Ohio and Virginia, the New York City Bar Association,
the Judicial and Bar meetings of the District of Columbia and New Orleans,
and the National Institute for Women Corporate Counsel, the Georgia
Association of Corporate Counsel and the Atlanta Association of Corporate
Counsel.
Ellen is particularly proud of her participation as a faculty member
in the Hastings Leadership Academy for Women Lawyers, the ABA Commission
on Women in the Profession's Women in Law Leadership Academy, and the
MIT Workplace's Advancing Women in the Profession conference.
Ellen was honored to participate as the only non-lawyer and non-Harvard
graduate at Harvard Law School Celebration 55: The Women's Leadership
Summit. Presenting to the Department of Justice Canada's Women of Justice
Person's Day was another career high point, as was her invited address
to Yale Law School and the University of Utah's Presidential Commission
on the Status of Women.
Ellen's newsletter, Beyond
the Billable Hour, has been reprinted by 30 print and electronic
legal publications throughout the world and in multiple languages. She
is a contributing author for The
New York Law Journal, Perspectives
(the publication of the ABA Commission on Women in the Profession),
the Legal
Times, the Complete Lawyer, Lawyers Weekly USA, Trial Magazine
and The Woman Advocate (2nd ed.).
Widely sought for press interviews, Ellen has been quoted in the New
York Times, the Washington Post, the Baltimore Sun, PINK
Magazine, Working Mother Magazine, MORE Magazine, Health Magazine and
Psychology Today as well as many legal publications including the
ABA Journal, Washington Lawyer, Of Counsel, the Legal Times,
Perspectives, the Florida Bar News, California Bar Journal,
and the Advocate.
Her work is described extensively in Sylvia Ann Hewlett's Creating
a Life and Joe Robinson's Work to Live.
Ellen is Co-Chair of the Board of the Third-Path Institute and a member
of the Advisory Committee of the Lawyers Assistance Program of the District
of Columbia Bar.
She received her Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Rochester
in 1980 and her coach training and certification from MentorCoach.
After earning her Ph.D., Ellen served on the psychology department
faculties of three universities and as a staff psychologist in the counseling
centers of four universities. She entered full-time independent practice
in 1987 and became a managing member of a multi-disciplinary group psychotherapy
practice in Washington, D.C. and suburban Maryland until transitioning
into coaching and consulting.
Ellen lives in Silver Spring, MD with her husband of 25 years and their
two cats. Her son is entering his junior year at the University of Nevada,
Las Vegas. Her step-daughter has an MBA, works in the HR area and lives
in Bel Air MD with her husband and two beautiful children.
