LawVision INSIGHTS Blog

Posted In: Culture & Diversity, Talent Strategy

By the Numbers: Does Your Law Firm Measure Up to a “Gold” Standard?

By LawVision on June 18, 2013

I like metrics. Perhaps that’s why I find the recently released Women in Law Empowerment Forum’s 2013 Gold Standard Certification especially interesting and valuable – It’s all about the numbers. In order for a firm to receive Gold Standard Certification, the firm must achieve or exceed at least four of the six following metrics –

Women Represent:

10% of Firm Chairs and Office Managing Partners
10% of the Top 50% Highest Compensated Equity Partners in US Offices
20% of the Firm’s Primary Governance Committee
20% of the Firm’s Compensation Committee
20% of Equity Partners or 25% of the Non-Lateral Attorneys who Became Equity Partner in the Past 12 Months
25% of the Firm’s Practice Group Leaders or Department Heads

By the numbers, the National Law Journal’s recent annual survey of the nation’s largest law firms found that women accounted for 15.9% of equity partners in 2012, compared with 15.3% in 2011. Overall, the percentage of women in NLJ 350 firms remains low and relatively unchanged. In 2012, women made up 33.4% of attorneys at those firms, compared with 33% in 2011.

If your law firm is one of the 42 listed below who received this award, congratulations. If your firm didn’t make the list, these metrics are a great benchmark to periodically evaluate your firm’s overall talent strategy and progress toward your goals.

2013 WILEF Gold Standard Firms: