Lack of Gender-Diverse Partnership: Is It the Woman or the Firm?

ALM Intelligence's 2017 New Partners Survey houses important clues on the shortfalls of the firm when it comes to promoting a diverse partnership. The data indicates that the firm must do more to support new partners, particularly women, then they do now.

Firm leaders, take note, address the following items and you just may have more diverse, happy and engaged workforce.

1. Women in Big Law Find It More Difficult Than Men to Have a Family

Male new-partner respondents reported being in a relationship and having children more than female new-partner respondents. Only 5% of male new partners were single, compared with 13% of women. More men also reported having children than women — 84% of men compared with 70% of women. This statistic echoes findings from prior research on mid-level satisfaction by gender, which noted that more male than women mid-levels reported having a family and children.

2. Women Are Better Represented in Niche Practice Areas

ALM Intelligence research earlier this year found that higher rates of female headcount in Big Law are within niche practice areas, which are typically not major focus areas for the firm. In keeping with this finding, the majority of female new partner respondents practiced labor and employment or environmental law, while the majority of men practiced M&A or intellectual property law.

3. Women Feel Less Prepared to Be Partner Than Men, Particularly in Business Development and Financial Training

Nearly 20% of women reported feeling unprepared to become partner compared with 10% of men. Similarly, less women reported having formal business development training before or after becoming partner (59% of women compared with 66%t of men). Moreover, less women reported feeling very comfortable with partner tasks such as budgeting, creating alternative fee arrangements and staffing levels than men.

When asked how satisfied they are in their positions, women also reported higher rates of dissatisfaction with business development, management's openness about finances and strategy, training opportunities, workload and work-life balance.

Many of the survey write-in comments also addressed confronting unexpected business development and financial issues when becoming partner.

Women reported not being fully aware of the drawbacks of becoming partner, including:

• There was no discussion regarding finances, cash flow, self-employment tax, etc. All of the benefits were known, but none of the obligations were discussed.
• There was no business development training, and no guidance on internal working and politics of the partnership.

What does all this mean? Unsurprisingly, the fact that women are less able to pursue a family, have lower headcount in top firm practice areas, and feel less prepared to be partners than men translates into women who are less happy and engaged than their male counterparts.

When asked where they expect to be in the next 10 years, women were less likely to see themselves as head of their firm or a leader at the firm, a major rainmaker, recognized as a leading practitioner, or a valuable member of the firm's team. They were more likely to see themselves outside of the firm: working as in-house counsel or not practicing law.

It is worth noting, as well, that 20% of women and 2% of men said they felt gender bias; 14% of women and 7% of men have experienced cronyism.

Summary

Both men and women should be encouraged to take part in initiatives that remove all forms of bias from the firm. One write-in comment by a male partner reveals how little firms are doing to encourage participation by all types of people in diversity efforts: “I'm a Caucasian male, so I'm understandably not encouraged to participate in the many firm initiatives supporting others types of employees.”

Law firm leaders, take note: The firm has work to do on creating a safe place for both men and women to have personal lives, explore new areas of the law, and dedicate themselves and their practice to the firm rather than looking outside. It's good for society and it's good for business.

*****
Daniella Isaacson, Esq. is a Senior Analyst at ALM Legal Intelligence. Her experience includes advising law departments in relation to strategy, technology, market intelligence, and operations. She can be reached at [email protected].