More on the Gap Education Doesn't Narrow in New Survey

A study of 700 women law firm partners,  New Millennium, Same Glass Ceiling? The Impact of Law Firm Compensation Systems on Women, looks into women's perceptions of partnership pay disparities and discusses suggestions for change.  As noted in a recent Lexis Hub post, The Gap Education Doesn't Narrow," the legal profession has emerged as a particularly unequal market when data on the pay gap between male and female attorneys is reviewed.

The ABA introduction to the survey  notes , "The results of this survey demonstrate that a number of steps must be taken in order to help reduce and eventually eliminate the significant income gap between male and female partners."  The letter goes on to recommend increasing the number of women partners on compensation committees.

Among the survey's key findings:

• A significant number of women have been de-equitized.
• Women partners' compensation continues to be negatively impacted by their exclusion  from rainmaking opportunities and receipt of a proportionate share of the financial benefits associated with a successful client pitch.
• Fewer than half of equity partners....are satisfied with their compensation systems.
• Compensation committees lack diversity.
• Women partners feel their firms' compensation systems lack transparency.

The surveys authors, Roberta Liebenberg and Catherine Lamboley note in their introduction,

"A recent Census Bureau report revealed that the median income of women lawyers is only 74 percent of that of male lawyers. Unfortunately, what starts as a $2,000 annual gap between male and female associates accelerates to a $66,000 annual gap between male and female equity partners." To review complete survey results, follow this link.