How to Make Women Lawyers Partners

Law Firms

Posted Jul 16, 2008, 05:11 pm CDT
By Martha Neil

A new study being released tomorrow says simple strategies can help law firms help close the gap between the number of women and men who are advancing into partnership ranks.

Among them: make it worthwhile financially for senior partners to promote diversity; encourage men to mentor women; and keep a close eye on how attorneys are credited for their business development efforts, reports the National Law Journal, in an article reprinted by New York Lawyer (reg. req.). Firms should also establish benchmarks, and monitor their success in reaching specific goals.

The National Association of Women Lawyers hopes its report "will increase the percentage of women in top legal positions beyond the 15% mark, where the needle has been stuck for years despite women and men graduating from law school in nearly equal numbers," writes the legal publication.

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Posted by Ellen Barshevsky - 2 months, 3 weeks, 3 hours, 49 minutes ago

It is simple. Don’t discriminate. The fact is that women make up 50% of the law students yet only 15% of the partners. Why? Discrimination by the status quo partners (the 85% men). We must have equality before we can eradicate discrimination. Until such time as we can have equality in numbers at the partnership, we will face ongoing second-class citizenry. As such, we will always be battling for the cause of equality. I have seen a few decent men who support the cause of equalty, but many more who promote the status quo. Its high time the men learn to treat us as equals, since we are equal in quality to the men lawyers; we should be given equal representation in the partnership. Thank you for providing this avenue for meaningful input.
Posted by kay sieveding - 2 months, 1 week, 4 days, 12 hours, 24 minutes ago

lawyers should protect other lawyers from sexual harassment so they can work effectively

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