The National Association of Women Lawyers has been conducting surveys since 2006 to track the professional progress of women lawyers in the nation's 200 largest law firms. What they have found is that while law firm policies such as part-time offerings and maternity leave appear to be woman-friendly, this only masks the actuality of inequity in the male to female ratio at most firms. For instance, most firms' highest governing committees have only one or two women on them and even fewer firms have a woman as the overall managing partner. Similarly, those few women who do make it to the top are still making 85% of what males in equitable positions are making.
Women in BigLaw also face the problem of advancement, or, rather, the lack thereof. The NAWL survey also found that women make up a large percentage of one of BigLaw's newest trends: the non-partner-track lawyer. These positions, while they of course count in the Labor Statistics' data of women lawyers in general, are generally dead-end positions. These staff attorney spots have very little room for advancement, if any, which again lessens the chance of women reaching firms' governing committees or the coveted overall managing partner position. And, to add insult to injury, these staff positions are often the first to be cut in times of financial crisis for top firms -Times like the present. This then leads to not only out-of-work women lawyers, but women lawyers with less impressive positions on their resumes that fail to show the lawyer's achievements or potential. It is indicative of firms' overall failure at keeping employees and firms' inability to place women somewhere that they belong based on ability rather than gender.
BigLaw is also an entity which does not cultivate advancement for women organically. There is little to no coaching, formally or informally, for new women hires by more senior partners. The NAWL survey does, however, find improvements each year, which is encouraging. New opportunities do pop up for women lawyers each year, as do obstacles. It is the speed with which women are progressing, very slowly, that is disconcerting. So, when that 34.4% changes to 34.5%, again, no one will be surprised.
