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–––––– A Report on Lawyers and Business Services Professionals by Gender, Ethnicity, Social Mobility, Disability and Sexual Orientation CAREER PROGRESSION IN THE LEGAL SECTOR BY STEPHEN WARD, DANIEL WINTERFELDT, LESLIE MORAN & 2012 With a foreword by the Rt Hon the Baroness Scotland of Asthal QC InterLaw Diversity Forum for LGBT Networks2 About the InterLaw Diversity Forum LGBT issues and to create an environ- ment where employees can reach their fullest potential without regard to sexual orientation. In addition, the creation of the InterLaw Diversity Forum was also influenced by the recommendations in a 2006 study published by The Law Society: Career experiences of gay and les- bian solicitors. Since the launch of the InterLaw Diver- sity Forum, the legal sector’s perform- ance in Stonewall’s WEI has dramatical- ly improved growing from one law firm in the Top 100 Employers in 2008 to six law firms in 2012. Stonewall stated: “A major part of the movement forward for the [legal] sector has been [the] Inter- Law [Diversity Forum]. It helped pro- vide a sector-specific focus.” The In- terLaw Diversity Forum has also been recognised by various awards including The Law Society Excellence Awards, The Lawyer Awards, Legal Business Awards, the FT Innovative Lawyer Awards and most recently by the Law- yer HR and Diversity Awards as “Most Effective Diversity Programme LGBT.” For additional information on the InterLaw Diversity Forum please visit interlawdiversityforum.org, join us on our Facebook commu- nity page or fly with us on Twitter at @InterLawLGBT. The InterLaw Diversity Forum for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans- gender (“LGBT”) Networks (the “InterLaw Diversity Forum”) is an inter-organisational forum for the LGBT networks in law firms and all personnel (lawyers and non-lawyers) in the legal sector, including in-house counsel (the “LGBT Legal Com- munity”) and has over 1,000 mem- bers and supporters from more than 70 law firms and 40 corporates and financial institutions. The InterLaw Diversity Forum was founded in March 2008 by Daniel Winterfeldt, Head of International Capital Mar- kets at CMS Cameron McKenna LLP. The InterLaw Diversity Fo- rum’s overall objective is to encour- age LGBT diversity and inclusion in the legal sector. The InterLaw Diversity Forum was created in response to a need for an or- ganisation to address LGBT issues in the London legal sector. Until 2008 no London law firm had entered the Stone- wall Work Equality Index’s (“WEI”) Top 100 Employers for LGB Employ- ees, placing the legal sector far behind its City peers. The WEI is the definitive national benchmarking exercise show- casing Britain’s top employers for les- bian, gay and bisexual staff. In addition, top clients of City law firms had asked the London legal community to address About the Authors Stephen Ward, Director of DC Le- gal, is a consultant to the legal sector on communications, reputation, brand management and diversity and inclu- sion. Stephen was formerly the Director of Communications, Inclusion and CSR at the Law Society of England and Wales and has a background in government and campaigning. Stephen is also the co- chair of the InterLaw Diversity Forum for LGBT Networks. Daniel Winterfeldt is the Head of In- ternational Capital Markets and the Diversity and Inclusion Partner at CMS Cameron McKenna LLP. Daniel is also the founder and co-chair of the InterLaw Diversity Forum, as well as the Forum for US Securities Lawyers in London. Daniel is also a member of the Equality & Diversity Committee at the Law Soci- ety, as well as a member of the Judicial Diversity Advisory Committee. Leslie Moran is a Professor at the School of Law, Birkbeck College and has an in- ternational reputation for his research and publications on various aspects of law and sexuality. He is a member of the Equality & Diversity Committee of The Law Society. He has been chairman and a member of the management commit- tee of GALOP, an LGBT anti-violence charity. He was also a member of the LGBT Advisory Group of the Metro- politan Police.3 A Report on Lawyers and Business Services Professionals by Gender, Ethnicity, Social Mobility, Disability and Sexual Orientation by Stephen Ward, Daniel Winterfeldt & Leslie Moran July 2012 CAREER PROGRESSION IN THE LEGAL SECTOR 20124 Advisory Panel Pat Corcoran, Diversity Consultant Aisha Dass, Equality & Diversity Manager, the Law Society Mary Gallagher, HR and Diversity Manager, Addleshaw Goddard Liz Grant, Stonewall Trustee with workplace spe- cialisation Mark Lomas, Equality & Diversity Manager, the Law Society Julia Possener, Consultant in Organisational Learning and Development Kerrin Roberts, Director, Edelman Public Relations Professor Hilary Somerlad, University of Leicester Professor Lisa Webley, University of Westminster ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Our thanks go out to the almost 2,000 respondents to the survey conducted at the end of 2011 and the beginning of 2012. Without them we would have nothing to report. We would also like to thank the members and supporters of the Inter- Law Diversity Forum for LGBT Net- works (“InterLaw Diversity Forum”) who responded, promoted and sup- ported this vital work. We owe a debt of gratitude as well to Baroness Scotland of Asthal for taking the time to write the eloquent foreword to this report and for her un- ceasing support of and commitment