Innovative. Driven. Persistent. Determined. Powerful. Some of the adjectives used to describe lawyers. They bust into courtrooms and command the audience for their client, negotiate contracts with vigor, become judges and officials, even professors. Asians and Asian Americans have come into the legal profession, but are, unfortunately, underrepresented and often see less opportunities for growth than their white coworkers.
“I know if I work harder than anyone else, apply more force, I’ll make partner.” A line delivered by the main character of Netflix’s new hit, Partner Track. It perfectly exemplifies the struggle and fight for higher roles in law, especially for Asians. The show follows Ingrid Yun, a senior associate seeking the role of junior partner at her law firm. At first glance, she seems to be the only Korean speaking Asian American on the team, but it is mentioned later on by another character that two of the new lawyers coming in are Asian. Still, compared to the overwhelming amount of her white male counterparts, the show begins to expose how unbalanced the workforce is. Yun’s mentor is also Asian, but she hardly talks in the early scenes, and it is hard for Yun to find common ground with her, maintaining the notion that being one of the few Asians working in law can be alienating and can make it difficult to rise through the ranks. Not to mention, being alone in such a way can also be a strain on mental health.
Research on Asian Americans in law by Harvard introduces some alarming statistics. For instance, although the number of Asian Americans in law school has quadrupled over the past three decades, totaling 7 percent of all enrollments, that number has dropped by 43 percent since 2009. It is “the largest decline of any racial or ethnic group.” (The Practice) Asian Americans are more likely to work in law firms or business settings after law school, seeing a very small amount going on to work in government. In fact, “few Asian Americans report that gaining a pathway into government or politics was a primary reason they attended law school.” (The Practice) Even though few state that as the reason, those who go on to work in firms or business have the highest attrition rates and have the lowest ratio of partners to associates. They have small numbers when it comes to those on the supervisory level. Only three Asian Americans served as U.S. Attorneys in 2016 and only four served as elected district attorneys in 2014 nationwide. Most Asian American attorneys even reported that they had poor access to mentors and contacts, creating a huge barrier in career advancement. Something that the main character in Partner Track experiences.
It can be heartbreaking and soul crushing to go into one of the most challenging professions, traverse the beast that is law school, battle the dragon that is the bar exam, and not be able to reach your goals because of an unbalanced and unfair workplace. In Partner Track, Ingrid Yun’s one goal is to make junior partner. She is intelligent, quick, and fierce. However, in her struggle to climb, she is worried about the two white men she is up against, one of which steals her idea to make himself primary on a case, kicking her off it. That case would have directly led her to junior partner. The show starts there with her true struggle, of being not just a woman, but an Asian American woman in law, with poor access to mentors and people that try to take advantage of her being a minority and the perceptions that exist in the workplace that make it difficult for her.
In one scene, as she is welcoming her new clients with the help of her paralegal, a young, brown haired Caucasian man, her client moves straight past her and shakes his hand, assuming he is the senior associate. “When you get a sec, can we get some Pellegrino brought up?” he says to Yun. The paralegal is dumbstruck, and Yun raises a brow in distaste. Much to her client’s surprise, she redirects that request to her paralegal. After which her client says, “No hard feelings, I hope. You just don’t look a day over 18 to me. You folks are lucky that way, right?” She handled the situation with patience and poise, though it was clear that it bothered her.
“It’s happened to me many times. I’m not surprised.” Mary Lee commented when asked about this type of situation. A litigator herself, working as a solo practitioner for Mary K. Y. Lee PC and a board member both for AACA and the Central Boston Elder Services, Mary spoke on some of her own experiences in the workplace. “When I first started, I went to the courthouse, and I went to security. As an attorney we just show our bar card but when I first showed my bar card, they were shocked. It took them three minutes to realize I was an attorney.”
The lack of representation both in the workplace and media of Asians and Asian Americans in law may be the cause, perpetuating stereotypes, and perceptions. Mary has even been mistaken for an interpreter on several occasions. “I don’t blame anyone for doing this. Because maybe they don’t see enough of us. That’s why having a show like this is important so the world can see that there are Asian women attorneys. Let’s turn this into something positive. Like a learning experience. I think if we make it into something negative that creates more animosity and that makes people less receptive to what we are trying to convey. We can be lawyers, doctors, we can be journalists. We are normal human beings like everyone else.”
And everyone has depth, individuality, skills and talents and passions that go beyond stereotypes and what people look like. Partner Track displays an Asian woman in the legal profession, but it also gives a possibly narrow perception of Asians or Asian Americans. “I appreciate the fact that there’s a platform.” Mary said. “There is a visibility that is given to us. We as Asians are not just restaurant owners, laundromat workers, or factory workers. There is visibility of Asians working in a law firm on the Partner Track. But there is a broader message. Any tv series, any media exposure we get, it should be more realistic. Like Fresh Off The Boat. Let’s not stereotype us. The public could get the wrong impression and when they get that wrong impression the stereotype persists. So, let’s be real about this.”
Dispelling myths and stereotypes about different races are important when trying to communicate who they are outside of how they are perceived. Ingrid Yun is displayed, from the start, as a hard worker that doesn’t have room for much else in her life. “If you ask anybody, they will say that Asians are hard workers. We Asians are hard workers, but not everyone is a hard worker. We slack. I know people who slack.” Mary said with a laugh. “I slack sometimes. Why do they have to label us as hard workers? What does that mean. We have no opinion, even in the law firm. We just work. We work hard to get to where we are. What about the fact that we have innate talents? The fact that we are passionate about the law? Not everybody has that talent. It takes talent. It’s not just hard work. It’s a combination of factors. It’s a totality of their life experiences and education. Hard work doesn’t define who we are in our life.”
When asked more about Ingrid’s character, Mary talked about how they could have expanded more on Ingrid’s passions, her talent and intelligence, making her more than just a hard worker. “When you emphasize too much of Asians as working hard, that really overshadows our true identity as individuals and ignores that we have individualities. It’s very easy to categorize us. I think in order to really dispel the myth is to portray us as who we are. Show something that says we are individuals, that shows we can be something else, not just hard workers.”
An accurate and realistic representation of Asians in the workplace, and in different jobs, can help to dispel stereotypes and certain perceptions. Partner Track is leading the way for representation in the legal profession but as that visibility continues, hopefully it will include the individuality of the person that extends beyond racial stereotypes, expanding the rest of society’s mindset. There is more to each person. “There’s more to all of us.” Mary concluded. “Whether we are Black, Asian, Latinos Whites. If we focus too much on the negatives, that really limits that openness, that circulation for exchange and dialogue. Let’s try to understand and communicate with each other and find some positivity in all of us.”
