Women Run Only Seven of the Largest 100 U.S. Law Firms

According to a recent Law360 article, women hold top leadership positions in only seven of the largest 100 U.S. law firms.  These seven female leaders serve as chairman, managing partner, or co-managing partner in the following firms:

In October of this year, two other women will be added to the list: Jami Wintz McKeon will become the firm chair of Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP and Therese Pritchard will become the chair of Bryan Cave LLP.

Experts say that the low rate of women law firm leaders is a product of firms failing to provide adequate mentorship and advancement opportunities.  There is also a lingering misconception that women lack the “confidence or aggression to tackle the caseload or client development demands to get to the top spot, much less the responsibilities of the top spot itself.”  To break down these barriers, Ms. Pritchard, who will be the first woman chairman at Bryan Cave, suggests that law firms need to create more opportunities for women, including flexible work schedules and equal access to client development opportunities.  Women must also confront the “old boys’ network,” which requires mentorship and aggressively pursuing a “rainmaker” practice. 

Keywords: woman advocate, litigation, leadership positions

_{Suzanne L. Jones works at Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP in Minneapolis, Minnesota}

_{Copyright © 2016, American Bar Association. All rights reserved. This information or any portion thereof may not be copied or disseminated in any form or by any means or downloaded or stored in an electronic database or retrieval system without the express written consent of the American Bar Association. The views expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the positions or policies of the American Bar Association, the Section of Litigation, this committee, or the employer(s) of the author(s).}