Guide to Latest Reports Covering Women in Law
Written by Sam Abeysekera on Feb. 23rd 2021
Here’s a quick guide to two of the latest reports, released in February 2021, covering women in law.
Thanks to the National Association of Women Lawyers (NAWL) for their report on the Promotion and Retention of Women in Law Firms, and the National Association for Law Placement (NALP) for their report on Diversity in U.S. Law Firms (links below).
Though the reports are discouraging, there is a silver lining:
If you’re a female lawyer, remember that you can control one thing. You can develop your own book of business.
Then, no matter what, whether you eventually go out on your own or want more leverage to get to the next level at your firm or somewhere else, you have the means to do it.
If you’re an employer, the call is to let this data encourage you to address any inequality in your corner of the legal profession and leave a real legacy.
1. Key problems identified using NAWL data (pre-pandemic):
Lack of Progress
● The numerical results of the 2020 survey are a near-exact replication of those from 2017 to 2019. Women's progress in law firms over the last decade has been slow and incremental at best.
● There's been little progress in recent years in the representation of women and diverse attorneys, particularly at the more senior levels of the law firm.
● Change at this glacial pace will continue to result in future generations of lawyers entering a profession where women and diverse attorneys are underrepresented in power and influence.
Lack of Bias Interruption at Senior Levels
● Firms are most intentional with respect to bias interruption practices in the early stages of the attorney career lifecycle, such as hiring, but less so at the latter stages, including partnership and firm management.
● Men see their representation increase through the career lifespan from associate to partner, whereas all women see their representation decrease.
● Law firms prefer activities that signal a commitment to diversity but that aren’t guaranteed to produce it.
● This suggests that barriers women and diverse attorneys face have not yet been adequately addressed in ways that allow and encourage them to stay in law firms for the long haul.
Compensation Inequity
● Gender-based compensation disparities are more pronounced in the later stages of career advancement.
● Most firms are not willing to reduce the impact of origination credit distributions in ways that might encourage sharing.
● Research suggests that less standardized, more subjective processes for succession planning are ripe for the influence of biases.
● On average, the total number of relationship partners assigned to the top-30 clients was 61. 23% are women.
● There is no significant difference between the average billable and total hours logged for associates, non-equity partners, or equity partners based on gender.
● However, men made more across the board. The lowest-paid man still made noticeably more than the lowest-paid woman, and the highest-paid man-made noticeably more than the highest-paid woman.
● Ninety-four percent (94%) of responding firms reported that their most highly compensated attorney is a man (compared to 93% in 2019 and 2018).
Lack of Leadership Roles
● Women have been consistently underrepresented among the leadership positions in the law firm, such as on the governance committee(s) that oversee the operations of the firm and often set compensation.
2. Key Findings (NALP):
Associates
● In 2020, Black women associates (3.04%) finally exceeded the 2009 figure of 2.93%. Despite this, the level increased by just one-tenth of a percentage point over 11 years.
Partners
● In 2020, women, people of color, and women of color made small improvements; however, all remain markedly underrepresented within the partnership ranks.
● Less than four percent of all partners are women of color — a figure that remains abysmally low due to the significant underrepresentation of women and people of color at the partnership level across all firm sizes and most jurisdictions.
● Worse, Black women and Latinx women continued to represent less than 1% of all partners in U.S. law firms.
Equity Partners
● Equity partners in multi-tier law firms continue to be disproportionately white men. In 2020, approximately one in five equity partners were women (21.3%), and only 8.1% were people of color.
Conclusion:
Thanks to these reports, we have another reminder of the work that must be done to ensure the law profession has equal representation.
As you can see from this data, we are not building the profession in the right way. Even before the pandemic. More so, now. So, we must course-correct.
Let’s get to it!
Sources:
1) National Association of Women Lawyers (NAWL): Report on Promotion and Retention of Women in Law Firms
2) National Association for Law Placement (NALP): Report on Diversity in U.S. Law Firms
Sam Abeysekera
Sam is dedicated to empowering female partners and founders in the legal industry to break through barriers and redefine success. As the lawyer's advocate, she equips her clients with strategies to become seasoned rainmakers and thrive within the dynamics of law firm culture, all while maintaining balance and authenticity.
