Law 360 has confirmed that the hiring stats for women lawyers have not improved since they were measured at this time last year, and the cause seems to be clear: Unconscious bias against women in law, according to industry leaders from in-house counsel to BigLaw leaders. Of course, this comes as no surprise to me, based on my own research, and it is a subject that I address in my new book, Best Friends at the Bar: Top-Down Leadership for Women Lawyers, to be released in the summer of 2015.
The Law 360 article quotes one BigLaw chairman as saying, “The best way for firms to address this is to be aware of it. Because it is unconscious bias, we effect change when we discuss it and make people aware of it.” Makes sense to me, but getting the conversation going and having the male leadership of law firms listen and admit to biased attitudes will take more than a nice quote.
The data, however, is clear, and law firms need to take action. Law 360’s 2015 Glass Ceiling Report provides survey results from 308 firms and displays a bleak picture for women in law. The percentages of total attorneys who are female and the percentages of law firm partners who are female are both up only slightly from last year’s report. Although law school graduating classes are approximately 50 percent female today, the report projects that it will be 2072 before women make up 50 percent of U.S. law firm partners.
That is a shocking revelation. Law firm leaders have been making assumptions about the future of individual women lawyers based on general preconceived notions since the profession first included women more than 4o years ago, and those assumptions have come to be self-fulfilling prophecies. If a young women is told that she is not a good law firm investment because she most likely will leave to have a baby, she then is most likely to leave and have a baby. If no one at the office has confidence in her professional future, how can we expect her to? Add disparate mentoring and networking opportunities for women versus men to those unfortunate assumptions, throw in a little bias in the performance review process, and you have the makings of unconscious bias that can affect a woman lawyer’s career for years into her future — if she can salvage a career at all.
Admitting unconscious bias is not shameful. We all have unconscious biases of one kind or another. The shame is not doing something about it. It cannot be assumed that all women lawyers want to avoid long hours and frequent travel. Some do, and some don’t. Even for women who become mothers, it is a lifestyle choice. We should not be doing the thinking and choosing for them with our own preconceived notions. We need to treat them like individuals and have conversations with them about how to best manage their careers and their professional aspirations.
Metrics and using those metrics to change outcomes is the key. One law firm, Reed Smith, is doing just that, and you will read about the PipelineRS program in my new book. There has been a significant increase in the percentage of new partners who are women at Reed Smith based on this methodology and followup training, and the program is a model for other firms to follow.
Who benefits from this exercise in rooting out unconscious bias? Everyone benefits. The women benefit from fair workplace practices, and the law firms benefit from retaining talent and demonstrating the diversity that in-house law departments are demanding more and more from outside counsel. And the profession benefits from best practices grounded in retaining dedicated and talented lawyers.
It is a win-win. So let’s just do it!
Do you suffer from unconscious bias? Take the test and find out: http://www.criticalmeasures.net/articles-biased.html.
