Why Doesn’t The Legal Profession View Women-Owned Solo And Small Law Firms As Relevant To Diversity?

The ABA drive for diversity ignores one area of advancement right under their noses.

Carolyn ElefantIn a recent column in USA Today, Steve Strauss, a small business lawyer, celebrates the state of female entrepreneurship, hailing it as the end, or at least the beginning of the end of glass ceilings. Strauss writes:

So yes, it is great to see that the state of female entrepreneurship is not only alive and well today, it is thriving. Consider: More women than men surveyed expected revenues to increase over the next 12 months (54% vs. 48%), and more women than men expected to grow their businesses over the next five years (60% vs. 52%).

Glass ceiling be damned. Or cracked. And hopefully soon gone.

Strauss’ views are backed by the numbers. A recent CNN fact check found that:

Women are creating new firms at a rapid clip. Between 2002 and 2012, the number of female-owned businesses grew at a rate 2.5 times the national average, while employment in female-owned companies increased at a rate 4.5 times that of all firms, according to the most recent statistics available from the National Women’s Business Council, a federal advisory council.The rate of growth for female-owned businesses is almost four times the rate of male-owned companies.

Yet even as the rest of the world embraces women entrepreneurs and acknowledges their key role in empowering women and eliminating gender discrimination, the legal profession continues to ignore the women-owned solo and small firm law firms. Consider, for example, the American Bar Association’s Commission on the Future of Legal Services recent Report on the Future of Legal Services in the United States. The Report, which focuses on the continuing lack of meaningful access to justice by 80 percent and moderate income people, identifies numerous factors that impede access to justice — among them, bias and discrimination in the profession. (Report at 31) Insultingly, the Report expresses concern about diversity in part because women and minorities are “lacking from positions of leadership and power” — meaning, of course, judgeships and Biglaw. Meanwhile, the Report simply ignores that women who run their own firms are also in “positions of leadership.”

Likewise, the ABA Report never considers how women-owned solo and small firm practices can help crack the glass ceiling in the legal profession. The Report recommends various measures to advance diversity and inclusion — such as the establishment [by law firms and courts] of “pipeline programs and other diversity-focused recruitment initiatives” along with all kinds of CLE and sensitivity training. (Report at 50). But the Report never considers initiatives that would actively encourage women to start and build their own law firms.

Of course, the ABA isn’t the only organization to overlook women-owned solo and small law firms. A recent Women in Law Hackathon — designed to generate innovative ideas to advance women in large firms — didn’t give women solos a seat at the table either. While, granted, the Hackathon focused on women in big law, surely, women lawyers who have started successful law firms might have valuable lessons to share on building a book of business as I wrote here.

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Perhaps the legal profession doesn’t take women-owned solo and small firms seriously because it’s assumed that women only start firms for work-life balance or because they couldn’t cut it at Biglaw. Not so. As Strauss’ piece points out, most women entrepreneurs start businesses not to “better balance work and home life,” but instead because “they were entrepreneurial at heart and had a vision for a business that they wanted to see through.” In short, they wanted to be boss. And most female lawyers — at least the ones I’ve met over the years — are similarly motivated.

Gender diversity in the legal profession won’t happen overnight. But I can guarantee that it will never happen at all if the legal profession continues to dismiss the accomplishments of women solos and small firm lawyers.


Carolyn Elefant has been blogging about solo and small firm practice at MyShingle.comsince 2002 and operated her firm, the Law Offices of Carolyn Elefant PLLC, even longer than that. She’s also authored a bunch of books on topics like starting a law practicesocial media, and 21st century lawyer representation agreements (affiliate links). If you’re really that interested in learning more about Carolyn, just Google her. The Internet never lies, right? You can contact Carolyn by email at elefant@myshingle.comor follow her on Twitter at @carolynelefant.

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