On Sunday, Susan Grigsby posted a powerful and disturbing diary titled "Ignorant Sluts, Work Wives, and Other Names for Women Lawyers". In essence, 30 years after a great upsurge in women attending law school, the treatment of women in the legal profession is abysmal. Susan cited many instances of sexism, patronizing and insulting behavior from male colleagues and cringe-worthy comments from judges. The statistics she cited were compelling. Even though women represent roughly half of law school grads, they only represent 16% of equity partners at law firms For the uninitiated, an equity partner typically is a true partner, owning shares in the firm entitling them to profits and real votes in the firm's operations. Non-equity partners are afforded the title of partner essentially as a promotion. Non equity partners make more money than associates (a law firm's youngest cohort), but are typically not owners. While becoming a non-equity partner is a milestone (and lucrative), becoming an equity partner is the real prize.
I wrote a long comment sharing my experiences and perspective as a male equity partner who is mentoring two young women partners at my 150 lawyer firm. Kossack SpamNunn suggested that I turn my comment into a diary, so here goes. Let me give one caveat about my perspective. The study that Susan relied on came from American Lawyer and sampled almost exclusively from "Biglaw" firms, namely the 200 largest firms in the US. My firm, at 150 lawyers is considered a mid-sized firm and our existence is much more "Willie Loman"-like than the rarefied existence at Biglaw. Our partners are paid well but not at the same level as those quoted in the American Lawyer article. That said, we are facing the same struggles in advancing women to equity partner rolls. I know that we have concerted efforts to do so. We will see how those efforts pay off during the next few years.
Read More