In December 2011, Stuart Westgarth, the former president of the Law Society of News South Wales, presented the findings of a study into gender diversity within the legal profession.

Presented as part of the Society’s Advancement of Women in the Profession thought leadership project, Westgarth revealed a collection of statistics that didn’t really come as a surprise to anyone.
It showed that in 2010, 46 per cent of lawyers in NSW were women, yet only around 20 per cent were partners.

Despite a promising start, the figures showed that, somewhere a long the line, female lawyers are dropping out of the profession.

Quite simply, the large number of female law students and lawyers is not translating into women claiming their share of top spots within law firms.

Gender? What gender?

According to Michael Bradley, the managing partner of boutique firm Marque Lawyers, which boasts a female partnership of 58 per cent, gender should be entirely irrelevant when it comes to choosing the best lawyers for your firm. He even goes so far as to say he prefers hiring women.

“There is a theory in the office that I just prefer hiring women,” says Bradley. “On reflection, I think that’s right. It’s also undoubtedly true, in our view, that women in general make better job applicants: they move faster, give it more thought, prepare more carefully and interview way better than men. They’re also, at every age after about two years old, more mature than their male equivalents.”

However, Bradley says the fact that his firm has such a high percentage of female partners has less to do with design and more to do with the fact he gives no thought whatsoever to gender during the hiring process. “We ignore gender, along with race, religion, piercings and music taste, when we hire,” he says.

“Our strategy to foster diversity is to hire women, and that seems to have worked quite well. Our strategy to support them is to (a) ignore the fact that they’re women; (b) if they get pregnant, give up on (a) and work out with them a tailored plan for the best flexible approach to balancing career with family. That’s necessarily as varied as their circumstances are.”

Rising above average

One firm sitting right on average when it comes to the number of women in senior positions is national firm Corrs Chambers Westgarth. Approximately 20.6 per cent of partners at Corrs are female, while 60 per cent of non-partner lawyers are female (as at 31 December 2011).

In 2006, the firm established a Diversity Council which, it says, has resulted in the firm making significant progress in terms of diversity, with increased representation of women in senior positions, including 33 per cent of the Board, including the chair, and almost 40 per cent of partners and senior managers at Corrs being women.

According to diversity manager Lisa Annese, diversity is one of the firm’s key concerns and is something at which it is working hard to improve.

“We believe greater gender diversity is very important. It is good for our workplace and it is important for our clients, many of whom are ASX-listed companies,” she says. “We want to reflect our client base, because we all operate in one global marketplace.”

However, according to Annese, gender diversity is an issue for women in all professions,not just the law. “Women in all industries face challenges in reaching senior positions and we are all grappling with the same issues,” she says.

“Barriers range from cultural to structural ones. At Corrs, we have been tackling this issue … we have come a long way.”

One firm that has come further than all other firms of comparable size is national firm Gilbert + Tobin, which boasts a female partner ratio of 36 per cent, with 58 per cent of nonpartner lawyers being female.

According to partner Dianne Banks, this number has been achieved through the creation of a genuine “meritocracy”.

“We seek to attract and develop the best people, irrespective of their gender or any other diversity dimension,” she says.

“This has always been central to the firm and is lived out in its culture. People are measured and rewarded for the contribution they bring to the firm.”

Despite this, Banks concedes that for women, advancement does tend to be much more difficult.

“It’s not so much the career break through maternity or other leave [that makes reaching partnership more difficult],” she says. “The real challenge arises where women continue to be the primary care-giver and need flexibility on their return to work. Not being as readily able to meet the demands of long hours, and the need to provide seamless client support, can mean a slower progression to senior positions.

“Some of these things can be solved in team situations and job share arrangements, but they are challenging and usually unique, as people’s needs differ depending on the reasons for seeking flexibility.”

The myth of “having it all”

According to Bradley, the oftmentioned mantra of women “having it all” is a concept that is null and void – especially in the legal profession. “I think it’s a meaningless concept. Nobody can have it all. Life presents a long series of choices and all choices involve compromise,” he says.

“Yes, you can pursue your career to the nth degree and have children at the same time, but that’s the same equation for men and women. Either way, you’ll probably have to sacrifice a few things, like knowing your children’s names. It’s an entirely personal choice.”

Bradley says that rather than try and let women “have it all”, the real challenge for employers is to maintain an approach that ignores “irrelevant distinctions”, such as gender, and adapts to changing work and lifestyle preferences.

“A rule-based approach is always doomed to fail,” he says, “but that’s exactly where most employers are coming from.”

Banks, however, believes the concept of “having it all” is in fact attainable, if the conditions are right.
“Some of the top-performing partners in our firm are women who have relationships, children and extended families and are also involved in their communities,” she says.

“They are recognised as leaders in their fields, both by their peers and our clients. So I think it is possible to ‘have it all’, but most women in those circumstances say you have to be very organised, have very good support around you and some workplace flexibility when you need it.”

According to Annese, it is perilous to assume that all women even want to “have it all”. “It is dangerous to assume that all women want the same thing. Success looks different to everyone,” she says.

“The truth is that women have different ideas of what success is. As a firm, we are working to create a law firm that can support choices and professional desires for everyone.”

Straight talking

Despite the gains being made within firms that are willing to step away from entrenched, hard-and-fast rules, Bradley says the legal profession needs to get real when it comes to the reasons behind the high attrition rates of women in law.
“I do find this debate tedious, just like the debate about mental health in the legal profession,” he says.

“There’s so much earnest hand-wringing about these ‘seemingly intractable problems’, with essentially zero willingness to face up to the root cause. Private legal practice, in the way it has developed, creates personal unhappiness and will continue to do so. These are just symptoms and it is pointless talking about them until we recognise and address the underlying disease, which isn’t going to happen any time soon.”

Annese, too, would like to see less talk and more action within law firms.
“A lot more can be done,” she says. “I would love to go to a diversity event where there are just as many men as women.

Any other issue that had such a significant impact on profit would provoke greater involvement.We need to remember it is not just about saying we are committed, but demonstrating, through the way we work, that we are committed.”