Tag Archive for: women partners

,

Action Step – INCREASING GENDER PARITY WITH CONSISTENCY & INTENTIONALITY

The Alliance’s Action Steps are designed to assist organizations with implementing practical strategies and policies related to diversity and flexibility. Members can access full versions of all of the Alliance’s Action Steps in the Member Resource Center. 

Our 2024 New Partner Report demonstrates concerning results.  The 41.6% share of women in the 2024 new partner class represents a nearly 2% decline from last year’s figure of 43.3%.  Further, we saw declines across AmLaw 50, 100, and 200 firms, a nearly 3% increase in the gap in the share of new women partners compared to the share of women associates, and a reduction in the new partner class size by an average of 1.3 partners.  These data points demonstrate consistency in the reduced share of women in new partner classes across firm sizes, a pipeline challenge at the top, the shrinking of the overall pool of advancement opportunities, and a boomerang effect over the years pointing to the volatility of women promotions.

On a more positive note, we did see certain bright spots.  Notably, member firms had an average of 1.6% higher share of women partners in their U.S. new partner classes over the last five years.  In addition, a nearly 13% increase existed in the share of firms reporting a 50/50 split or greater in favor of women in U.S. new partner classes over the last two years.  We also saw a 2% decrease in the share of firms with no women partners from last year.  These bright spots suggest that a number of law firms are making concerted, intentional efforts to address gender imbalances during the partnership promotion process.

Firms need to adopt an intentional, structured and data-driven approach to make consistent progress with gender parity at the top.  The Alliance encourages organizations to leverage the data and recommendations from our 2024 New Partner Report along with specific practices discussed with top Talent & DEI leaders from firms with consistent progress regarding gender parity at our 2024 New Partner Summit.

Members: Continue reading this Action Step in the Member Resource Center

To read this entire Action Step become a member of the Diversity & Flexibility Alliance. 

Manar Morales Quoted in NY Law Journal Piece

In case you missed it….

Check out this recent article in the New York Law Journal, New York Firms’ Promotions Rose Over Last Year, As Did Share of New Female Partners by Jack Newsham. The article provides information regarding pre-COVID-19 partner promotions in New York firms and includes a quote and expert insights from Alliance President & CEO, Manar Morales.

“Flexibility is not a woman’s issue. You have to de-gender and de-stigmatize it.  As you get more men into care, you get more women into leadership.”

Manar Morales

President & CEO

Diversity & Flexibility Alliance

 

Read more here.

, ,

Results of New Partner Report Underscore Need for Increased Focus on Retention and Advancement of Women Attorneys

Washington, DC – December 19, 2018 – Today, the Diversity & Flexibility Alliance released its seventh-annual New Partner Report, which revealed a slight increase in the percentage of women among new partners in 2018 in the U.S. Offices of the nation’s largest and top-grossing law firms. While the results showed a seven-year high of 38.9 percent, it was a mere 0.8 percent increase from last year. An Executive Summary of the report is available here. The complete report is available to Alliance members in the Member Resource Center.

“These results highlight the fact that while many recruiting classes of law school graduates may have 50% women, the percentages drop off dramatically as women advance to Partnership levels,“ said Manar Morales, President and CEO of the Diversity & Flexibility Alliance. “This underscores the need for firms to commit to a more intentional and proactive strategy to retain and advance women. It is essential that firms pay more attention to the diversity of the pipeline of talent at least three years in advance of the partnership track, as well as implement more programs to support the advancement of women along the way,” she added.

The Alliance specifically suggests that firms and other organizations:

– Identify and track gaps in gender diversity at all levels;

– Carefully consider ways to balance the pipeline of talent, at senior levels in particular;

– Implement policies and programs that support the retention and advancement of women;

– Commit to a more intentional strategy for gender diversity throughout the firm;

– Address any weaknesses in their flexibility and parental leave initiatives.

