On the Case

How law firms went from being the worst employers for working mothers to being some of the best

A personal perspective from Ben Black, ex City lawyer and My Family Care MD.

How bad was it?

Back in the 80s and 90s when LA Law was still must see TV and Rumpole was skulking around the Old Bailey big law firms were not for the faint hearted.

Macho, fraternal and ultra competitive cultures were the norm and the number of female partners at leading law firms was atrociously low.

Built into the law firm model was an expectation that a good number of women would leave the profession when motherhood arrived leaving the partnership door nicely ajar for the men that remained. Yes, it really was that bad.

There has always been a massive pool of female talent in the law waiting to be unleashed. But with their natural conservatism and the straight jacket of old style partnership structures law firms always looked a tough nut for the diversity tsars to crack.

What's it like today?

For those of us who believe passionately that the employee who combines career and family can be the best, most productive member of any team there's still some way for the legal profession to go. But the improved prospects for the typical working mother in the law has been nothing short of amazing.

• Simmons & Simmons and Hogan Lovells started the ball rolling by appointing women as their managing partners (the law firm equivalent of first among equals)
• Allen & Overy introduced a "partner-light" policy specifically to help working mothers who need some flexibility through the ranks
• Herbert Smith appointed the first full time diversity officer with a genuine agenda to agitate for change - no easy task when she was appointed
• Freshfields received plaudits by providing the most comprehensive backup care support for working mothers, fathers and carers
• Ashurst and Berwin Leighton Paisner both appeared on the Top Employers for Working Families list
• And firms such as Baker & McKenzie and Field Fisher Waterhouse started being talked about as genuine bastions of best practice
• Perhaps most strikingly the regional giant Eversheds even found itself in trouble for going too far in favour of women solicitors!

The law has never looked more appealing for women and is now seen as leading the family-friendly agenda rather than following it.

Why, how and what?

We like to think that the penny finally dropped for our brightest legal minds and they suddenly saw the business case for being 'family-friendly'.

In fact a number of factors seem to have been at play:

Women make better lawyers

There's always been plenty of anecdotal evidence that when when it comes to the actual practice of law (rather than the winning and schmoozing of clients) it's women who are better (a quick study of the two ex City lawyers on the My Family Care board would support this view!).

What is undeniable is that there has always been a massive female talent drain at legal firms because of the difficulties of combining parenting and career. Once the Internet arrived it wasn't long before law firms made the link between flexibility and retention.

Over paid and over here

When it comes to diversity the UK has often lagged the US by a few years. No surprises then that as the US firms arrived to populate the competitive landscape and steal the best and brightest female lawyers firms looked more seriously at how they could support lawyers who also happened to be parents.

Simon Says

The people with the biggest legal bills are the banks and multi-nationals. They are also the businesses that have pushed the gender-agenda most aggressively. Commercial logic therefore for law firms to start addressing work-life issues - their clients would look at them strangely if they didn't!

It's all about the partnership

Historically law firms were run by senior partners. Decisions needed broad partner buy in and were notoriously difficult to make. The oldest, most Jurassic partners held the most equity and their votes carried the most weight. No more. The typical firm is now run by a managing partner - with the emphasis on managing rather than partner - supported by a small cabal of the most effective, popular and commercial lieutenants.

In other words important decisions are made by lawyers in their 40s who will often have young children of their own and an innate understanding that flexibility and high billable hours are not mutually exclusive.

Closing arguments

No-one is pretending that life at the top of the legal profession is easy. If you are a woman and you want a successful career and children then there are easier places to go. But if you have a decent intellect and an ability to decipher long documents then you have every chance of a successful career in the law these days.

As Rumpole would say, that's worth raising a glass of Chateau Thames Embankment to.

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