Quick Takes

Published: May 2010

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Education

• In the 2008-2009 class, women made up 44% of law school students.¹
• 1993 was the year of the highest percent of women as J.D. students-50.4%.²
• In the 2008-2009 class, people of color made up 21.9% of law school students.³

The Gender Gap in Law

• In 2009, women made up 32.4% of all lawyers.⁴ Women were 45.3% of associates in 2008.⁵
• Given the same rate of change, Catalyst estimates that it will take more than a woman lawyer’s (born in 2010) lifetime to achieve equality.⁶

• In a survey of the 50 best law firms for women,
  • 14% of the firms had women managing partners,⁸
  • 20% of the equity partners were women, ⁸
  • 28% of the nonequity partners were women, ⁸ and
  • 40% of the of-counsels were women. ⁸
• According to a 2009 survey of the nation’s 200 largest law firms, women represent 34% of of-counsel, 27% of non-equity partners, and almost 16% of equity partners.⁸
• There is a drastic difference between women at the lowest and highest levels in law firms. According to a recent survey,
  • women make up nearly 1 out of every 2 law firm associates, but only 1 out of every 6 equity partners.⁹
  • 99% of law firms reported that their highest paid lawyer was a man.⁹
• A 2007 survey of the 50 best law firms for women found clients asked 23% of the best firms for firms’ statistics on diversity when making decisions about choosing a law firm for representation.¹⁰
• A 2008 survey of the 50 best law firms for women examined occupations by the percent of mothers and fathers in each position.⁸

Occupation	Mothers8	Fathers8
Associates	23%	29%
Of Counsel	56%	57%
Non-EquityPartners	67%	80%
Equity Partners	71%	85%

• While 1 in 8 women lawyers work part-time, only 1 in 50 men lawyers do.¹⁰ Nearly half as many men lawyers as women lawyers (44% vs. 84%) have a spouse that is employed full-time.¹²
• Women were 17.0% of general counsels at Fortune 500 companies in 2009.¹³
• Women lawyers made 75% of men lawyers’ salaries in 2008.¹⁴

Women of Color in Law

• Women of color face additional barriers. People of color were 19.7% of all associates, and 6.1% of all partners. Women of color, on the other hand, represented just 11% of all associates, and 1.9% of all partners.¹⁷
• 19% of law firms do not have any associates who are people of color.¹⁷
• 75% of women of color entry-level associates and 74% of men of color entry-level associates leave within 5 years.¹⁸
• There are only 9 women of color general counsels in the Fortune 500.¹³

SOURCES

¹ American Bar Association, "Enrollment and Degrees Awarded 1963-2008." 

² American Bar Association, "First Year and total J.D. Enrollment by Gender 1947-2008." 

³ American Bar Association, "First Year and Total J.D. Minority Enrollment for 1971-2008." 

⁴ Current Population Survey, Bureau of Labor Statistics, "Table 11: Employed Persons by Detailed Occupation, Sex, Race, and Hispanic or Latino Ethnicity," Annual Averages 2009 (2010). 

⁵ The National Association for Law Placement, "Law Firm Diversity Demographics Slow to Change - Minority Women Remain Particularly Scarce in Law Firm Partnership Ranks" (October 10, 2008).

⁶ Catalyst, unpublished data (2009).

⁷ NALP data, various years.

⁸ Working Mother and Flex-Time Lawyers, "2009 Working Mother and Flex-Time Lawyers Best Law Firms for Women: Trends Identified from National Survey" (2009).

⁹ National Association of Women Lawyers and The NAWL Foundation, "Report of the Fourth Annual National Survey on Retention and Promotion of Women in Law Firms" (October 2009). 

¹⁰ Working Mother and Flex-Time Lawyers, "2007 Working Mother and Flex-Time Lawyers Best Law Firms for Women: Trends Identified from National Survey." 

¹¹ National Association of Women Lawyers, "National Survey on Retention and Promotion of Women in Law Firms" (November 2007). 

¹² Catalyst, Women in Law: Making the Case (2001). 

¹³ Minority Corporate Counsel Association, "MCCA 2009 Survey of Fortune 500 Women General Counsel" (2009).

¹⁴ Current Population Survey, Bureau of Labor Statistics, "Table 39: Median weekly earnings of full-time wage and salary workers by detailed occupation and sex," Annual Averages 2009 (2010). 

¹⁵ American Bar Association, "A Current Glance at Women in the Law 2005." 

¹⁶ American Bar Association, "A Current Glance at Women in the Law 2006." 

¹⁷ NALP, "Women and Minorities in Law Firms by Race and Ethnicity," (2010). 

¹⁸ NALP, "Update on Associate Attrition: Findings from a National Study of Law Firm Associate Hiring and Departures - Calendar Year 2007" (2008).

UPDATED May 3, 2010