Law Students

NAWL?s 2008 National Survey on Retention and Promotion of Women in Law Firms, Part I

By Peg

So, it is that time of year and NAWL released it's 2008 Survey report yesterday.  Truthfully, there isn't much to write about this survey that you can't learn by reading the report and posts about it from last year.  The numbers have not really changed.  However, there are two things in the report that I would like to discuss: (1) the "tier" structure of a law firm's partnership and how that impacts women hoping to make partner; and (2) the market for lateral hires and how that impacts women hoping to make partner.

First, I found the aspect of the report that deals with the impact of a firm's equity structure to be intriging.  The report describes three forms of equity structure: one-tier, two-tier, and mixed-tier.  One-tier firms are the traditional structure, those that have all partners contribute capital to the firm and all partners share (likely, in varying degrees) in the profits of the firm.  Two-tier firms have "equity" and "non equity" partners.  The non-equity partners carry the title of "partner" but are really just super associates.  They are still paid a base salary and bonus and do not contribute capital or share in the profits.  Usually, there is another decision to be made to "promote" somebody from non-equity to equity within two-tier firms.  The report also discusses a firm structure that is rarely discussed, that of the "mixed-tier" partnership.  Mixed-tier firms are one-tier or two-tier firms on paper but in fact they have "equity" partners who have contributed capital to the firm but do not share in the profits.  Instead, these partners get a fixed salary/bonus as compensation and lesser (or no) say in the management of the firm.  According to the report, fully 15% of the largest law firms are "mixed tier" firms.  The fact that these mixed-tier firms exist is not all that interesting but, what is fascinating, are the report's findings about how this structure impacts women:

The numbers, although preliminary, suggest that working in a mixed-tier firm is somewhat disadvantageous for a woman lawyer.  In mixed-tier firms, women constitute fewer than 13% of equity partners and 24% of non-equity partners, lower levels than in one-tier or two-tier firms.

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Full post as published by Ms. JD on November 18, 2008 (boomark / email).