Tackling Gender Diversity In Law Firms: An Interview With Charlotte Rushton Of Thomson Reuters

Ed. note: This article is part of the Introduction to Law School series, powered by Thomson Reuters. 

We recently sat down with Charlotte Rushton, Thomson Reuters managing director of large and medium law firms, to discuss trends in female leadership at law firms and ways to improve diversity to benefit today’s law school students.

How long have you been overseeing the Large Law segment at Thomson Reuters?

Two years, since September 2014. I’ve been with Thomson Reuters for nine years; I was previously the head of the Asia Pacific and EMEA Division for our tax and accounting business.

Tell us a little bit about what the Large & Medium Law segment does.

The Large & Medium Law segment is responsible for seeing that Thomson Reuters satisfies the needs of its large and midsize law firm customers. This includes account management, customer service and overseeing a product roadmap to satisfy customer needs, as well as focusing on sales and revenue growth to ensure that Thomson Reuters continues to invest in the products that the large and midsize customers value.

What trends have you seen in recent years with respect to the roles that women are playing at large law firms?

Honestly, there doesn’t seem like there’s been an awful lot of improvement in terms of management roles. Going back to the 1980s, the proportion of women going into law school was under 40 percent; it’s now much closer to 50 percent. Looking back 15 years, it’s been close to 50 percent that whole time — law school enrollment and recruitment have proportionally been about a 50-50 split between men and women. However, if you look into higher levels of the organizations, women make up approximately 18 percent of equity partners in the Am Law 200 and 4 percent of firm-wide managing partners. While these numbers are not unusual in business in general, the situation seems starkly bad in law firms in terms of getting women up the ranks.

Have the leadership numbers changed at all as female law school enrollment has gone up from 40 percent to 50 percent?

It has improved, but only very slightly. If you look at the last 15 years — the percentage of female equity partners was 16 percent in 2001, 17 percent in 2006, 18 percent in 2016 — so it has gone up 2 percent in 15 years. It will be a long time before we ever reach parity at that rate. Recent statistics from analysts looking at similar data in corporations have estimated that, at the current rate, it will take approximately 100 years to get to parity.

Are there other aspects of law firms that are catching up more quickly on the gender equality front?

Clients and general counsel of corporations have started to pay real attention to equality and diversity on the teams they hire. The hope is that this will start to drive change within the law firms. Thomson Reuters has launched an initiative called Transforming Women’s Leadership in the Law, which strives to connect our clients from both the law firm and the general counsel sides. We run a series of programs to get both sides of the equation together to talk about how they can work together to facilitate change.

Within law firms, we have seen a focus on coaching, mentoring, and flexible working arrangements, which are all valuable — but influence from the clients is what can really help push diversity forward. The initiative has been really well received; the women on the general counsel side really want to help their counterparts on the law firm side bring in their business, and this helps open the door to that.

Where do you think the efforts would be best focused within the firms themselves in order to try to bring about change?

There’s no silver bullet, but in looking at other similar professions like accounting or consulting, the key thing is that they’ve really focused on the issue, through diversity initiatives and getting the whole firm involved to fix the problem. The one thing we’ve been very clear about in our initiatives is that it’s not about fixing the women, it’s about fixing the processes. So shining a light on it is step No. 1. Starting right from the managing partner down through the ranks, the firm needs to be committed to making diversity real.

After that, it’s a matter of adopting programs that can help with that, like flexible working arrangements or alternative career paths that are not seen as taking the easy option, where the possibility of becoming partner is still very real. Firms have to make some structural changes to really make change happen. Perhaps most importantly, it’s crucial to have the men involved — it can’t only be the women leading the women’s initiative.

The gender pay gap has taken center stage in recent months, and the call for equal pay is at an all-time high. Has this had any effect on the availability of leadership roles for women at law firms?

I speak to a lot of managing partners about this issue, and, without exception, they all want to make improvements. I do think it’s a really good time for women in law firms to really step up — they’re in a good position to fight for change because there’s such a spotlight on the issue right now. Firm management knows diversity and equality are good for business because clients are demanding it. And everyone knows that diversity of thought is good for case outcomes and the work you produce for clients.

Why is it important for law firms to have women in upper management roles?

From a business perspective, obviously it’s important because the clients are asking for it. You need to be able to satisfy those client needs. We’re seeing a lot more RFPs now that specifically request a diversity breakdown of the team that will be handling the client’s work.

It’s also necessary to have diversity of thought and approach in terms of how the firm is run and how the cases are run. We’re currently trying to do some work with McKinsey specifically related to law firms, but studies they’ve conducted in corporations have shown higher earnings for companies with more female executives. They saw a 66 percent increase in earnings for companies that were in the top quartile for number of female executives, as opposed to those companies that don’t have female executives.

Finally, it’s important for the younger women coming in to be able to look up and see that it’s possible to get to the top of the firm or be a partner. They need to have role models and sponsors and coaches who can show them how to do it.

With respect to showing a commitment to diversity, what factors should female law school graduates look for in potential employers?

First, look to see if there are senior women in the firm, and how many. Second, look to see if they’re focused on diversity and interested in it — do they have diversity programs, do they talk about diversity, does the managing partner speak about diversity being important? Third, look to see if the men are involved or if it’s just all about the women. If you see the men supporting and driving advancement for everyone in the firm, that’s a real bonus.

What advice would you give to women who are considering law school or are about to graduate and enter the legal market?

Go for it. It’s a tough and demanding career, but it’s really rewarding.

In terms of specific advice, try to be better at self-promotion. Speak in terms of “I” rather than “we;” get out of your comfort zone and talk about yourself. Focus on relationship-building, which is something that I think that starts in law school and continues through your whole career. Being able to bring in a book of business is ultimately how you progress once you’ve proven you’re a good attorney. It’s never too soon to start the networking and business-building part of the job.

Women can polish business development skills and work on developing client relationships right from law school. The connections you make there can become your book of business in the future. Surveys show that there’s a gap between men and women in terms of bringing in business, and it’s important to address that early on.

Most of all, have fun and take some risks!

Stay tuned for the next post in our Introduction to Law School, a series powered by Thomson Reuters.