Home

Big Law Firms Only Slowly Hiring More Women
Download PDF
1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (No Ratings Yet)
Loading...

The gap between male and female lawyers is slowly closing in Big Law firms, up from 15 percent of partners in 2003 to 18.8 percent today. Commentators opine that Big Law culture is slowly changing to make room for female talent, but the gap is only slowly growing.

The figure of 18.8 percent was produced by the National Law Journal, which interviewed 221 firms. The findings suggest that women fare better at single-tier firms, where all partners are on the same career track (at 17.6 percent of equity partners) but less so in two-tier systems, where there are different tracks for different partners (at only 14.7 percent). The reason for this is unclear, but Elizabeth Trusi, the chair of Women in Law Empowerment Forum, claims that “I think it’s no secret that women are disproportionately affected by firms with more than one tier,” perhaps suggesting that they are pushed out of the equity ranks.

Some firms, however, are higher than average with their number of equity partners, making five exceptions, with Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernssen & Loewy at 42 percent female equity partners, Jackson Kelly at 28.4 percent, Ice Miller at 26.9 percent, Best Best & Krieger at 26.7 percent, and Ford & Harrison at 26.1 percent. Meanwhile, Cad-Walader has become the lowest, at 6.6 percent, down from 10.3 percent in 2003.

  
What
Where


Big Law Firms that have profits of more than $2 million per partner are up, with 11 having over 15 percent equity, and some over 20 percent.

Nevertheless, the disparity has only slowly changed, and this despite mentorships for females and attempts to establish work / life balance programs. Firms could need more of these things, or perhaps the figures have a cause beyond firm culture. The National Association of Women Lawyers claimed in a 2011 report that women had been “fixed” at 15 percent for equity partners for the past 20 years, but who did the fixing and why is not transparent.

Get JD Journal in Your Mail

Subscribe to our FREE daily news alerts and get the latest updates on the most happening events in the legal, business, and celebrity world. You also get your daily dose of humor and entertainment!!






 

RELEVANT JOBS

Associate Attorney

USA-PA-Exton

ASSOCIATE ATTORNEY McKenna Snyder LLC, a law firm in Exton, PA has an immediate opening for an ex...

Apply now

Attorney

USA-MI-Sturgis

Qualifications: HaasCaywood is seeking associate attorneys for our Coldwater and Sturgis, Michiga...

Apply now

Attorney

USA-MI-Coldwater

Qualifications: HaasCaywood is seeking associate attorneys for our Coldwater and Sturgis, Michiga...

Apply now

Deputy General Counsel / Senior Deputy General Counsel

USA-CA-Sacramento

Cal Cities Culture and Mission Cal Cities is dedicated to creating a collaborative and inclusive ...

Apply now

BCG FEATURED JOB

Locations:

Keyword:



Search Now

Education Law Attorney

USA-CA-El Segundo

El Segundo office of a BCG Attorney Search Top Ranked Law Firm seeks an education law attorney with ...

Apply Now

Education Law Attorney

USA-CA-Carlsbad

Carlsbad office of a BCG Attorney Search Top Ranked Law Firm seeks an education law attorney with 4-...

Apply Now

Education Law and Public Entity Attorney

USA-CA-El Segundo

El Segundo office of a BCG Attorney Search Top Ranked Law Firm seeks an education law and public ent...

Apply Now

Most Popular

SEARCH IN ARCHIVE

To Top