Women not getting the top legal jobs, new study by University of York shows

Progress has certainly been made in terms of gender and wider social inequalities in the legal profession in recent decades. For example, since the 1990s, women have accounted for over 50% of newly qualified lawyers each year and now comprise two-thirds of practising solicitors under 35. Most minority ethnic groups are also well represented, proportionate to their share of the working age population.

Increasingly, law firms are concerned with and signed up to social mobility pledges and action on diversity and inclusion. Yet senior positions, especially in elite firms, continue to be dominated by men, and overwhelmingly, though not exclusively, white men. This impacts different individuals’ sense of career prospects, their progression within firms and can route individuals into different specialisms which vary in prestige and pay.  

A new study takes an intersectional approach to studying careers in the legal profession. Through an analysis of administrative records spanning five decades (1970-2016) of the entire solicitor profession in England and Wales, the study demonstrates how the composition of various career profiles in the solicitor profession have evolved.

While it can be expected from previous research that women from minority ethnic backgrounds fare least favourably, given they experience both a gender and ethnic penalty, it was possible here to track the relative success of white women and minority ethnic men, who each experience one characteristic associated with penalty and one associated with privilege, presenting a unique opportunity to better understand intersectionality in relation to inequalities in the solicitor profession.

Professor Daniel Muzio, of the University of York’s School for Business and Society says: “Our study is unique in that we can track the relative progress of white women and ethnic minority men and women in the legal profession over five decades and the last 20 years have no doubt seen a widening participation.

“Since the 1990s, women have made up the majority of newly-qualified solicitors and ethnic minorities are also over-represented compared to their share of the working population as a whole,” he continues.

“However, the important question is HOW these new members have been included in the profession – and our findings show that, despite undoubted progress, in many cases women follow what are less prestigious and lucrative career pathways as solicitors, while in comparison, minority ethnic men are achieving greater success in terms of in-roads into partnerships of the most prestigious firms – what we have termed the corporate fast track."

Muzio suggests that business models, career structures and corporate practices continue to limit the career progression prospects for female solicitors, so that, while women are much more visible in law firms as a whole, they are still not well represented in the senior ranks of high-paying commercial firms.

The research shows that the solicitors’ profession has increased ten-fold over the last fifty years and, with its expansion, women and minorities have made significant inroads into many practice areas. Women have been the majority of new entrants to the profession since 2000 and as of 2018, women outnumber men as registered practising solicitors.

Historically, white men were best placed to secure fast track careers. A first step towards greater diversity occurred in the 1980s with a substantial proportion of white female entrants. From the 1990s, there was a gradual influx of minority ethnic solicitors as the proportion of white males, who had previously dominated admissions, declined in share.

The analysis shows that the city solicitor profile, which contains some elements of prestige but affords much lower probability of progression, has grown considerably and now mirrors the gender and ethnic composition of new entrants. The diversity of the city solicitor profile may reflect the investment in diversity programmes and initiatives which tend to be more pronounced in London and large city-based firms, which may have a greater impact on diversity in terms of entry to a firm rather than progression within it. Hence, equal opportunities and diversity management policies, particularly when they focus on recruitment or entry, are not alone enough to ensure women and minorities experience career advancement within the most prestigious firms and change gender dynamics at the top.

What is most stark is the relative status of white women and minority ethnic men. Despite female solicitors having a more established profile in the profession and dominating entry to the profession – to the extent that they outnumber minority ethnic male solicitors five to one – they are much less likely to route onto fast-track careers leading to partnership in prestigious areas of corporate practice.

Based on this research, a number of recommendations have been made: