60% of graduate intake but 15% of partners! Is law the best career move for a woman?
Research by Legal Week shows that for the magic circle firms, Allen & Overy, Clifford Chance, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Linklaters and Slaughter and May- the average number of female partners is only 15%. This disparity is seen by many law firm leaders as one of the biggest issues now facing their business.
Despite growing awareness of the problem,only 28% of partners appointed in the UK’s top 30 firms in the past three years are women, according to LegalWeek’s research. Over that period only two firms – Shoosmiths and Irwin Mitchell – promoted as many women as men to partnerships.
Among the City’s ten biggest firms, women had the best chance of rising at Herbert Smith (where 33 per cent of new partners were female), DLA Piper (28%) and Eversheds (27%). Women comprised only 15% of promotions at Clifford Chance, Freshfields and Linklaters, the three biggest “magic circle” firms.
So far, regional firms have outdone their City counterparts at appointing women partners. However, the London elite focus on multinational deals that involve gruelling hours. The head of a top City firm said that he had begged many of its brightest young women lawyers to stay in it, but once they wished to start a family they would no longer put up with work travel and clients’ late-night calls.
“Magic circle” firms know that in seeking continuity of talent, they are running out of time.
David Charles, Clifford Chance’s managing partner said: “The gender balance among our partners is still not where we want it to be and we recognise that there is no one answer that will solve a problem like this, which stems from a wide range of causes. We believe that what’s important is support and attention from top-level management and, for this reason, gender representation will continue to be a key focus of management.”
Clifford Chance said that its overall gender balance was a key consideration in deciding new promotions and it planned to double its number of female partners from 15% of the worldwide total to 30%. It has introduced measures such as a women’s network to encourage young women to become partners.
Allen & Overy said last month that it would let even the most senior partners work part-time, a four-day week for up to eight years, in order to make partnerships more appealing to women.
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