The Business Of Law And Gender Equality: Merging Considerations

From securing a representation, to addressing firmwide business planning in an ongoing matter, to financing the costs of a case, there are numerous business considerations that emerge during the lifecycle of a dispute. 

Panelists at the recent Women Lead the Law event, sponsored by the Cardozo Women Alumni Group, explored this lifecycle in the “Business of Law” panel, touching on topics as varied as personal and firm-wide business development, the potential role of litigation finance, fair pricing of a lawyer’s efforts, and how women can advocate for their careers while building business.

The discussion was part of a weeklong conference celebrating Women’s History Month at Cardozo Law, co-sponsored by Cardozo’s Recent Alumni Leadership Council. 

Elise Holtzman, owner of business development firm the Lawyer’s Edge, started with some harsh statistics on the very real gender gap that exists in the law, based on research by the National Association of Women Lawyers: “Of their top 10 revenue-generating attorneys, most firms have zero women in that group. Of the top 10 most highly compensated attorneys, most firms also have women as zero women in that group.” 

Holtzman went on to address how business development can help give lawyers power, which is critical in an industry where women make up about half of the associate ranks but are grossly underrepresented at the partnership level. 

“It’s important for you, as an individual, and particularly as a woman, because being successful when it comes to business development can help you drive change and give you power” she said.

As Holtzman explained, the simple reality is that, at most firms, the lawyers who bring in business are more highly valued. 

“When we talk about lawyers, you’ll hear about finders, minders and grinders — the finders are the people who bring in the business, the minders are people who take care of the client, and the grinders are the people who are grinding out the work,” she says. “And for whatever reason, finders are viewed as more equal than everybody else.”

Increasing business development among women attorneys — becoming “finders” — increases access to the power to control their own careers.

Here, we present some key takeaways from the discussion. 

From Problem Solver to Business Partner

Jenna Polivy, business development manager at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, noted that the business of law has been changing significantly and quickly over the last decade, with competition for legal services exponentially increasing. 

Client expectations have become more nuanced, with clients looking at law firm capabilities beyond the traditional areas of legal expertise, toward technology and innovation. 

“Clients are also increasingly expecting lawyers to understand their businesses, their industries, and the clients themselves,” Polivy explained.

According to Polivy, “everyone is now expected to be a businessperson,” so women lawyers who want to start closing the gender gap can make headway by mastering business development. In the 2021 market, this means understanding the clients’ businesses and positioning oneself as a strategic partner, not just an advisor or legal service provider. 

Holtzman, former lawyer and now consultant, outlined her three pillars of business development: building relationships, becoming a visible expert in your practice area, and leadership growth.

Making time for business development in your career shores up all three pillars and opens the door to success — business development isn’t something that’s just going to fall into your lap.

Litigation Finance: Business Development Enabler

While clients are certainly demanding more from outside counsel, cost is always on a client’s mind when choosing their law firms.

“When you talk about the business of law today, you can’t have that conversation without talking about litigation finance,” said Marla Decker, managing director at Lake Whillans Capital Partners. 

Decker explained how litigation finance addresses this need in the market. 

For a pre-agreed portion of the potential recovery, litigation financiers provide the necessary — and nonrecourse — funds for bringing a litigation from beginning to end. Too often, lawyers know of clients who need representation but lack the finances to engage a large firm. Third-party funding can help overcome that hurdle.

“The power to enable clients to bring cases through funding is an important tool for lawyers, especially younger lawyers and female lawyers who have to fight a little harder to bring cases in the door, where clients are not being handed to them,” Decker said. 

These attorneys can use litigation finance to establish themselves as rainmakers. Firms can use litigation finance to structure alternative fee arrangements that enable them to compete for engagements and empower lawyers in the firm to take risk that is mitigated by outside funding. 

The Need to Take Credit

The past decade has seen a shift in the legal industry, with purchasing moving away from more of a handshake or relationship model toward cost analysis and increasing efficiencies. However, while much of landing clients now revolves around price, relationships still matter. 

Austen Louis, director of client value and practice economics at BakerHostetler, weighed in on law firm logistics and the importance of knowing your worth as an attorney and getting recognition for your efforts.

He also advised that two of the biggest factors that attorneys can focus on to help create a foundation for success are origination credit and market rates. Unlike a number of other factors, these are things that lawyers can have some degree of control over.

An origination credit is some sort of record in the firm’s financial system of who the person is who brought in the work and is responsible for maintaining the client relationship. Many firms only allow origination credit for partners and not for associates, but lawyers can keep track of these metrics themselves and present them when it comes time to quantify their contribution to the firm. 

“To the extent that you are tracking this and monitoring it, it’s important to ensure that you have your own pipeline, that you are part of the financial discussion,” he explained, “and that you’re not simply handing the reins over to someone superior to you in the hierarchy, assuming that they will return the favor someday.”

The second factor is rate. 

In today’s law firm marketplace, “rate typically equals rank” Louis said. 

Clients implicitly rank lawyers’ skills on how much they charge, and firms also judge employees’ contributions based on the rates they bring into the firm. If you’re working in an environment that’s not purely lockstep, he advises, “be proactive for yourself.” 

“Make sure that you’re being priced fairly, that you’re not somehow being discounted from somebody down the hall.” 

As Louis points out: “Especially as a diverse attorney, you never know how these decisions are made, or if implicit bias is playing a role. You really should take it upon yourself to advocate for your own career by looking under the covers and making sure that the rate being charged for  you is fair and accurately assessed as your qualities of the marketplace.”

The Bottom Line

Much of the insight from The Business of Law panel boils down to being proactive and advocating for yourself, whether that’s in how you develop new business, how you can use funding to make yourself more competitive, how you’re getting credit for your efforts, or making sure you’re being priced fairly.

By advocating for their own careers and understanding the business aspects of the law, women lawyers will be putting themselves in the best position for success.