Slow Progress on Diversity at US Law Firms - Building Gender Balanced Business

• Women are still a long way from equality at leading US law firms, with the proportion of women stuck at just above one-third, even though women make up the majority of law graduates, and have for some time.

• Even more worrisome, women still hold only 19% of partnerships but are 45% of associate (non-partner) lawyers, according to the The American Lawyer’s first Women in Law Firms study of 210 US firms. The numbers are a mild improvement over previous but not identical surveys.

• Women are far less likely than men to be partners relative to their number in the firm. Nationwide, associates to partners among women are a 3:1 ratio, while for men it is about 1:1.

• Strong results in gender diversity were not closely related to racial diversity, and vice-versa. (Two potential factors cited by The American Lawyer include geography, in that some of the most gender diverse firms were in largely white states, and subject, with racial diversity relatively strong in some sciences-related intellectual property specialist firms.)

• The magazine noted that some firms were nearing gender equity (including Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton; Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison; and Ropes & Gray) or had passed the 25% share for female partners (eg Littler Mendelson, Ice Miller, Arent Fox, and Epstein Becker & Green).

The American Lawyer’s report