Women's Role in Law Firms

As in many other industries, there is a lack of gender balance in the legal world. Most law firms have been attempting to find solutions in order to reduce gender disparity for many years, such as hiring more female talent, guaranteeing them benefits and a certain level of income, and presenting more opportunities to female employees. As Avivah Wittenberg claims in her article, “How One Law Firm Maintains Gender Balance” posted on the Harvard Business Review, “every year, top law firms recruit 60% female and 40% male law graduates into their practices.” Another article, “Large Law Firms Are Failing Women Lawyers” from the Washington Post, states that “[most law firms] eliminate wage disparity by creating lockstep compensation structures, where a cohort of associates at the same level are all receiving the same salary and bonus.” In spite of these reports, gender disparity still exists in law firms. One of the main reasons is a lack of female leaders.

Indeed, it is undeniable that females are still at the lower level of the law firm echelon compared to men. A recent survey released by the National Association of Women Lawyers (NAWL), indicates that women are offered positions as associates, making the number of female employees nearly equal to that of men. However, after a few years, when those associates are promoted to higher levels at law firms, the unbalanced gender ratio shows up again. This survey also reveals that, during the past 20 years, there is an upward trend of female attorneys’ positions, telling us that law firms have achieved some positive outcomes in fighting to achieve gender equality. According to The National Association for Legal Career Professionals (NALP), in 1993, female partners accounted for only 12.27%. In 2011, in the nation’s major firms, female partners accounted for 19.54%. The data fluctuates in these years, but the overall trend is still going up, though slowly. However, the 20% data below provides insight as to why the law firms’ efforts are still unable to satisfy the needs of most female legal practitioners. The uneven ratio between males and females forces us to rethink the factors that block women from being highly represented at the leadership level in law firms. The rational explanation is that gender roles keep female legal professionals at a static position in the law firm echelon.

Heavy workloads, long office hours, and a fast paced environment are the most

common features of a law firm. Sometimes the approval, recognition, and even

promotions come at the expense of a personal life, which can include leisure time and family gatherings. To some extent, these challenge women’s responsibility--family caring. When young female professionals set foot in law firms as associates, they may not mind spending most of their time working. But once women have families, they are more likely to pursue a balanced life between career and family, which unintentionally leads to female legal practitioners devote less time to their work than their male counterparts. For this reason, some female litigators choose to leave law firms for other legal fields. This also explains why women today are twice as likely as men to leave law firms. In addition, maternity leave, health-care policies, and demographic disparities within the places where women work tend to internalize stereotypical attitudes not only in women but in the men around them.

In summary, the three potential obstacles to progress in female empowerment in law firms are: reduced devotion, demission and stereotypes as a result of women’s responsibility of taking care of their family. In fact, law firm need to figure out a solution which benefits both men and women. For example, men should also be given parental leave after the birth of their children, so that they are able to spend more time accompanying their family. By doing this, not only can women and men be given equal working time but enable both of them to enjoy more family gatherings. No matter what, diminishing gender disparity is a long-term goal that will not be attained in a short period of time. For the women who desire to pursue a successful career in a legal practice, at the same time maintain a healthy family, it is necessary to understand this demographic disparity, take these factors into consideration, and have an optimistic attitude towards the reformation of hierarchical structure of law firms.

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