Gender gap persists in NZ law despite women majority – Sasha Borissenko

Women make up 56% of lawyers but hold only 34% of equity partner positions.

THREE KEY FACTS

• International Women’s Day was on March 8.
• Women make up 56% of lawyers but hold only 34% of equity partner positions.
• Initiatives like the Gender Equality Charter face criticism for lacking impact and meaningful change.

I’ve come to look at International Women’s Day in two ways. It serves as a bleak reminder of the little progress we’ve made to achieve gender equality in most settings, which by default suggests we celebrate International Men’s Day 364 days a year.

Alternatively, it’s a useful box-ticking exercise employed by those in power to maintain the status quo. For lawyers on LinkedIn, if I had a dollar for every morning tea and/or panel discussion sandwiched between normal business hours this week, well, I’d still be earning 82c to the dollar.

Events are great for morale, networking and free saveloys (marmite sandwiches need not apply), but they tend to fall short in the face of systemic change.

Receipts are rife

Let’s look at the numbers. Latest Law Society figures suggest 56% of lawyers are women. The highest percentage of women lawyers is in Otago, at 64%, followed by Waikato/Bay of Plenty (61%) and Marlborough (59%). Men take the reins in Whanganui, at 57%, and there’s an equal split in Hawke’s Bay.

In the Law Society’s Gender Equality Charter survey released last year, 64% of senior legal roles were held by men, with no changes since 2018.

Women held 34% of equity partner positions (a 1% increase since 2021), 30% of directors (a decrease of 17%), and 47% of salaried partner positions (a decline of 3% since 2021). They also comprised the majority of employees (64%) and in-house lawyers (64.1%).

As an aside, practising certificate fees and levies are compulsory and standardised to “enable the Law Society to meet its legal obligations to protect the consumers of legal services and uphold professional standards”, the Law Society website reads.

In-house lawyers constitute 30% of the profession, yet don’t face the same risks as those offering consumer advice. In fact, despite making up just 4% of Law Society complaints, the female-dominated role pays the same fees, according to the Independent Review discussion document into the regulator in 2022.

Diamond glass ceilings

The Auckland Women’s Lawyers’ Association (AWLA) has compiled data relating to the promotion of women in senior positions since 2020. Last year it included 38 firms in the survey, with a 68% response rate.

Morris Legal came out on top, with women partners making up 100% of the partnership. Women partners also made up the majority in firms Denham Bramwell Lawyers (86%), Martelli McKegg (67%), Fee Langston (57%), Gilbert Walker (50%) and Glaister Ennor (50%).

Those trailing significantly behind were Russell McVeagh (29%), Lowndes Jordan (29%), Mayne Wetherell (25%), Webb Henderson (25%), Wilson Harle (25%), Lane Neave (24%), and James & Wells (New Zealand firm only) at 22%. The worst of the bunch were Grimshaw & Co (0%), McVeagh Fleming (17%), and Hudson Gavin Martin (14%).

As at July last year, no top-tier law firm had an equal spread of women, men and gender-diverse partners relative to the legal profession or New Zealand population.

Simpson Grierson had the highest portion of women at 40%, followed by Meredith Connell and Chapman Tripp (39%), Minter Ellison Rudd Watts (38%), Bell Gully (36%), Duncan Cotterill and Dentons Kensington Swan (34%), Buddle Findlay (31%), and again Russell McVeagh (29%).

In their defence, some have made some progress, with women making up 68% of new partners since 2017 at Simpson Grierson, followed by Buddle Findlay (61%), Duncan Cotterill (52%), and both Chapman Tripp and Minter Ellison Rudd Watts at 50%.

At the heart of the issue for firms is the partnership model, which tasks those at the helm – the partners and business owners – to bring in work, manage performance and professional development, and set the tone. If success is gauged by turning a profit, the number of billable hours will likely take precedence over all else.

Unsurprisingly, the billable “grind” tends to favour men, who traditionally don’t share the same caregiving responsibilities. Additionally, there is the issue of bullying and sexual violence, which I lack the strength to reiterate.

Initiatives lack teeth, lack bite

This brings me to the Law Society’s Gender Equality Charter (GEC) and Gender Equitable Engagement and Instruction Policy (GEEIP), introduced in 2018 to enhance retention rates and the advancement of women lawyers. These initiatives coincided with serious allegations of sexual misconduct at Russell McVeagh, occurring a year shy of the #MeToo movement.

Currently, the 143 signatories to the GEC “commit” to implementing unconscious bias training, conducting annual gender pay audits, promoting flexible working, and advancing women in senior legal roles, for example. Progress is monitored through reporting to the Law Society every two years via the aforementioned Gender Equality Charter survey. There have been two surveys since 2018.

Citing a lack of engagement, few incentives and reporting shortfalls, the Auckland, Wellington, Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Canterbury, and Otago Women Lawyers’ Associations stated the initiatives caused “abject frustration” in their submission on the regulation and representation of legal services in 2022.

On the GEEIP, the associations described its “aspirational” 30% target to increase the proportion of women leading court proceedings (note, not for everyone) as “so low as to be insulting”. In November 2022, the target was increased to 50% and the GEEIP was scrapped and incorporated into the GEC.

Despite the initial “hoopla”, as the associations described it, there’s still no sign of reaching gender equality. At least there’s an annual morning tea, I suppose. Happy International Women’s Day.

• This article has been amended to include an update to the target figure of 50%.