Bridging the Gender Pay Gap in Law Firms

By Stephanie Hawthorne

This special report focuses on law firms' gender pay gaps with statistics from the top 50 law firms. This follows the new UK government regulations that came into force in April 2017 which required statutory reporting of the gender pay gap for the first time. The report analyses what individual law firms are doing to fix the gender pay gap, including work allocation, mentoring, maternity support, parental leave, women's lawyers networks with analysis from HR directors and lawyers. The report also analyses the tricky question of whether equity partners' should also reveal their pay gap and the individual choices taken by leading city law firms. It also includes coverage of the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Select Committee on what action is being taken to address the gender pay gap and comment from the TUC.This cutting edge new report will be essential reading for law firm management and every practitioner interested to understand the gender pay gap in law and how women can be supported in their roles.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Globe Law and Business
• Release date: Nov 1, 2018
• ISBN: 9781787422131

Book preview

Bridging the

Gender Pay Gap

in Law Firms

Author

Stephanie Hawthorne

Managing director

Sian O’Neill

Bridging the Gender Pay Gap in Law Firms is published by

Globe Law and Business Ltd

3 Mylor Close

Horsell

Woking

Surrey GU21 4DD

United Kingdom

Tel: [phone]

www.globelawandbusiness.com

Printed and bound by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon CR0 4YY, United Kingdom

Bridging the Gender Pay Gap in Law Firms

ISBN 9781787422124

EPUB ISBN 9781787422131

Adobe PDF ISBN 9781787422148

Mobi ISBN 9781787422155

© 2018 Globe Law and Business Ltd except where otherwise indicated.

The right of Stephanie Hawthorne to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form (including photocopying, storing in any medium by electronic means or transmitting) without the written permission of the copyright owner, except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 or under terms of a licence issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, 6–10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS, United Kingdom (www.cla.co.uk, email: [e-mail]). Applications for the copyright owner’s written permission to reproduce any part of this publication should be addressed to the publisher.

DISCLAIMER

This publication is intended as a general guide only. The information and opinions which it contains are not intended to be a comprehensive study, or to provide legal advice, and should not be treated as a substitute for legal advice concerning particular situations. Legal advice should always be sought before taking any action based on the information provided. The publishers bear no responsibility for any errors or omissions contained herein.

Table of contents

Introduction

Gender pay gap reporting – the law

Spotlight on gender pay gap data

1.Results

2.Inadequacies

Gender pay gap narratives

1.Treatment of partners’ pay

2.The view from the coalface

3.The union view – what employers should be doing

4.The view from the Law Society

Achieving 100% pay parity

1.Barriers to parity

2.Closing the gap

Good practice in law firms

1.The view from a regional firm

2.The view from a Magic Circle firm

3.The view from a top 20 firm

Tackling the gender pay gap – government recommendations

1.Understanding the causes

2.Policies and practices

3.Setting targets

4.What Works guidance

Conclusion: Has the gender pay gap exercise been worthwhile?

1.Views on the ground

2.Time for effective action

Appendix I. Gender pay gap reporting: overview

Appendix II. Gender pay gap reporting: make your calculations

Notes

Acknowledgements

About the author

Introduction

Excessive executive pay and the gender pay gap are at root an issue of fairness. It is unacceptable that in 2018, men and women are rewarded so differently for doing the same jobs.

Transparency on gender pay gaps must only be the beginning. We want to examine the actions necessary to close the gender pay gap and ensure women have a genuine opportunity to get the top jobs.¹

These are the telling words of Member of Parliament Rachel Reeves, chair of the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) Committee, which recently examined the gender pay gap in the United Kingdom.

In law firms, as in much of the rest of British industry, the gender pay gap is considerable. Much more needs to be done to achieve equality, although the profession has come a long way since Carrie Morison became the country’s first female solicitor. This followed the Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act 1919, which paved the way for the first women lawyers.²

At the time of her entry to the profession, Morison claimed, in an interview published in the Dundee Evening Telegraph on 31 October 1922: Men say the law is too rough and tumble for women.³ She and thousands of her successors have since proved them wrong: today there are now more female than male solicitors⁴ and women made up 61.6% of new admissions in 2016/17.

The Law Society of England and Wales’ annual statistics report for 2017⁵ shows that there are 139,624 solicitors with practising certificates – a 2.5% increase on 2016 figures and broadly in line with annual growth over the last 10 years. Women now make up 50.1% of the 139,624 practising certificate holders; but figures from the Solicitors Regulation Authority show that in 2017, women made up 59% of non-partner solicitors, compared to just 33% of partners (up from 31% in 2014).⁶ The difference is greater still in the largest firms (50-plus partners), where just 29% of partners are female.

There have still been small but welcome signs of progress in the largest firms, however, as the gap has narrowed over the past four