Symbols And Substance: The Hiring And Promotion Of America's Leading Law Firms

Abstract

The legal profession has undergone dramatic changes in the past two decades as it has grown from a traditionally male occupation to one which includes substantial numbers of women among its ranks. These new women attorneys have even been able to begin to crack the elite law firms, which now hire a greater percentage of women than the legal profession. But, as disclosed by the 1991 survey of the largest 250 firms by the National Law Journal, great discrepancies remain in the proportion of women hired by these elite firms and in the proportion that they promote to partner. Some of these firms refuse to hire or promote many women, while others both employ and promote well above-the national average. The reasons behind this variation are the subject of this study. Why do the hiring and promotion practices of large law firms vary with respect to women? This is the question addressed by this study. Specifically, it looks at the hiring and promotion of women among the largest 250 law firms, as determined by the National Law Journal's 1991 survey of law firms, to examine the reasons behind the variation among these firms.