Why so few Women at the Top?

Let’s turn our attention away from all-things Potter for a moment and consider this fact: Just eight percent of law firm leaders are women, according to a report released in November by the National Association of Women Lawyers (NAWL).

Why? It’s an issue addressed this week by Leigh Jones of the National Law Journal.

For starters, there’s a timing issue. Jerry Clements, the woman in charge of 700-lawyer Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell, says that when she graduated from Baylor University School of Law in 1981, big law firms were just beginning to hire women, she said. The supply of women attorneys with enough experience to lead law firms is still relatively small, she said.

Still, while the pool of all lawyers who even want to run a law firm is relatively small, the pool of women lawyers eager to take on the tasks is even smaller, said Valerie Ford Jacob, co-managing partner of 684-attorney Fried, Frank (pictured).

Among the downsides of the job, according to Jacobs: giving up a full-time legal practice, “extensive travel to far-flung offices, the constant demands of business development and, in some cases, the need to maintain a practice with managerial issues.”

A major reason that women lag so far behind in top leadership roles at law firms is because, in general, those are not jobs they want, said Joel Henning, a consultant with Hildebrandt International. “The best women lawyers get satisfaction out of their practices, and they see little attraction in becoming housekeeping-type law firm leaders,” Henning said. “Many women would rather do their housekeeping chores somewhere else, not in their law firms.”

Paula Hinton, a litigation partner at Vinson & Elkins, disagreed, adding that she would embrace the chance to lead a big law firm. She pointed to a lack of opportunity as the reason for the shortage of women leaders. “The job of a law firm leader has changed,” she said. “Their role is much more in the marketing and strategic planning arena, not in the housekeeping arena.”