JD Journal » female lawyers

Good News/Bad News for Women in BigLaw

joshua — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 19:12:07 +0000

The National Association of Women Lawyers (NAWL) has released its fourth annual National Survey on Retention and Promotion of Women in Law Firms and the results are a mixed bag. On the up side, the compensation gap between male and female lawyers has shrunk, particularly among equity partners. On the down side, women continue to be extremely under represented on governing committees and on the list of managing partners. This year for the first time the survey also looked at revenue generation and found that women are also under represented on the lists of top rainmakers.

Last week Sullivan & Cromwell promoted five new partners, four of whom are women. The firm said policies aimed at recruitment and retention of female attorneys, such as maternity leave and flex time, were responsible for the growth in female partners.

Female Lawyers Still Earning Less Than Males

Erik Even — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 17:26:56 +0000

According to The Law Society, the representative body for solicitors in England and Wales, female solicitors earn 29% less than male colleagues in the UK.

This is slightly better than the 32% difference reported for 2007.

At the largest firms, the pay gap was 45% for 2008. Associates and assistants have the lowest pay gap, around 10%.

There was an 18% pay gap reported between Anglo-Saxon and ethnic minority solicitors.

The survey of 1,200 solicitors found that the genders work the same number of billable hours, but the men are paid more per hour.

The Law Society of England and Wales is the professional association that represents the solicitors’ profession in England and Wales. It provides services and support to practicing and training solicitors as well as serving as a sounding board for law reform. Members of the Society are often consulted when important issues are being debated in Parliament or by the executive. The society was formed in 1825.

Study: Biglaw Firms Must Do More for Diversity

Erik Even — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 17:48:41 +0000

A new study by the Minority Corporate Council Association says biglaw firms must do more to ensure that minority, female and LGBT attorneys have the same career opportunities as their white male counterparts.

The study, entitled “Sustaining Pathways To Diversity: The Next Steps in Understanding and Increasing Diversity & Inclusion in Large Law Firms,” is based on questionnaires completed by more than 4,000 attorneys at 124 different large firms.

Some findings:

The study found that fitting in with the majority culture at a firm is actually a better indicator of long-term success than top-tier law school credentials.
When it comes to professional development, landing plum assignments, and receiving satisfactory coaching and feedback, whites enjoy a significant advantage over all minorities.
There is a feeling among white men that minorities hired at firms are less qualified, even if they graduated from top law schools, because they were admitted through affirmative action programs.
The women and minority lawyers surveyed were less likely than their white male counterparts to feel that they are treated as equals by their peers. Also, 75% of white attorneys perceived that they had access to the training and development they needed, compared to 59% of minorities.
But the majority of minorities and women surveyed said they don’t think they are victims of race or gender discrimination.

PAR: Reduced Hours Better Than Layoffs

Erik Even — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 16:20:45 +0000

The Project for Attorney Retention says reducing associate working hours will save a firm more money than cutting associate positions.

PAR is an initiative of the Center of WorkLife Law at the University of California Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco, and advocates for reduced hours as a way for law firms to retain attorneys, particularly women and minorities.

PAR’s Joan Williams: “Our analysis shows that flexible downsizing with balanced hours may save as much or more than layoffs. Flexible downsizing also helps firms retain their investment in high-performing attorneys and avoid certain legal risks.”

The group says layoffs are costly and can lead to lower overall billable hours. Reduced hours give firms more flexibility to respond to changing workloads, without going an expensive hiring process when business returns.

Report: Women Still Not Making Partner

Erik Even — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 22:48:42 +0000

According to a report released by the San Francisco-based Project for Attorney Retention, which surveyed 100 American law firms, only 23 of those firms had partnership classes consisting of at least 40% women in 2008.

Fourteen of the 100 firms did not include any women.

The survey included 100 law firms, which were chosen based on prior years’ surveys, firm size, reputation, and availability of information.

From the report:

The best: Cravath (67%), Dickstein Shapiro (67%), Wiley Rein (60%), Andrews Kurth (57%), Bryan Cave (56%), Arent Fox (50%), Baker & Daniels (50%), Hogan & Hartson (50%), Holland and Hart (50%), King & Spalding (50%), Luce Forward (50%), Simpson Thacher (50%), and Sullivan & Cromwell (50%). A special mention goes to Farella Braun, whose only new partner is female (100%).

The worst: None of the following firms made a female partner this year: Cadwalader, Cleary Gottlieb, Dechert, Foley Hoag, Kaye Scholer, Lowenstein Sandler, Milbank, Schulte Roth, Steptoe, Strook, Venable, Wachtell, White & Case, and Wilkie Farr.

PAR is an initiative of the Center for WorkLife Law at the University of California Hastings College of the Law.

76% of Young Lawyers Happy with Their Career Choice

Erik Even — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 21:05:54 +0000

A new study by the American Bar Foundation, of 4,160 individuals who became lawyers in 2000, has found that 76% report they are either extremely or moderately satisfied with their decision to become an attorney.

From the ABA Journal:

The $1.8 million study is tracking the careers of lawyers over the course of 12 years. The attorneys were first interviewed in 2002, two years after they began practicing. The latest set of data comes from interviews conducted in 2007…

Among the study’s major findings was that, as lawyers move deeper into their careers, fewer and fewer work in private practice. It also found that women continue to have difficulty becoming equity partners in law firms and are still not paid as much as are men.

Between their second and seventh year of practice, 58 percent of the lawyers changed jobs, the study found.

Via ABA Journal.

