Transitions Legal is a Female-Led Family Law Firm

by Alisa Peskin-Shepherd | Mar 1, 2021 | Family Law

When I created my own law firm, I did not do so to be a female-owned business. I simply wanted to practice in the unique way that I viewed family law, as a transition rather than an ending or a beginning, without judgment and with support for those going through this life transition.

Now that I’ve been in business for eight years, I realize that being woman-owned IS significant. As we step into Women’s History Month and approach International Women’s Day on March 8, I want to share my perspective on the significance of being woman-owned and female-led.

Alisa Peskin-Shepherd in the conference room of her Bloomfield Hills, Michigan office

While the march toward equal rights began in the 1970s, we are still working hard to make the workplace equitable and accessible for women, who constitute half the world’s population.

We are still facing stereotypes and being sidelined because of our gender. Thus, the more businesses that are owned by women, the more we will see equitable perspective and opportunity in America’s workplaces.

According to the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO), more than 11.6 million businesses are female-owned in the United States, employing nearly 9 million people and generating $1.7 trillion in sales.

Women-owned firms constitute nearly 40% of all businesses. One in five firms with revenue of $1 million or more is owned by a woman.

Women become business owners for a variety of reasons – among them, being ready to be your own boss, a desire to pursue a passion, or a dissatisfaction with corporate America and the lack of equitable opportunity.

Interestingly, women are more likely to start a business than men. Studies show that 62 percent of women depend on income from a small business as a primary source of household income.

And yet, women still earn less than men. One reason so many women go into business for themselves is to right this long-held wrong.

I started Transitions Legal because I believed I could do more in my legal practice if I created my own firm. I know I’m not alone in this belief, as I’ve aligned with other women entrepreneurs to talk about the very real challenges we face as well as the pride and passion we pour into our work.

These are not gender-specific goals; rather, it’s representative of a very human desire to be more, do more, and have more control over our lives.

At the end of the day, I don’t run my law firm as a woman, even though I am one. I run it as a person with passion for the law and compassion for my clients.

I bring a singular perspective and decades of experience to my work, and trust that my clients hire me not because of my gender, but because they believe I will represent them better than anyone else.

In order to be blind to gender, we must first create an equal playing field so that details like gender truly don’t matter in the practice of law or the transactions of business. Until that day, I’ll proudly tout the woman-owned nature of my law firm.