The Diversity & Flexibility Alliance’s New Partner Report is a yearly compilation of data from more than 100 (134 this year) of the nation’s largest and top-grossing law firms examining the gender breakdown of attorneys promoted to partnership in their U.S. offices. The data is based upon publicly available firm announcements and other self-reported sources on new partner classes with an effective date of promotion between October 1, 2017 and September 30, 2018. While these are the most favorable results in seven years, with an increase of almost six percentage points since 2012, the percentage of women among new partners in the U.S. has remained relatively stable.

Alliance member firms included in this report averaged 40.5 percent women in their new partner classes, outpacing the national average by over 1.5 percentage points. Alliance members have access to the entire New Partner Report, as well as opportunities for individualized strategic planning sessions focused on improving their gender diversity outcomes.

The Diversity and Flexibility Alliance is dedicated to helping organizations create inclusive cultures that support the advancement of women, promote diversity and embrace flexible work. The Alliance provides practical research-based solutions that increase organizational effectiveness and create high performance cultures while through diversity and flexibility.

These Forty-Four Firms Are Demonstrating Their Commitment to Gender Parity in the Legal Industry

As we announced in our 2017 New Partner Report, there were 44 firms that promoted 50% or more women in this year’s new partner class. Congratulations to these firms for their commitment to gender parity and for developing a top quality leadership team.

  1. Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer
  2. Baker Donelson
  3. Covington & Burling
  4. Cravath, Swaine & Moore
  5. Crowell & Moring
  6. Debevoise & Plimpton
  7. Dorsey & Whitney
  8. Drinker Biddle & Reath
  9. Epstein Becker & Green
  10. Eversheds Sutherland
  11. Fitzpatrick, Cella, Harper & Scinto
  12. Foley Hoag
  13. Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy
  14. Goldberg Kohn
  15. Haynes and Boone
  16. Hughes Hubbard & Reed
  17. Hunton & Williams
  18. Husch Blackwell
  19. Jenner & Block
  20. Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel
  21. Kutak Rock
  22. LeClairRyan
  23. Littler Mendelson
  24. Locke Lord
  25. Loeb & Loeb
  26. McDermott Will & Emery
  27. Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy
  28. Miles & Stockbridge
  29. Miller & Chevalier
  30. Morrison & Foerster
  31. Nixon Peabody
  32. O’Melveny & Myers
  33. Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein
  34. Paul Hastings
  35. Pepper Hamilton
  36. Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman
  37. Quarles & Brady
  38. Schulte Roth & Zabel
  39. Steptoe & Johnson
  40. Van Ness Feldman
  41. Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz
  42. Weil, Gotshal & Manges
  43. Williams & Connolly
  44. Willkie Farr & Gallagher

Read more

Diversity & Flexibility Alliance Report Finds Slight Increase in Women Among Law Partner Classes

 

Increased Focus on Recruiting, Training,

Supporting and Advancing Women Is Critical

 

 Washington, DC – November 9, 2017 — The Diversity & Flexibility Alliance announced today that the percentage of women promoted to partnership in 2017 in the U.S. Offices of many of the nation’s largest and top-grossing law firms has reached a six-year high of 38.1 percent. The Alliance’s sixth-annual New Partner Report reveals that this year there was an increase of five percentage points since 2012 and one percentage point since 2016. This year also marks the largest share of firms (33.1%) with new partner classes consisting of at least 50 percent women.

The report emphasizes, however, that this increase is minor and law firms must take steps now to develop more young women attorneys and monitor the pipeline to make sure that women have access to the same training and opportunities to advance their careers as men.

“While we are optimistic that these results show that the industry is moving in the right direction when it comes to gender parity, the increase is too slow and firms must prepare for the future now if they want to remain competitive,” said Manar Morales, President and CEO of the Diversity & Flexibility Alliance. “It’s time that firms evolve with the times, understand the advantages of gender parity at the partner level, and take the steps necessary to retain and promote top female talent,” she added.

The Alliance recommends that law firms focus on:

Read more