Bright Spot: Firms that Are “Tipping the Scales” In Favor of Women Partners

In an effort to inform and inspire our members and friends, we often share diversity and flexibility Bright Spots – those small or large successes that impact an organization in a positive way. We believe that important diversity and flexibility initiatives can truly impact your organization’s bottom line, recruitment and retention capabilities and employee satisfaction. 

Law Firms that Are “Tipping the Scales” With 50% or More Women in Their 2019 New Partner Class

 

BRIGHT SPOT

At our 2019 Annual Conference, we recognized fifty-one law firms for having 50% or more women in their 2019 U.S.-based new partner class. The firms, recognized as “Tipping the Scales,” were identified through our New Partner Report, a compilation of public data and self-reported sources released each year for the past eight years. The Report revealed that 41.3 percent of new partners in 138 major U.S. law firms in 2019 were women, surpassing last year’s mark by 2.4 percentage points. The Executive Summary is publicly available here.

The “Tipping the Scales” firms recognized for having 50% or more women in their 2019 new partner class included:

1.     Akerman 2.     Alston & Bird 3.     Arent Fox 4.     Arnold & Porter 5.     Ballard Spahr 6.     Boies Schiller Flexner 7.     Bracewell 8.     Cahill Gordon & Reindel 9.     Cravath, Swaine & Moore 10. Crowell & Moring 11. Davis Polk & Wardwell 12. Davis Wright Tremaine 13. Debevoise & Plimpton 14. Dentons 15. Dickinson Wright 16. Drinker Biddle & Reath 17. Duane Morris 18. Epstein Becker & Green

19. Eversheds Sutherland 20. Fenwick & West 21. Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy 22. Gibbons 23. Goodwin Procter 24. Goldberg Kohn 25. Hogan Lovells 26. Jackson Lewis 27. Jones Day 28. K&L Gates 29. Lathrop Gage 30. Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith 31. Littler Mendelson 32. Manatt, Phelps & Phillips 33. McGuireWoods 34. Miles & Stockbridge 35. Morgan, Lewis & Bockius

36. Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart 37. O’Melveny & Myers 38. Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein 39. Perkins Coie 40. Polsinelli 41. Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan 42. Schiff Hardin 43. Seyfarth Shaw 44. Shook, Hardy & Bacon 45. Shutts & Bowen 46. Thompson & Knight 47. Van Ness Feldman 48. White & Case 49. Williams & Connolly 50. Wolf Greenfield 51. Womble Bond Dickinson

IMPACT

The impact of this Bright Spot can be seen in the industry as a whole – the 2019 New Partner Report found that the percentage of women promoted to partnership in major U.S. law firms has increased by 8.1 percent since 2012. Additionally, this Bright Spot indicates that individual firms are recognizing the importance of gender parity in their leadership and on their teams. We hope the ripple effect of this Bright Spot will be that organizations of all types will continue to recognize the need for a true commitment to an intentional and proactive strategy to retain and advance women.

PHOTO: Representatives from major law firms pose with Manar Morales, President & CEO of the Diversity & Flexibility Alliance, after receiving their “Tipping the Scales” Recognition at the Alliance’s 2019 Annual Conference in Washington, DC on November 7, 2019. Photo Credit: Birch Thomas (photosbybirch.com).

 

 

Please share your Diversity & Flexibility Bright Spots with us by downloading and completing THIS SHORT FORM and emailing it to Jane Caldeira at jane@dfalliance.com