The future is female – women lawyers outnumber men in UK as the in-house boom continues

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The future is female – women lawyers outnumber men in UK as the in-house boom continues

In a landmark for the legal industry that nevertheless raises some uncomfortable truths, the number of working female solicitors in England and Wales has exceeded men for the first time according to new figures.

Reflecting the decades-long influx of junior women to the profession, the total number of women lawyers in the world’s second largest legal market is now 50.1% of the UK’s 139,624 practising certificate (PC) holders, and 48% of the 93,155 solicitors in private practice. Continue reading “The future is female – women lawyers outnumber men in UK as the in-house boom continues”

An ill wind… The LB100 leadership debate

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An ill wind… The LB100 leadership debate

Alex Novarese, Legal Business: How is the market generally?

Lee Ranson, Eversheds Sutherland: Most of the managing partners around this table will say it was a better 2017 than expected. We had some of our highest numbers against a budget where we were very, very wary with Brexit and uncertainty. Very strange. We are going into a new budget now and management is more cautious than the practitioners. Continue reading “An ill wind… The LB100 leadership debate”

Gender diversity: pay gaps revealed at Addleshaw Goddard, Mishcon de Reya and Gowling WLG

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A fuller picture of the legal industry’s gender pay gap issue is emerging as Addleshaw Goddard, Mishcon de Reya and Gowling WLG become the latest firms to reveal big earnings disparities.

Gender pay brackets at Addleshaw – published Tuesday (13 March) ahead of the 4 April deadline required by legislation brought in last year – reveal the firm paid its male staff on average 43.2% more in bonuses than women for the year to 5 April 2017. The median bonus figure was 33.3%. Continue reading “Gender diversity: pay gaps revealed at Addleshaw Goddard, Mishcon de Reya and Gowling WLG”

Gender diversity: Allen & Overy faring better than rivals as it reveals 20% pay gap

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Gender diversity: Allen & Overy faring better than rivals as it reveals 20% pay gap

Allen & Overy has become the latest magic circle firm to reveal the sizeable gulf between male and female employee earnings.

The firm on Monday (12 March) published its figures for gender pay brackets ahead of the 4 April deadline required by legislation brought in last year. Continue reading “Gender diversity: Allen & Overy faring better than rivals as it reveals 20% pay gap”

Comment: Law firms will never just hand status to City women – they’ll have to take it

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Comment: Law firms will never just hand status to City women – they’ll have to take it

In a blow for traditionalists, our latest cover feature eschews profiling a group of hard-working, smart, highly-confident men who are talented lawyers to instead profile a group of hard-working, smart, variably-confident women who are talented lawyers. Radical stuff.

But then the career cycle for too many ambitious female deal lawyers remains nasty, brutish and short. While women increasingly advance into senior roles in advisory practice areas and even more so among the ranks of senior general counsel, in the upper reaches of transactional law, it is still a boys’ club and anyone claiming differently does not know many corporate lawyers. Continue reading “Comment: Law firms will never just hand status to City women – they’ll have to take it”

Alphas – the hunt for female deal stars (and why it’s hard to be a City woman)

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Alphas – the hunt for female deal stars (and why it’s hard to be a City woman)

‘You will have to go out and find the women – they won’t come to you,’ warns Travers Smith partner Lucie Cawood when Legal Business began researching this cover feature. That proved an astute prediction.

Searching for senior female talent in the City, amid weeks spent amassing nearly 60 interviews with partners, law firm leaders, corporate heads and recruiters, it becomes clear that it takes more work to get women deal lawyers talking than their male equivalents. A lot more. Continue reading “Alphas – the hunt for female deal stars (and why it’s hard to be a City woman)”

Women deal stars: plenty to celebrate so ditch the understatement

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Women deal stars: plenty to celebrate so ditch the understatement

In a blow for traditionalists, our latest cover feature eschews profiling a group of hard-working, smart, highly-confident men who are talented lawyers to instead profile a group of hard-working, smart, variably-confident women who are talented lawyers. Radical stuff.

But then the career cycle for too many ambitious female deal lawyers remains nasty, brutish and short. While women increasingly advance into senior roles in advisory practice areas and even more so among the ranks of senior general counsel, in the upper reaches of transactional law, it is still a boys’ club and anyone claiming differently does not know many corporate lawyers. Continue reading “Women deal stars: plenty to celebrate so ditch the understatement”