Tracking 10 Years Of Women's Progress In The Legal Profession
The legal profession has changed dramatically since 2006, but the group that it's changed the most dramatically for has been women.
It’s been 10 years since Above the Law first launched. In those 10 years, the legal profession has changed dramatically, but the group that it’s changed the most dramatically for has been women.
In 2006, it was virtually unheard of for a woman to be recognized as a superior manager and trusted with the responsibility of leading one of the largest law firms in the country, if not the world. In 2016, women run the show at several of the most prestigious Biglaw firms in America, and while remarkably few women have ascended to such roles, it’s still a great improvement over the way things used to be.
In 2006, the legal profession was plagued by sexism and gender bias, and today… it’s still plagued by those problems. In 2016, however, there are far more avenues and opportunities that allow those who have been discriminated against to rectify the wrongs they’ve faced simply by virtue of being women working as lawyers, including, but not limited to, the availability of a new professional conduct rule enacted by the American Bar Association to address discrimination and harassment.
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Here are some of the biggest changes women in the legal profession have seen since 2006, the year Above the Law first started publishing news about women in the law.
According to data from the American Bar Association, in 2006, women represented 30.2 percent of the legal profession, with 50.6 percent of them working in private practice. Of those women working in private practice, 44.1 percent of them were associates, while only 17.3 percent of them were partners. Per the National Association of Women Lawyers’s first annual Survey on the Retention and Promotion of Women in Law Firms, a report published in 2006 focusing on women in the largest 200 firms in America, this was the average gender breakdown of attorneys by position across all responding firms:
(Graph via the National Association of Women Lawyers)
Now, let’s take a look at where women stand in the legal profession in 2016. According to data from the American Bar Association, women represent 36.0 percent of the legal profession, but the percent of women working in private practice is unknown at this time. Of those women working in private practice, 44.7 percent of them are associates, while 21.5 percent of them are partners and 18 percent of them are equity partners.
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The National Association of Women Lawyers’s ninth annual Survey on the Retention and Promotion of Women in Law Firms, a report published in 2015 focusing on women in the largest 200 firms in America, provided a comparison between the average gender breakdown of attorneys by position across all responding firms in 2006 and all responding firms last year (which was by far the lowest response rate in nearly 10 years):
(Graph via the National Association of Women Lawyers)
A decade ago, women represented 16.6 percent of the general counsel ranks of America’s Fortune 500 companies, and 15.7 percent of the general counsel ranks of America’s Fortune 1000 companies. In 2016, women now represent 24 percent of the general counsel ranks of America’s Fortune 500 companies, and 19 percent of the general counsel ranks of America’s Fortune 1000 companies.
Ten years ago, women represented 47.5 percent of total JD enrollment in law schools. At the same time, women represented 20.4 percent of deans at 179 law schools. Women today represent 48.7 percent of total JD enrollment in law schools. At the same time, women now represent 31.1 percent of deans at 183 AALS member law schools.
In the beginning of 2006, there were two female Supreme Court justices, but for the vast majority of the year, there was only one active Supreme Court justice who was a woman. In 2016, there are three female Supreme Court justices.
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In 2006, male lawyers earned $1,891 per week, while female lawyers earned only $1,333 per week, meaning that women in the legal profession earned just 70.5 percent of what male lawyers did in 2006 — a depressing fact. Weekly earnings information from the Bureau of Labor Statistics is not yet available for 2016, but in 2015, male lawyers earned $1,914 per week, while female lawyers earned only $1,717 per week, meaning that women in the legal profession earned 89.7 percent of what male lawyers did last year — a 19.2 percent increase since 2006.
As reflected by these statistics, while change seems to have happened in reverse warp speed for women in the legal profession, little by little, piece by piece, and bit by bit, it’s still happening, and that’s what’s important. In a profession where we must celebrate tiny upticks in progress, this is “dramatic” change. In a profession where almost every year, something so demeaning, so disgusting, or so degrading happens to a female attorney that it makes headlines across the legal media and beyond, and in a profession where the gender gap is more perhaps more accurately described as a “gender gulf,” we are forced to revel in these accomplishments, no matter how small they may seem.
Here are just some of the slights and injustices against women that we’ve covered here at Above the Law in the past 10 years. Some are alleged and some actual, and some are far worse than others, but we should be troubled as a profession about these actions and allegations. It is not our intent to single out any particular individual or institution for blame; instead, we want to review this history to avoid repeating it. Take a look.
(Flip through the following pages to see the 10 most depressing stories related to women in the law over the course of the last 10 years.)
Staci Zaretsky is an editor at Above the Law. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments. Follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.