Mentoring Program for Female Lawyers Redresses Discrimination

Erik Even — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 17:25:41 +0000

Hope you’re interested in Canada this morning. Canada.com has a story about the frustrations faced by female lawyers, and a new women’s professional mentoring program in Calgary.

Patricia McLeod bumped up against the invisible wall between female and male lawyers as a young articling student at a Vancouver law firm.

Male students were more frequently invited to football games by the firm’s partners, most of whom were men. More frustrating, when the men played on the company hockey team “the guys would get passed files in the locker-room,” says McLeod. Rubbing shoulders with partners and getting as many billable hours as possible could mean the difference between being kept on at the end of the year or not, she explains.

But when women at the firm decided to start holding get togethers of their own, “there was a huge objection to our ‘hen parties,’” says the 40-year-old…

“We were told we should join the hockey team.”

The Lilith Law Professional Development and Mentoring program launched in Calgary last week and is the first of its kind in Canada.

Patricia Blocksom, a senior partner with Dunphy Best Blocksom; Valerie Prather, a partner with Bennett Jones; and Ronnalee McMahon, a mentoring expert with Action Circle Consulting; all decided it was time to help younger female lawyers learn to navigate what Blocksom calls “the systemic barriers against women in the profession.”

Ten proteges are paired with 10 mentors. Proteges are usually associate lawyers who’ve been at a firm for three to five years but haven’t yet “made partner.” Mentors are typically senior lawyers, some partners with a financial stake in their firms.

In the formalized six-month program, proteges and mentors meet once a month for up to two hours. Contracts guaranteeing confidentiality are signed and goals are set. The entire group also gathers once a month for professional development sessions that feature guest speakers.

Via Canada.com.

Gibbons Wins Catalyst Award for Women’s Initiative

Erik Even — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 21:43:14 +0000

Newark, New Jersey’s Gibbons PC, a 230-attorney firm specializing in litigation, has been named one of the winners of the 2009 Catalyst Award.

Catalyst is a nonprofit organization working globally with businesses and the professions to build inclusive workplaces and expand opportunities for women and business. Catalyst annually honors exemplary organizational initiatives that promote women’s advancement with the Catalyst Award.

Gibbons’ initiative, The Women’s Initiative: Driving Success Through Diversity Investment, supports a workplace culture that is flexible, innovative, engaging, and inclusive. It is embedded in the firm’s business development strategy and has become critical to its branding in the marketplace.

In 2007, The Women’s Initiative generated more than 6% of the firm’s annual revenue. Women currently hold 21.1% of equity director positions, and the number of women directors overall increased from 13% in 1997 to 19% in 2008. Women of color directors increased from zero to 4.1% in the same time frame. Women also chair three of the firm’s nine practice groups.

Gibbons is a top law firm in the New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia and Delaware metropolitan regions and is ranked among the Am Law 200. The firm provides transactional, litigation, and counseling services to leading businesses nationwide. The firm was recently ranked one of the top 50 firms nationwide for working women by Working Mother magazine, and among the top 100 firms in the nation for diversity by Multi-Cultural Law magazine.

UK Firm to Female Lawyers: Try to Dress More Feminine. But Don’t Be a Slut!

Erik Even — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 17:49:07 +0000

Magic Circle law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP apparently has a lot of money lying around, a lot of free time, and a complete collection of Mad Men DVDs.

They have hired “image consultants” to give their female employees advice on how to dress more “appropriately” for the workplace. This advice seems to be “don’t dress like a man” but “don’t be a slut.”

The original Daily Mail story link is broken, but on Feministe:

Female lawyers at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer have been advised to team their stilettos with skirts rather than trousers to ‘embrace their femininity’.But they can’t embrace it too much.

Necklaces, they have been warned, should be avoided as they could draw undue attention to the bustline.

That’s right, ladies! Enough with the comfort, already. Be prettier and more womanly for us — but not too pretty. No one likes a skank. What, is this advice straight out of the 40s?

But the best advice is actually for the men…

And in a bid to keep everything above board, male employees have been told not to allow their ties to hang below their belts for fear of drawing unwanted attention to their nether regions.

Yeah. Um… does that work?

Via Daily Mail (link broken), via WSJ Law Blog, via Feministe.

UPDATE: The Daily Mail link is back.

Female Partners in DC Firms Take More Part-Time Hours Than Men

Erik Even — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 18:10:07 +0000

An interesting story at the DC Examiner, about the results of a study from the National Association for Law Placement:

Female partners in DC law firms are taking part-time hours at nearly three times the rate that men are, a new study has found.There are nearly 6,000 partners in 131 big law firm offices in Washington, the nation’s second-largest law market. Less than 5 percent of the partners are part-timers, but women make up nearly three-quarters of the part-time ranks...

Less than 2 percent of New York partners are working part time and of those, about two-thirds are women…

The study suggests that women, even big time professional women laywers, still do the bulk of family care. Fourteen percent of all US workers hold part-time positions, including in the professions of engineering, architecture and medicine.

But lawyers make their money from billable hours, and its almost impossible to make partner if you’re not working every hour you can.

Read the original story.

Report: Women Partners Make 2% Gain

Erik Even — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 23:05:33 +0000

Female lawyers make up 45% of associates at US law firms, but only about 19% of partners, according to October numbers from the National Association for Law Placement.

Those percentages are up just slightly from the same data collected in 2003, when women made up 43% of associates and 17% of partners, the Washington, DC-based organization reports.

Ohio is above the curve, with females making up nearly 67% of associates and 27% of partners.

In November, the Chicago Bar Association’s Alliance for Women campaign said that one quarter of participating law firms achieved the goal of increasing female partner ranks by three percentage points between 2004 and 2007.

Via Dayton Business Journal.