Call to Action:
Advancing Women Attorneys in Leadership in Chicago:
2012 Measurements
Chicago Bar Association’s Alliance for Women and the
Coalition of Women’s Initiatives in Law Firms
March 18, 2013
Background
The Chicago Bar Association (“CBA”) issued a Call to Action (“CTA”) in 2004 with ten law firms acting as leadership signatories:
Baker & McKenzie LLP
DLA Piper US LLP
Jenner & Block LLP
Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP
Kirkland & Ellis LLP
McDermott Will & Emery LLP
McGuireWoods LLP
Schiff Hardin LLP
Sidley Austin LLP
Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP
The CTA has fifty signatories: forty-four law firms and six legal departments. Each signatory to the CTA agreed to pursue five goals over the time from January 1, 2004 to December 31, 2007:
l Increase the percent of women partners by three percentage points
l Women on every firm committee in same proportion as in partnership
l Increase number of women practice group leaders
l Ensure flexible hours policies are equitable and viable options
l Improve any disparities in rates in which women and men are retained, promoted and laterally recruited
The CTA results on these five goals were based on the signatories’ responses to surveys.
In 2005, the CBA’s Alliance for Women (“AFW”) won the National Conference of Women’s Bar Association’s Public Service Award for the CTA. Since 2004, the templates for the CTA and the annual measures have been shared with bar associations across the country, many of which have created calls to action in their communities.
The intent of the CTA was to promote greater focus on and increased awareness of advancing women into leadership roles in Chicago law firms. The AFW was pleased by the results achieved by the CTA in Chicago. Every one of the five CTA goals were met or exceeded by a number of signatory firms. Material progress on the issue of women in leadership roles in the Chicago legal community has been made since the inception of the CTA in 2004.
Beginning with 2009 data, a new methodology was used to continue the measurement of some of these key goals and spotlight the Chicago law firms who are leading on these issues. Every law firm with an office in Chicago that filed a form with the National Association for Law Placement (“NALP”) was included in the CTA metrics. (Please see the Methodology section at the end of this article.) The AFW and the Coalition of Women’s Initiatives in Law Firms (“Coalition”), an organization that was founded after the initiation of the CTA, will annually measure and publish rankings on the following:
- women partners, highlighting the firms with the highest percentages, the highest numbers and the biggest gains year over year,
- women associates, highlighting the firms with the highest percentages, the highest numbers and the biggest gains year over year, and
- women “other lawyers,” highlighting the firms with the highest percentages, the highest numbers and the biggest gains year over year.
Claudia Wolf and her team from Deloitte Financial Advisory Services LLP have continued to provide pro bono assistance with the CTA, including gathering, sorting, analyzing and QA/QCing the data and the calculations.
The Market
In the timeframe 2008 to 2012, the Chicago legal market has lost attorney jobs in law firms that interview at law schools.
Chicago Law Firms Who Provided Headcount Information to NALP Directory
in 2008 and 2012
(Deloitte Financial Advisory Services LLP)
Category / 2008 / 2012 / Percentage ChangePartners / 3,418 / 3,214 / (6.0%)
Associates / 3,175 / 2,520 / (20.6%)
Other Attorneys / 429 / 701 / 63.4%
Total / 7,022 / 6,435 / (8.4%)
The only category of attorneys to see any growth is the “Other Attorneys” category. The most positive news in this longitudinal snapshot is that while the total head count of women partners in Chicago law firms decreased by 2.7%, the percent of partners in Chicago law firms who are women increased by 5.1%.
2012 Women Partners
The NALP form does not require that law firms distinguish between equity and non-equity partners so these numbers for women partners reflect all partners at the firms.
Top 10Highest Percentages of Women Partners
2012 / Top 10
Percentage Increase in Women Partners from 2011 to 2012 / Top 10
Number of Women Partners
2012
1. Troutman Sanders (50.0%) / 1. Fitch Even (100.0%) / 1. Jackson Lewis (102)
2. Cook County State’s Attorney (46.1%) * / 2. Ropes & Gray (50.0%) / 2. Hinshaw & Culbertson (80)
3. Pugh Jones (36.4%) / 3. Michael Best (33.3%) / 3. Kirkland & Ellis (79)
4. Faegre Baker (33.3%) / 3. Pugh Jones (33.3%) / 4. Duane Morris (78)
4. Littler Mendelson (33.3%) / 5. Jones Day (27.3%) / 5. Cook County State’s Attorney (53) *
4. Quarles & Brady (33.3%) / 6. Bryan Cave (25.0%) / 6. Sidley Austin (52)
7. McDermott Will (30.7%) / 7. Baker & McKenzie (21.1%) / 7. McDermott Will (50)
8. Jackson Lewis (27.8%) / 8. Marshall Gerstein (20.0%) / 8. Katten Muchin (34)
9. Barack Ferrazzano (27.4%) / 8. Reed Smith (20.0%) / 9. Jenner & Block (32)
10. Barnes & Thornburg (27.0%) / 10. Kirkland & Ellis (19.7%) / 9. Mayer Brown (32)
9. Schiff Hardin (32)
* Supervising Attorneys are included as Partners for purposes of this analysis.
