A new report by the American Bar Association and ALM Intelligence, called “Walking Out the Door: The Facts, Figures and Future of Experienced Women Lawyers in Private Practice,” surveyed more than 1,200 Biglaw attorneys to find out why women are leaving the Biglaw life. Because while law schools are pretty regularly hitting between 45 and 52 percent women enrolled, it drops off in practice — only 20 percent of law firm equity partners are women in 2018. What they found was wildly differences in perceptions about what firms are doing to promote gender diversity.
For example, they asked managing partners if their firms were “active advocates of gender diversity,” and 82 percent said yes. Ninety-one percent of men surveyed agreed as well, but only 62 percent of women were on board. Similarly, 84 percent of managing partners agreed that their firms promote women into leadership. And while 75 percent of men also thought so, a dismal 55 percent of women agreed. When asked if their firms have success retaining experienced women, 74 percent of managing partners said yes, compared with 64 percent of men, and a mere 47 percent of women who agreed.
And as study co-author Stephanie Scharf told Law.com, this is a problem:
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“The data suggests that firms may not understand how their own people are viewing the policy and practices that they are implementing with respect to advancing women,” said study co-author Stephanie Scharf, a partner with the women-owned firm Scharf Banks Marmor and chair of the ABA’s commission on women in the profession.
The other co-author, Roberta Liebenberg, senior partner at Fine Kaplan and Black, pointed to an overall culture of bias in Biglaw, calling it “death by a thousand cuts. It’s not one thing, but an accumulation of experiences they believe are different because of their gender.” For example, 50 percent of women surveyed said they’re satisfied with the recognition of their work compared with 70 percent of men. Only 45 percent of women reported satisfaction with their opportunities for advancement, yet 69 percent of men said they were satisfied with their opportunities. Plus a whopping 82 percent of women surveyed said they’ve been mistaken for a low-level employee. Ugh.
It’s pretty clear that firms have to do more than want a gender diverse work environment — they have to take real steps to make it happen.
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Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, and host of The Jabot podcast. 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).