More than 92 percent of respondents to a recent study titled, “A Survey of Women Partners on Law Firm Compensation,” reported that revenue generation is the key factor for promotion to equity partner, especially in the forms of billable amounts collected, billable hours worked and new client origination.
Veta Richardson, executive director of the Minority Corporate Counsel Association, Inc. (MCCA), and Cynthia Calvert, co-director of the Project for Attorney Retention (PAR), discussed and unveiled the findings at the first Regional Summit for Women In-House Counsel.
The first-of-its kind survey examined women partners’ experiences and perspectives regarding their law firms’ compensation processes and practices through survey data collected from almost 700 women law firm partners. More than two thirds of the survey respondents were women partners from law firms with more than 250 attorneys. The geographical footprint of the respondents’ law firms ranged from regional U.S. only (29 percent), to national U.S. (26 percent) to international firms (45 percent).
The research objectives were to illuminate what women partners have to say about compensation practices at their law firms and how these practices impact their advancement and compensation rates. It also aimed to identify the challenges women partners are facing with compensation.
The findings
Most firms have a “point or levels” system and revenue generation is a key factor to move up in points or levels. And most annually re-evaluate the points/levels allocation among partners. However, compensation decisions are most influenced by the following sectors of firm leadership:
1. Management or Executive Committees
2. Compensation Committees
3. Managing Partner, Chairman or President
Women were severely underrepresented in each of these groups. In compensation committees alone, few white women were members and minority women were largely absent from these key committees and positions. When surveyed as to how someone gets a seat on the compensation committee, respondents reported several methods, but the surprising news is that a good number of women had no idea how such positions are doled out:
• Elected by partnership (29 percent)
• Appointed by Chairman, Managing Partner or Equivalent (28 percent)
• Combination of elected and appointed (14 percent)
• Other methods (22 percent)
• Did not know how one gets a seat (7 percent)
Approximately half of the respondents said that at their firms the “originator“ is always paid on work he/she or others bill to the client that he/she opened. However, more than half (55 percent) of respondents reported being occasionally or frequently denied their fair share of origination points.
Some alarming news was the high percentage of women (almost 30 percent) who reported having been subjected to intimidation, threats or bullying to back down from origination point disagreements with their male partners. An even higher percentage of women partners (39 percent) reported being dissatisfied with how such disputes are resolved at their firms.
PAR, MCCA and the Commission are working to develop recommended “best practices” for the law firms and corporate clients to empower women partners to get their fair share of compensation for work done for corporate clients.
For more information on the Minority Corporate Counsel Association, go to www.mcca.com.
