How many women are among BigLaw's new partners? At five firms, there are none
Women make up about 45 percent of new associate classes, but only about 30 percent of the 493 new partners announced so far this year by America’s largest law firms.
At five law firms, none of the new partners are women, the Am Law Daily reports.
By last Thursday, 51 of the nation’s top 200 law firms had announced partner promotions, and women made up only 30.6 percent of the new partner classes, according to the analysis by the Am Law Daily. In these early numbers, the percentage of new women partners is down from 34 percent in 2013 and 32 percent in 2012.
The firms without any new women partners are:
• Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, which promoted six lawyers to partnership. The firm did not respond to the Am Law Daily’s request for comment.
• Edwards Wildman Palmer, which promoted seven lawyers to partnership. The firm did not comment when contacted by the Am Law Daily.
• Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, which promoted seven lawyers to partnership. Global diversity committee chair Barbara Becker tells the Am Law Daily this is the first time in decades that the firm has had an all-male class of new partners. “We really believe this is an anomaly,” Becker said. Over the past 10 years, women made up 28 percent of Gibson Dunn’s new partners, on average.
• Locke Lord, which promoted six lawyers to partnership. Locke Lord chair Jerry Clements, a woman, told the Am Law Daily that this is simply an unusual year, and the firm makes it a priority to back the advancement of women. In 2012, half of the firm’s 14 new partners were woman, and in 2013, two of the firm’s seven new partners were women.
• Stroock & Stroock & Lavan, which promoted only three lawyers to partnership. The firm did not comment when contacted by the Am Law Daily.
