50/50 by 2030: Gender in the Legal Profession Project

50/50 Gender Project

50/50 by 2030: Gender in the Legal Profession Project

IBA/LexisNexis RoLF

Significant progress has been made in recent years to pursue gender parity in the legal profession. More than half of all law school graduates and trainees are female, but a notable disparity endures when it comes to representation at the most senior levels of the profession.

The role of the legal profession and lawyers is integral to every society. From law makers to law enforcers, from legal advisors to human rights defenders, it is critical that a gender balanced voice emerges at all levels.

On 8 March 2021, International Women’s Day, the International Bar Association (IBA) launched ‘50/50 by 2030’ a groundbreaking, longitudinal study into gender disparity in the legal profession, in collaboration with LexisNexis Rule of Law Foundation (LNROLF). This nine-year initiative seeks to facilitate an informed and effective gender policy blueprint to benefit all legal sectors globally.

In support of the project launch, IBA President, Sternford Moyo, stated, ‘We need a global legal profession that not only understands and appreciates the need for diversity and gender equality but will take action to ensure their realisation. We cannot continue to have so few eminently qualified and capable women denied parity in senior roles.’

By providing empirical evidence of entrenched barriers and assessing measures being taken to correct the imbalance, we can draw up a blueprint of best practice across different legal sectors. The project will cover sixteen jurisdictions, chosen

to run alongside a decade of action for the UN Sustainable Development Goals, notably Goal 5 on Gender Equality.

In 2021, a pilot study was carried out in England and Wales, seeking statistics and information about work being done to promote gender equality across four legal sectors. The following groups were asked to partake in the survey:

1. Private: Top 200 Law Firms 1 and top 20 Barristers’ Chambers 2

2. In-house: FTSE 100 Index Companies 3

3. Public: Four departments employing legal professionals in the UK public sector:

– Crown Prosecution Service (CPS)

– Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC)

– Government Legal Department (GLD)

– Serious Fraud Office (SFO)

4. Judiciary: Judicial Office

Seniority in the four sectors was determined as follows:

■ Law Firms: Partnership level and above (with specific information also sought about representation at executive level);

■ Barristers’ Chambers: QC level;

■ Corporate (in-house legal teams): Senior management level, GC, Board Members;

■ Public Sector: Senior Civil Servant level (SCS1 and above);

■ Judiciary: Senior members of the judiciary – High Court and Court of Appeal

Gender representation across the legal profession:

Female lawyers overall 51%

Female lawyers in senior roles 32%

Our findings – in summary

■ 95% of respondents have gender parity initiatives in place. Organisations perceive that specific gender policies are either very or somewhat effective in promoting women to senior positions in the profession.

■ Unconscious bias training is perceived to be the least effective means of increasing the number of women in reaching positions of seniority, however, it is the third most popular approach taken.

■ Flexible working arrangements are the most popular measure to increase the number of women in senior positions – more than half of respondents consider this to be very effective. The average length of time this policy has been used indicates that this was the case pre-pandemic.

■ Training and coaching women for leadership positions is somewhat effective, but best used in conjunction with other policies to maximise impact.

■ Quota setting is the least popular policy to adopt but is either very or somewhat effective.

Our report on the pilot study in England and Wales will be available shortly, but in the meantime, more information about the project can be found here: https://www.ibanet.org/genderequality-in-the-legal-profession.

Baroness Helena Kennedy QC, Director of the IBA’s Human Rights Institute commented: ‘The law needs good women at the most senior levels; for too long women have been denied justice in aspects of their lives because the law was created from a male perspective and embedded in the fiction that the law is neutral. I know from my international work that this is a global issue. We need more female lawyers at the top. More senior partners in law firms, more senior judges. The discourse on any subject is improved when it involves diverse voices. This is the route to real justice.’

Almudena Arpón de Mendívil, IBA Vice President and Partner at law firm Gómez-Acebo & Pombo in Madrid, Spain, said: ‘Despite good intentions, we still don’t reach the most senior positions across the legal sector mainly due to discriminatory obstacles placed in our paths. The legal sector cannot afford this contradiction and should lead by example. With the benefit of raised general awareness around discrimination, it is time for increased action.’

The IBA regards diversity and inclusion, bullying, sexual harassment and mental wellbeing in the global legal profession as issues of utmost importance. Our efforts have raised awareness and made a positive contribution, but more needs to be done. We will continue to advocate on these issues with key stakeholders to ensure positive and constructive progress in our pursuit of a balanced and healthy profession. ■

Popularity of gender balance initiatives across the legal profession.

Flexible working is the most popular initiative, the one perceived to be the most effective initiative and the one in place the longest (6.6 years on average).

Unconscious bias training is widely used but perceived to be the least effective of all the initiatives.

Quota setting is the least popular initiative but is perceived to be ‘somewhat’ or ‘very effective’.

Respondents who voted that their gender initiative is “highly effective” in relation to the number of years that the initiative has been in place.

The public sector has the strongest women representation both as a whole, and at a senior level (64% overall, 57% senior level) and has been implementing gender initiatives for the longest period of time.

Sara Carnegie

Sara Carnegie

Legal Director at the IBA

1. https://www.thelawyer.com/top-200-uk-law-firms/ (excluding firms with offices only in Scotland)

2. https://chambers.com/guides/uk-bar/leading-sets

3. https://www.hl.co.uk/shares/stock-market-summary/ftse-100