Happy anniversary to the women in law pledge

June 2023 marks the four-year anniversary of the Law Society’s Women in Law Pledge. The pledge was introduced in 2019 to encourage and support the legal sector to address the persistent challenges women continue to face despite notable increases in representation within the profession. 

Women undergraduates studying law continue to outnumber and outperform men, with statistics showing that in 2021 nearly twice as many women graduated compared to men and 28% of women were awarded a First-class degree in law compared to just under 24% of men.

Equally, women practising certificate holders have been growing at over three times the rate of men on average over the past decade. Indeed, women now make up 53% of those practising in the profession.

However, this apparent gender parity masks embedded issues particularly along the seniority pipeline.

Just 18% of women working in private practice are partners, compared to 40% of men, and only a third of partners in the legal sector are women.

Similarly, women continue to be underrepresented in corporate and criminal work and overrepresented in private client and mixed work. At the intersections of identity, the disparity women face in the legal sector is even more pronounced. For example, policies that benefit white women may not benefit women from minority ethnic backgrounds due to historical or current inequalities.

Despite changes in the law to introduce gender pay gap reporting, for the largest law firms the average gap in mean hourly pay is around 20% and median hourly pay around 32% (far larger than the national average pay gap).

In 2019 the Law Society published their Women in Leadership in Law report, setting out recommendations based on evidence from surveys and roundtables with the sector focusing on key issues including unconscious bias, the gender pay gap and flexible working.

As a result the pledge was born from a collaboration with the Bar Council and CILEx, aimed at putting gender equality at the top of the agenda and improving workplace cultures and outcomes for women in law.

The current 50 pledge signatories have committed to ensuring accountability for gender diversity and inclusion, as well as tackling sex discrimination, bullying and sexual harassment with their organisations.

Those firms have made a public commitment to consider differential outcomes for different groups of women across all levels of their organisations based on factors such as their background, identity and range of experience.

They will also develop action plans to achieve gender equality in senior management and leadership teams.

The pledge provides guidance and key target areas for attention in order to support the progression of women into senior roles. It sets out how firms can implement clear action plans alongside practical tips as to how these can be implemented in signatory firms or other legal organisations.

For example, the guidance to the pledge provides steps to consider when putting together action plans (which it recommends should cover at least three years) and explains how to effectively review the targets set to enable progress for women.

The pledge is a useful action tool for all organisations, wherever they may be on their gender equality journey.

The Law Society’s roundtables and network of signatories can help organisations to develop policy and culture changes, and signing the pledge helps to provide vital leaders for the rest of the profession.

At a recent virtual roundtable, signatory firms exchanged valuable insights and tips into what has worked well across other law firms and organisations of varying sizes and compositions. The pledge has assisted organisations with securing senior buy in and acted as a catalyst for change for gender equality and increasing gender representation at the senior levels. The requirement to make the pledge public, along with publishing targets and action plans, has helped to hold firms accountable and keep gender equality on the agendas of key decision makers.

Arising from this focus on gender equality, firms reported promotion of women who are currently taking maternity leave, evaluation of women’s working patterns and changes to pay, reward and ways in which business contributions are valued in appraisals and promotions.

As we celebrate the fourth anniversary of the Women in Law Pledge in the centenary year of women being admitted to the profession, the Women Solicitors Network Committee encourage firms to sign the pledge.

In doing so, the profession can demonstrate its ongoing commitment to narrowing the gender pay gap and organisations can join a community of practice with other signatories who have pledged to support the progression of women into senior roles as we look to the next 100 years. To commit to the pledge, visit the Law Society’s Women in Law Pledge page, download the submission form and return via email to the diversity and inclusion team at diversityteam@lawsociety.org.uk.

Elizabeth Turner and Chantal Davies are members of the Law Society's Women Solicitors Network Committee. Turner is head of legal at Sophian Limited and Davies is professor of law, equality and diversity and director of Forum for Research into Equality and Diversity at University of Chester School of Law