Levelling the field for women

If at its core the rule of law is all about fairness, then it is ironic that the practice of law appears to be conducted on something less than an equal and level playing field.

It is well documented that in many cases both women and ethnic minority aspiring lawyers and actual practitioners have a steeper hill to climb than their white, male counterparts.

Speakers at last weekend's Woman Lawyer Conference reinforced the Gazette's report of a fortnight ago that many women at the top commercial firms are fading without trace, well before they have an opportunity of partnership.

And even the leading law firms appear to lack concrete information on why this phenomenon is occurring.

There are several theories: by the time women solicitors are in the running for partnership they are considering starting a family; the health support and advice service for lawyers, LawCare, suggests that women at the early stages of their careers are far more likely to suffer from stress and depression, arguably much of it linked to harassment from male colleagues.

Instead of guessing, the profession should follow the advice of one successful solicitor, the deputy chairwoman of the Competition Commission, and monitor the situation.

Only with hard facts and figures will the solicitors' profession be able to play fair by its female members.