Andrea S. Kramer

Partner, McDermott Will & Emery LLP

Andrea S. Kramer is a partner in the international law firm of McDermott Will & Emery LLP where she heads the firm’s Financial Products, Trading and Derivatives Group.  Andie is a founding member of the firm’s Diversity Committee and co-chair of the Gender Diversity Subcommittee.  She previously served on both the firm’s Management and Compensation Committees.  Andie consistently demonstrates her commitment to improving gender diversity and workplace equality.   She is a co-author of What You Need to Know About Negotiating Compensation, a 2013 guide published by the ABA Task Force on Gender Equality.  Andie is the author of “Professional Advancement and Gender Stereotypes:  The Rules’ for Better Gender Communications”; “Self-Evaluations:  Dos and Don’ts”; “Additional Things Women Can Do For Themselves”; and “What Professional Organizations Should Do to Advance Their Women Leaders,” all of which were published in the Women’s Bar Association of Illinois Newsletter, Fall 2011, and which have been widely distributed and reprinted.  Andie is co-author of “Taking Control:  Women, Gender Stereotypes and Impression Management,” published in the Women’s Bar Association of Illinois Newsletter, Winter 2013-1014.  This article is a preliminary draft of a chapter in her forthcoming book, tentatively titled, Getting There:  Career Success for Women in a Gender-Biased World. 

Andie was featured in the February 2012 Chicago Lawyer magazine for her efforts in promoting gender equality.  She was featured as a “Remarkable Women” by the Chicago Tribune in August 2013 as a “Top Lawyer with a Corner Office” with a “Penchant for Platypuses and a Dream of Gender Equality.”  Andie has spoken at more than 50 national diversity conferences, trade association meetings, business — and webcasts on the importance of assuring women equal access to career opportunities and leadership roles.  She played a leading role in developing the Chicago Bar Association’s (CBA’s) “Call to Action,” designed to increase employment and advancement opportunities for women lawyers, while also serving on the working group that developed the compliance metrics with the CBA’s Call to Action goals.  McDermott was recognized as one of the leading Chicago law firms for women lawyers based on the results of the CBA’s Call to Action. 

Finding that mentorship opportunities for young professional women are limited in most professional organizations, Andie cofounded (2005) and now serves as chair of the Board of the Women’s Leadership and Mentoring Alliance (WLMA), a 501(c)(3) corporation that brings professional women together to mentor and support leadership opportunities for women of all stages of their careers.