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Glass ceiling still alive for female lawyers
A new report has painted a bleak picture for female legal professionals, revealing that male clients are significantly less likely to choose a woman to represent them.
Emma Musgrave
Global legal market research firm Acritas has delved into what may be contributing to the lack of gender diversity within the law.
“The challenge for firms is that their male clients will be more likely to bring work to their male partners and the majority of clients are male,” Acritas CEO Lisa Hart Shepherd said.
“If clients, both male and female, can start to apply quotas in their work allocation – giving at least one in three matters to a female lead partner and demand gender diverse teams, this will start to balance the power and increase the chances of equity for women.
“At the same time, if law firms can field gender diverse teams and push their female lawyers to the forefront of relationships, this will help to balance out the gender gap.
“For both sides, these efforts will be rewarded with a better result – a more satisfying service for clients and stronger, more loyal relationships for firms.”
The report found that mixed gender teams significantly outperform single gender teams on industry-recognised key performance metrics.
Mixed gender teams revealed uplift in performance across all industry-recognised metrics, with the biggest gain seen in the strength of relationships.
In addition, Acritas compared the performance of teams led by male partners with female partners and observed no significant differences on any KPI.
“Superior performance was only perceived by clients when working with a gender diverse team,” the report noted.
Emma Musgrave
Emma Musgrave (née Ryan) is the managing editor, professional services at Momentum Media.
Emma has worked for Momentum Media since 2015, including five years spent as the editor of the company's legal brand - Lawyers Weekly. Throughout her time at Momentum, she has been responsible for breaking some of the biggest stories in corporate Australia. In addition, she has produced exclusive multimedia and event content related to the company's respective brands and audiences.
Prior to joining Momentum Media, Emma worked in breakfast radio, delivering news to the Central West region of NSW, before taking on a radio journalist role at Southern Cross Austereo, based in Townsville, North Queensland.
She holds a Bachelor of Communications (Journalism) degree from Charles Sturt University.
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