women in large law firms

On a Tightrope

Anonymous — Mon, 5 Jan 2009 15:31:15 -0600

In her New York Times piece, The Tightrope of Managing a Law Office, Anita J. Cicero discusses the challenges of being an office managing partner.

Watching management issues unfold each week is like watching TV when someone else controls the remote. One moment you’re watching a documentary, then — click! — it’s a thriller, then a drama, then the evening news. Switching among unfolding story lines, focusing on practical and fair solutions and trying to remember to prepare that agenda for a 4 p.m. teleconference make for stimulating and often exhausting days.

At 43, a relatively young partner at Drinker, Biddle & Reath, Cicero sought out advice and support from friends and nearby law firm managers.

NAWL’s 2008 National Survey on Retention and Promotion of Women in Law Firms, Part II

Peg — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 11:04:58 -0600

Now for the second part of the NAWL survey that I found particularly interesting this year: the finding that "For both male and femail lawyers, moving (laterally moving between firms) is likely to be a better strategy than staying in the lawyer's original firm." This finding was interesting to me (perhaps more than others) because I have no intention of ever making a lateral move and every intention to make partner at my current firm. This finding was surprising to me since I was under the impression that law firm management wasn't happy about the ease at which young lawyers move from one firm to another. I have been told that there is generational strife between baby boomers in law firm management that were brought up to be loyal and Gen X and Y'ers who have no sense of loyalty whatsoever. The fact that laterals are more likely to make partner seems to fly in the face of that. Afterall, behaviors that are rewarded are likely to be replicated by others. The NAWL reports states:

The market for lateral partners impacts promotion to equity partner. ... Laterals account for roughly two-thirds of women and three-quarters of mthe men who were newly promoted to equity partnership. A startling 31% of new equity partners are recent laterals, suggesting that they were specifically recruited for or negotiated a move for equity positions. It also appears that males are recruited more often for equity partnership than females. Firm structure impacts the extend to which home-grown lawyers or lateral hires are promoted to equity partner. One-tier firms are almost equally likely to promote women form within or import female talent, while two-tier and mixed-tier firms are much more likley to import equity level women lawyers than to advance their home-grown women lawyers.

NAWL’s 2008 National Survey on Retention and Promotion of Women in Law Firms, Part I

Peg — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 13:00:42 -0600

So, it is that time of year and NAWL released it's 2008 Survey report yesterday. Truthfully, there isn't much to write about this survey that you can't learn by reading the report and posts about it from last year. The numbers have not really changed. However, there are two things in the report that I would like to discuss: (1) the "tier" structure of a law firm's partnership and how that impacts women hoping to make partner; and (2) the market for lateral hires and how that impacts women hoping to make partner.

First, I found the aspect of the report that deals with the impact of a firm's equity structure to be intriging. The report describes three forms of equity structure: one-tier, two-tier, and mixed-tier. One-tier firms are the traditional structure, those that have all partners contribute capital to the firm and all partners share (likely, in varying degrees) in the profits of the firm. Two-tier firms have "equity" and "non equity" partners. The non-equity partners carry the title of "partner" but are really just super associates. They are still paid a base salary and bonus and do not contribute capital or share in the profits. Usually, there is another decision to be made to "promote" somebody from non-equity to equity within two-tier firms. The report also discusses a firm structure that is rarely discussed, that of the "mixed-tier" partnership. Mixed-tier firms are one-tier or two-tier firms on paper but in fact they have "equity" partners who have contributed capital to the firm but do not share in the profits. Instead, these partners get a fixed salary/bonus as compensation and lesser (or no) say in the management of the firm. According to the report, fully 15% of the largest law firms are "mixed tier" firms. The fact that these mixed-tier firms exist is not all that interesting but, what is fascinating, are the report's findings about how this structure impacts women:

The numbers, although preliminary, suggest that working in a mixed-tier firm is somewhat disadvantageous for a woman lawyer. In mixed-tier firms, women constitute fewer than 13% of equity partners and 24% of non-equity partners, lower levels than in one-tier or two-tier firms.

More Part Time Lawyers Are Women (duh)

Manamana — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 21:46:36 -0600

NALP just released some new numbers on part time lawyers (see here for the New York Law Journal writeup). These are some pretty telling stats. Less than 6% of all attorneys work part time, even though 98% of law offices report offering part time options. Not surprisingly, most of those working part time are women (only 5.4% of all attorneys worked part time; close to 13% of women worked part time). New York continues to lag behind other markets in terms of flexibility in work arrangements.

NAWL’s National Survey on Retention and Promotion of Women in Law Firms, Part II

Peg — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 16:14:45 -0600

In a previous post, I talked about some of the results recently reported by NAWL for their annual national survey. For the first time, NAWL asked firms questions about the retention policies and efforts to retain women lawyers. The survey focused on three structural issues: large minimum hour requirements, poor part-time policies, and the existence (or not) of a women’s initiative within the firm.

Money Talks: The free-market answer to more diversity in law firms

KHernan881 — Fri, 2 Nov 2007 07:52:39 -0500

With all the talk about diversity being a good business practice for law firms, it is nice to finally see a client put some pressure on law firms to change. In the November issue of Corporate Counsel magazine there is a short story about General Motors and the demands it makes of its outside counsel to be more diverse.

Are these really the 50 best firms for women?

rpontikes — Tue, 2 Oct 2007 22:38:18 -0500

Judge Nancy Gertner of the District of Massachusetts submitted the below Op Ed to Massachusetts Lawyer's Weekly (www.masslawyersweekly.com) commenting on the Working Mother 50 best law firms for women. She highlights that the word "honor" has to be put into the correct context since many of the firms in Boston on the list have lower than averagae women as equity partners.