Firms that were in the top 10 (by % of women partners) for 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012 (in alphabetical order):
- Barack Ferrazzano Kirschbaum Perlman & Nagelberg LLP
- Jackson Lewis LLP
- McDermott Will & Emery LLP
- Troutman Sanders LLP
2012 Women Associates
Women associates are the firms’ pipeline for partnership and leadership – if they are retained and readied for promotion and leadership positions.
Top 10Highest Percentages of Women Associates
2012 / Top 10
Percentage Increase in Women Associates from 2011 to 2012 / Top 10
Number of Women Associates
2012
1. Miller Shakman (80.0%) / 1. McDonnell Boehnen (220.0%) / 1. Cook County State’s Attorney (440) *
2. Goldberg Kohn (76.7%) / 2. Butler Rubin (200.0%) / 2. Jackson Lewis (161)
3. Thompson Coburn (66.7%) / 2. Steptoe & Johnson (200.0%) / 3. Sidley Austin (104)
4. Barnes & Thornburg (64.7%) / 4. McAndrews Held (100.0%) / 4. Kirkland & Ellis (97)
5. Faegre Baker (63.6%) / 5. Bryan Cave (66.7%) / 5. Duane Morris (90)
6. Quarles & Brady (63.0%) / 6. Ropes & Gray (60.0%) / 6. Winston & Strawn (89)
7. Seyfarth Shaw (62.2%) / 7. Goldberg Kohn (43.8%) / 7. Hinshaw & Culbertson (85)
8. Jackson Lewis (61.2%) / 8. Barack Ferrazzano (37.5%) / 8. Mayer Brown (76)
9. Neal Gerber (61.1%) / 9. Husch Blackwell (33.3%) / 9. Sedgwick Detert (71)
10. Pircher Nichols (60.0%) / 9. Kelley Drye (33.3%) / 10. Jenner & Block (63)
9. Nixon Peabody (33.3%)
* Supervising Attorneys are included as Partners for purposes of this analysis.
Firms that were in the top 10 (by % of women associates) for 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012 (in alphabetical order):
- Goldberg, Kohn, Bell, Black, Rosenbloom & Moritz, Ltd.
- Neal, Gerber & Eisenberg LLP
- Quarles & Brady LLP
2012 Women “Other Lawyers”
Unlike the top 10 lists for women partners and women associates, firms may not want to make this top 10 list. The “other lawyers” category used on the NALP form includes all attorneys who are neither partners nor associates. This category is being tracked to determine trends regarding the gender composition of “other lawyers” over time, as firms make fewer partners, especially equity partners, and move partners from equity status.
Top 10Highest Percentages of Women Other Lawyers
2012 / Top 10
Percentage Increase in Women Other Lawyers from 2011 to 2012 / Top 10
Number of Women Other Lawyers
2012
1. Goldberg Kohn (100.0%) / 1. Holland & Knight (200.00%) / 1. McDermott Will (52)
1. Pattishall McAuliffe (100.0%) / 1. Locke Lord (200.0%) / 2. Jackson Lewis (34)
1. Proskauer Rose (100.0%) / 1. Morgan Lewis (200.0%) * / 3. Sedgwick Detert (32)
4. Butler Rubin (66.7%) / 4. Reed Smith (150.0%) / 4. Duane Morris (31)
4. Edwards Wildman (66.7%) / 5. Butler Rubin (100.0%) / 5. Seyfarth Shaw (25)
6. Seyfarth Shaw (65.8%) / 5. Leydig Voit (100.0%) / 6. Mayer Brown (20)
7. Neal Gerber (62.5%) / 5. Michael Best (100.0%) ** / 7. Kirkland & Ellis (18)
8. Katten Muchin (61.5%) / 5. Pattishall McAuliffe (100.0%) ** / 8. DLA Piper (14)
9. Jackson Lewis (58.6%) / 5. Perkins Coie (100.0%) / 8. Sidley Austin (14)
10. Bryan Cave (55.6%) / 5. Steptoe & Johnson (100.0%) / 10. Schiff Hardin (13)
5. Thompson Coburn (100.0%) **
* Represents an increase of 2 lawyers in 2011 from a base of 0 in 2010.
** Represents an increase of 1 lawyer in 2011 from a base of 0 in 2010.
Firms that were in the top 10 (by % of women other attorneys) for 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012 (in alphabetical order):
- Goldberg, Kohn, Bell, Black, Rosenbloom & Moritz, Ltd.
- Seyfarth Shaw LLP
Methodology
The data used for these measurements is obtained from the forms filed by each firm with the National Association for Law Placement (“NALP”). These NALP forms are filed annually by any law firm who may interview students at law schools. Only information for the Chicago Office of each law firm was used for this study unless the form was for the entire firm and the size of offices other than Chicago were small. The year over year comparisons were only done for firms who filed a NALP form for 2011 and 2012.
Please feel free to contact Jane DiRenzo Pigott, R3 Group LLC (312-628-4743, ) or E. Lynn Grayson), Jenner & Block LLP (312-923-2756, ) with any questions or comments.
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