A variety of initiatives are being taken by law firms to increase the number of women at the board table.
Dentons, the List leader has 50 per cent of their board female and has 60 per cent and 62 per cent respectively of their Special Counsel and Associates who are female.
“We believe our continued gender diversity initiatives have created a culture that has removed some of the traditional barriers to women reaching senior levels,” says Pippa Grey, (pictured) Business Development Manager at Dentons.
“The initiatives have been implemented through strong Board, CEO and leadership adoption and deep consultation and engagement with staff at all levels.”
The firm includes unconscious bias training, ‘targeted confidence’ training and a partnership deed ensuring board representation for both genders.
Minter Ellison Rudd Watts (30 per cent female partners)
note that they have a female chair (Sarah Sinclair, left) and along with other firms their gender split in the Special Counsel and Associate ranks has a high female quotient, being 63 per cent and 72 per cent respectively.
Cavell Leitch match Dentons with their 50 per cent women ratio, although obviously of considerably smaller size. The firm have six equity partners, of whom three are women. They have 14 partners in total, of whom seven are women also.
Towards the bottom of the table, Tompkins Wake note that although at 13 per cent female equity partners, they note that seven of the last 10 partner hires – with 10 in total – were women.