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There's A 27 Percent Global Gender Pay Gap For Equity Partners

These numbers are discouraging.

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There is finally some hard data on the problem of the gender pay gap within the equity partner ranks. According to a new survey by Acritas, in which they asked 828 lawyers independently nominated as stand-outs about the previous year’s compensation, the mean average pay gap between male equity partners and female equity partners is a dismal 27 percent.

According to the data, the mean average pay gap was so stark, in part because there are more “extreme” high earners amongst the men. But even when you look at the median averages, male equity partners are still making more than females — at a rate of 19 percent more.

This data isn’t particularly shocking — though it continues to be disappointing. Acritas has previously published a study which shows male in-house counsel prefer to hire male attorneys to work for them, which undermines women’s ability to earn the all-important origination credit for new matters, which counts for a hefty amount of an equity partner’s paycheck. As Lisa Hart Shepherd, CEO at Acritas, said:

“The gender bias Acritas observed in that external male counsel are less likely to pick a female lead partner will not be helping, as we know originations and/or new business are taken into account more than 80% of equity partners’ pay.

“By rebalancing and broadening the criteria used to determine compensation to allow for this bias, firms may be able to create fairer reward. In the longer term, law firms need to find a way to break through social networks, both inside of the firm and with clients, to enable female partners to get more equal exposure to clients.”

There are obviously many other factors that contribute to this gap, such as areas of speciality and number of years in partnership. But even when that was controlled for, male equity partners made $125,000 more than female equity partners:

For example, the research shows a higher proportion of female equity partners specialize in labor and that labor equity partners are paid significantly less, regardless of their gender. Pay also increases with years of experience and Acritas’ data shows women equity partners have generally been partners for a shorter number of years. However, even normalizing for these factors, Acritas confirmed a pay gap still exists. A female equity partner working in the same country and practice area, made partner in the same year could expect to earn $125k less than her male counterpart.

Shepherd also expressed disappointment that the higher a woman climbs in the legal profession, it does not get better:

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“It is astonishing to see such a large gender pay gap at equity partner level. For women that have achieved equity partner status, they should be facing a more equal playing field but clearly this is not the case.”

While there is still a lot of work to be done in this area, the data the Acritas survey provides is an important first step. Having cold, hard numbers takes the issue out of the more easily dismissed anecdotal world.

headshotKathryn Rubino is an editor at Above the Law. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).

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