22/10/2008 - Floriart Flower School
23/10/2008 - Client Relationship Management
13/11/2008 - Money, Money, Money....Treatment of Income on Divorce
The Exeter University study detailed below is the first to look at and document the actual experiences of women in the legal profession, and to collect evidence with the aim of making a difference to the position of professional women in the legal field.
Women's standing in the legal profession has steadily improved over the last few years. Whilst in 1999, for instance, only 35% of solicitors holding practising certificates were women (Equal Opportunities Commission, 2001), the figure rose to almost 43% in 2005 (Law Society Annual Statistical Report 2005). Similarly, the 2005 Annual Statistical Report shows that, whereas in the last ten years the total number of solicitors holding practising certificates has grown by almost 53%, the number of women holding practising certificates more than doubled. The figures for 1999 show that an overwhelming 82% of private practice partners with practising certificates were men, and that women tended to hold assistant solicitor positions. The picture at the time was much the same amongst the judiciary, with few women appointed at higher levels (Equal Opportunities Commission, 2001).
The 2005 figures showed an improvement in the numbers of women making partner,
having increased from 18% to 23% of private practice partners. However, in
2005 women accounted for over 60% of new entrants to the profession, and
have accounted for more than half of new entrants for the past 10 years.
It is therefore important to examine in more detail the trajectory of women
in the legal profession, together with the opportunities and the barriers
we may face.
This major new research project at the University of Exeter, under the direction
of Dr Michelle Ryan and Professor Alex Haslam, has been investigating the
challenges faced by professional women in the workplace. Previous research
showed that women were more likely to occupy leadership roles that are more
readily associated with the risk of criticism and failure than those of their
male counterparts. Ryan and Haslam have dubbed this new phenomenon the 'Glass
Cliff' to describe the precarious nature of women's leadership positions.
Ryan and Haslam discussed their work at the Women Lawyer Forum, held in London in March 2005. There they presented evidence that the Glass Cliff is evident in the legal profession, with experimental research suggesting that a risky and precarious legal case is more likely to be allocated to a woman than a man.
The Exeter team subsequently extended this research to examine the actual experiences of women in the legal profession. They were interested in various aspects, including the situation of part-timers and women returners, the support systems available, the process of appointment in small practices, the position of legal executives and the promotion of women to the judiciary, to name but a few.
Although the major part of the research has now been concluded, there is still time to contribute to the research by completing the anonymous online questionnaire on gender-related attitudes in the workplace (which will take about 10 minutes): to go to the questionnaire, click here.
The Exeter research team examined in more detail the situations of women from a variety of private practice and in-house roles, emcompassing family, civil, criminal and commercial specialisms. This part of the research study has now concluded. Thank you to all those who took part, who will receive an update from the research team.
The final research report and academic papers are in the process of finalisation and will appear in academic journals soon. A follow up article will also appear in our magazine, Link. (Click here to go to the Link magazine website. Click here to go to the Link magazine website. Click here to join the AWS and to start receiving Link magazine free of charge.)
To read more about this and previous research, and the research team at Exeter University, please click here.
Alternatively, please contact Joanne Mortimer on the AWS executive committee at glasscliff@womensolicitors.org.uk or Dr Dana Wilson-Kovacs at Exeter University at M.D.Wilson-Kovacs@exeter.ac.uk (telephone 01392 263 359).