Helping women thrive in law: What every firm needs to know about retention and equity

The statistics are known. As a recent report out of Rutgers School of Management found: "Studies show that even though there are more women in the legal profession, their rate of advancement is the same as it was in the 1990s, over 30 years ago." Further, pay disparities remain between men and women across firm size. Male partners, at firms big and small, make on average 27% to 53% more than their female counterparts.

While disheartening, law firms do have women who succeed and are paid equal to their male colleagues. With better support, law firms big and small can increase the number of female attorneys who stay and thrive. Significantly, the ways that firms support and develop female attorneys apply broadly to all attorneys, regardless of gender.

This is important because the practice of law--and the health of law firms--is stronger with a diversity of perspectives. Not only did a study in the Harvard Business Review conclude that diverse teams make better decisions, but another showed that diverse law firms make more money.

If we take both a macro perspective (thinking about long-term success) and a micro perspective (seeing each individual for who they are and acknowledging their needs will change over time), we can create an environment that builds success.

Allow for flexibility

Newer lawyers value flexible schedules--some over making partner. A key conclusion from an in-depth study regarding the advancement of female lawyers found women expressed a need for flexibility in their work life. When viewed together, we can see the immediate retention dividends that flexibility brings. Flexibility has the added benefit of acknowledging the reality of single-parent households, dual-income families, and those that carry the burden of addressing childcare needs.

To help retain attorneys and allow those with varied responsibilities to succeed, we can encourage and support them in taking full advantage of the tools that allow them to work through disruptions at home. This includes:

Allowing for conference calls over Zoom meetings

Permitting Zoom meetings over in-person meetings

Enabling and teaching attorneys how to be able to work from anywhere, e.g., using cellphone hotspots to work in the car, having cloud-based document storage systems so materials can be reviewed on a mobile device, etc.

Teaching attorneys how to best utilize support staff for tasks that cannot be done if they are not at their desks (e.g., if they have to take an aging parent to the doctor)

Ensuring attorneys to not apologize for working remotely, and telling them they do not need to disclose where they are unless it is necessary

It is critical that attorneys, and particularly women, do not feel guilty for multitasking away from their desks. Rarely do male attorneys apologize--or even reveal--when they are working out of the office. Women frequently feel the need to share (or perhaps overshare) this information when it only minimally changes their working hours or their availability. Unless it will impact a deadline or deliverable, there is no need to tell anyone that you are answering emails from the waiting room of your child's dentist's office.

This advice is not intended to supplant the benefits of face time or to isolate those who need flexibility. Rather, it is critical to show attorneys how to be successful even when they do have to balance the other demands in their lives. Pretending that the childcare responsibility inequality doesn't exist--or that the older models, which relied on a stay-at-home spouse, are still working--is the equivalent of an ostrich sticking its head in the sand. And it will only result in more attorneys leaving the law.

Set the tone at the top

The people running the firm should practice what they preach. Internally, senior attorneys--men and women--should be transparent about the ways they use technology to work remotely or the times when they are caring for a sick child or aging family member. This de-stigmatizes the practice and makes it clear that it won't remove attorneys--male or female--from the partner track.

One-on-one mentoring is also critical. Attorneys need a safe space that allows them to ask questions and problem solve for difficult solutions. Our firm is small, but we still have a formal mentoring program because we care deeply about all our attorneys succeeding.

Support business generation/encourage ownership early

Finally, if an attorney is to have maximum flexibility and power, they must be in charge of their own cases. Setting the schedule and the deadlines, when possible, allows an attorney to avoid other known conflicts and preserve (much of the time) some modicum of balance outside the office. At a small firm, this is easier because cases are more leanly staffed, so non-work conflicts of all the attorneys on the cases can be honored when possible.

The more women are able to run their own cases, the more they are able to set the pacing and the tone of the work. However, studies have shown that frequently women (1) Do not get credit for building relationships with existing clients, and (2) Do not receive credit when the firm brought in the business, even though they were part of the pitch team. Awareness of this issue is the first step. The second is to be clear-eyed about origination credit. Just because someone senior at the firm once talked to a contact should not be enough to mean that person gets origination credit. Women should be encouraged to speak up for the credit they deserve, other senior attorneys need to verbally and consciously support that effort, and no offense should be taken when these discussions take place.

All of this is easier said than done, no doubt, but keeping women in the law is more important than any discomfort implementing the above might cause. Small steps can make a big difference.

Evangeline A.Z. Burbidge is a partner at Lewis & Llewellyn LLP.