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Monday, May 10, 2010

Not a Pretty Picture: The Status of Women Lawyers at Large Law Firms

TechnoLawyer Blog has some depressing statistics about women lawyers in large law firms.  Is it really possible that one-third of women PARTNERS report being bullied by colleagues?  Or that three-quarters of the top firms have no women partners in their top money-making tiers?  [Yes, it is.  The link is here!]

I'm willing to stipulate for the record that many large law firms impose inhumane working conditions on all of their attorneys, whether male or female, even if these same attorneys knowingly and voluntarily assume the risk of such treatment and are extremely well compensated for their suffering.  Yet on the eve of the Kagan nomination to the Supreme Court, it seems to me that the statistics about the sorry treatment of women lawyers signal that macho culture is alive and well at many large law firms. 

Posted by Lyrissa Lidsky on May 10, 2010 at 09:25 PM | Permalink

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Comments

at biglaw, everyone gets bullied except for the inner core that control things -- and they're afraid of losing power.

and, yes, at some point everyone has to pick one or other: it the very top of biglaw an awful place to be, or is it so good that my demographic group deserves more of it?

Posted by: been there | May 11, 2010 11:28:32 AM

I have been a partner at a large law firm and am familiar with many large law firms, and I think it incorrect to suggest that "many" of them impose "inhumane working conditions" on their lawyers. Many law firms are quite concerned about a variety of diversity issues, including the retention, promotion and professional growth of women associates and partners. I have no doubt that a range of law firms can do more to promote the professional development of their younger lawyers--men and women alike--but few firms are subjecting any of their lawyers to "sorry treatment."

Posted by: Doug Richmond | May 11, 2010 10:50:03 AM

I respectfully disagree. Now a prof, I'm a middle aged male who formerly was a partner at two different AmLaw 50 firms. Here's what I saw, both directly and from watching the careers of female friends at a wide range of firms. At every firm, there's an inside group that runs the place. It's not necessarily linked to merit, even if merit is defined as billings, because billing responsibility can be inherited, can be pried away by those with better internal connections, etc. The inside group at most firms has been male, and, in a self perpetuating way, continues to tend towards being male. It's hard for women to be accepted into that inner group, and it shows in the numbers.

Law is not unique. Investment banks are at least as bad, probably worse. I think women in corporate life often run into some of the same problems.

It's not going to go away if we all ignore it or pretend that it is just statistical noise.

Posted by: anon | May 11, 2010 10:18:36 AM

I think you need to take this with a grain of salt, given the self-reported nature of the survey. I would hardly be surprised if pretty much all law firm partners (male and female)--especially junior ones--secretly think that they are "denied their 'fair share' of origination credit," and are "uncomfortable with appealing their compensation decisions." After all, who thinks they are overpaid? And I would likewise not be particularly surprised if many relatively-junior partners report being "intimidated" against expressing disagreement with more senior colleagues.

Thus, the only real bit of information here is that women partners tend to be more junior. Although unfortunate, I don't think that is new information.

Posted by: TJ | May 10, 2010 9:55:52 PM

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