The Glass Ceiling Report 

The Final Report of the 2001 Self-Audit for Gender and Racial Equity (a survey of Washington State law firms), conducted by the Glass Ceiling Task Force, is now available. Download the report in PDF format.

Executive Summary

For more than twenty years, women have entered the legal profession in steadily increasing numbers, and more and more women have risen to prominence in the legal profession, serving as justices and judges, representing clients in high profile cases, and being tapped as bar leaders. Yet despite these gains, many women attorneys believe a "glass ceiling" exists that prevents them from reaching the highest levels of status and compensation in the law. In 2001, a committee of women attorneys and legal professionals conducted a survey to determine whether this subjective view is warranted.

The Glass Ceiling Survey, which was underwritten largely by the Washington Supreme Court Commission on Gender and Justice, was administered in 2001 by Northwest Research Group. Seven general areas were included in the survey: hiring, compensation, work life and firm culture, firm governance, discrimination and harassment policies and practices, professional growth, and promotion and retention. Respondents were asked to complete the survey with reference to attorneys in their firms, providing discrete responses for men, women, and people of color. The survey was sent to all Washington law firms with five or more attorneys. Completion of the survey was voluntary: it was hoped that firms would be interested in participating in this survey and learning about the status and progress of women and people of color in the legal profession in Washington state.

The results of the survey bear out the subjective view of its originators: while there has been progress in the status of women attorneys, they have not reached the level of compensation, participation in firm governance, and professional attainment of men. People of color similarly lag behind whites in the indicia of power and control within the legal profession.

The demographic makeup of the legal profession resembles a pyramid: the large base is composed of women and men in roughly equal numbers as they leave law school. Once in a firm, women begin to play a smaller role, both numerically and functionally, until the top of the pyramid is overwhelmingly male. Between joining a firm as an entry-level associate and partnership, the number of women attorneys in law firms decreases by more than 50%. Women are likely to leave firms for public sector service or solo practice, which may indicate the relative sense of comfort and acceptance they experience in private firms.

The results with respect to attorneys of color also show marked under-representation. Lawyers who identify themselves as persons of color constitute a small percentage of attorneys in private firms, with even fewer reaching the top of the pyramid. While the population of people of color in Washington State as a whole is approximately 19%, minorities make up fewer than 10% of all attorneys in private practice in firms of five or more attorneys, and only 3% of equity partners.

An empirical study reveals a statistical picture of the profession, but it can also point to possible explanations for the data or potential avenues for further exploration. The trends identifiable in the results of the Glass Ceiling Survey represent not only a reflection, but also opportunities for the profession to expand and become more inclusive.

A theme emerging from the data is that women in private law firms are underrepresented in the decision-making processes of firms. In hiring authority, partnership determinations, compensation, long-term planning, firm governance, and business management, women make up a small percentage of the decision-makers, and people of color are even rarer in these processes. Perhaps ironically, women are fully (and sometimes over-) represented in firm committees dealing with such matters as diversity, artwork, public relations, philanthropy, and human resources. It appears that traditional notions of women's roles persist.

Among the patterns the data reveal is a statistically significant difference in the representation of women and people of color at all levels between firms in eastern Washington and those in western Washington. Fewer firms in eastern Washington have women or minority partners, formal anti-discrimination policies and training, or hiring committees that include women and lawyers of color. These tend to be attributes of larger law firms, and the number of larger firms is much smaller in eastern Washington.

Some signs of progress arise from the data. For example, private law firms appear to take seriously issues of sexual harassment and race and sex discrimination. Most firms have policies prohibiting such behavior, though relatively few provide regular training on how to recognize, respond to, or avert it. Firms also increasingly take into account attorneys' attitudes toward women and people of color, with most assessing gender and ethnic bias at some point in a lawyer's tenure with the firm. Additionally, a significant number of firms have parental leave policies and/or accommodate alternative schedules, although a minority of firms have written policies. The greatest number of those using such policies and schedules are women, though men also take advantage of them.

In many ways, it appears that private law firms have responded to the influx of women over the last twenty years in a somewhat haphazard way: women have been absorbed into the firms, but firms have not made deliberate, systematic efforts to integrate women into their power structures. Thus, women participate in recruiting and interviewing new hires, but not in the final hiring decisions. They provide input about compensation, but do not make ultimate financial determinations. Moreover, most firms do not have formal systems for distributing work among partners or associates. This finding may represent an opportunity for firms interested in reaching parity among women and men and white and non-white lawyers. One way to systematically increase the participation of women and people of color in private firms would be to formalize work distribution to ensure that all attorneys have the chance to undertake high-level, lucrative work, rather than leaving it to chance.

Firms could also improve the climate for women and people of color by adopting and consistently communicating the criteria for promotion to partner or shareholder. The largest firms in the state are most likely to do so; smaller firms appear to operate in a more ad hoc fashion, which is likely to favor those who are most like the current partners — white men.

The Glass Ceiling Survey originated from a desire to explore in an objective way the subjective sense of many women who practice law in Washington. The results both affirm that subjective sense and provide reason for hope. Women's increased presence in private firms, if responded to appropriately, can spur further improvement in their professional status, financial security, and sense of personal satisfaction and achievement. The profession owes no less to all its members.