to equality and diversity in the legal profession. The authors are also very grateful indeed to the following leading think- ers on diversity and inclusion in the legal sector who made up our expert advisory panel and who were kind enough to give time to review drafts of this report. Their critical comments and en- thusiastic support have been invalu- able. Errors can be laid entirely at the authors’ door.5 FOREWORD The Rt Hon the Baroness Scotland of Asthal QC A profession stuck culturally in the mid-20th century will not flourish in the middle of the 21st. A very great deal of research has been undertaken into the causes for the persistence of un- equal progression through career paths on which the legal sector can draw. The Legal profession has a proud history, and has for centuries been the conduit through which the rights of others have been upheld; the sector has shown itself to be capable of rapid and successful in- novation in the face of change and this may give us grounds for optimism even in the face of the very slow evolution which we have seen to date. But speedy change is now of the essence. The evidence in support of the busi- ness case for diversity is clear and una- voidable. As lawyers it is difficult for us to ignore the case for change or the moral case for equality and fairness. I hope that over the course of the next five years future versions of this study and others like it will find and be able to celebrate a marked improvement. That improvement needs the will of the lead- ers in the sector and the engagement of all. No small task, but a vital one. I urge everyone working in the legal sector to respond to the alarm bell that this report rings so loudly. The Rt Hon the Baroness Scotland of Asthal QC I congratulate the InterLaw Diversity Forum for LGBT Networks for car- rying out this very powerful study of career progression in the legal sector. But I can only regret the pic- ture which it puts so clearly before us. The findings echo the findings of past qualitative and quantitative research in the legal sector and beyond stretching back over several decades. They indicate that existing initiatives aimed at increas- ing diversity are not having a significant or sufficient impact. A culture which is not able to val- ue the contributions which different groups bring to collective endeavour is not sustainable, even in the short term. Favouritism or unconscious bias by managers is obviously damaging to career development for some individu- als, bad for team spirit and effectiveness and a simple waste of talent. We’ve seen that FTSE 100 companies with more diverse boards weathered the financial crisis that began in 2007 better than those which had less diverse leader- ship. It is self-evident that organisations with greater breadth of experience and diverse modes of thought will be more robust than those which are homogene- ous and do not reflect the populations which they seek to serve.6 INTRODUCTION –– 0.1 We were very pleased to have se- cured over 1,900 responses from across the legal sector albeit very few from bar- risters and others working in chambers. The 2012 questionnaire asked a broad- er range of questions than the 2010 ver- sion so as to create a fuller picture of progress towards genuine equality and diversity across the sector. This survey is of course a snapshot in time. It does not look at individual employers, but rather at the picture across the sector. This report offers some of the key findings arising out of our analysis of the responses. The rich data has more potential to shed light on current ex- periences in the legal sector. There are plans to undertake further studies in- cluding a more sophisticated regression analysis and use of other techniques to give an even more rounded picture of the sector. The InterLaw Diversity Forum for LGBT Networks 2012 Career Pro- gression Study builds on our 2010 study of LGBT career progression and widens it to include all lawyers and business services professionals. We wanted to be able to assess and compare the experiences of differ- ent groups in the sector to shed light on the situation of the LGBT mem- bers that we exist to support. What we found dramatically reshaped our intentions and greatly broadened the scope of this report. Table of Contents INTRODUCTION HEADLINE FINDINGS RECOMMENDATION FOR ACTION FOLLOWING UP ON THIS REPORT LOOKING AT THE EVIDENCE SECTION 1 – IT’S NOT WHAT YOU KNOW…: SALARY SECTION 2 – PUTTING ON THE RITZ: SOCIAL MOBILITY SECTION 3 – CLOSING DOORS: SATISFACTION WITH CAREER PROGRESS SECTION 4 – FAVOURITES EAT ALL THE CHERRIES: SHARING OUT THE WORK SECTION 5 – BECAUSE YOU’RE WORTH IT: ASSESSMENT AND REWARD SECTION 6 – DO THE TWIST: FLEXIBLE OR AGILE WORKING SECTION 7 – THE WIND BENEATH MY WINGS: SOURCES OF SUPPORT CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS APPENDIX – DETAILS OF SAMPLE ENDNOTES SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING 6 8 10 10 11 16 21 23 24 26 28 30 32 33 347 HARD TRUTHS –– 0.2 There is a remarkable consistency across all the areas that the survey covered which included hard facts such as salary levels and social mobility data along- side respondents’ perceptions of their career development, the management of their workplace and fairness in pay and advancement. There is a striking cor- relation between the hard data findings and perceptions. Those groups which are lower paid or who did not have an elite education are the same groups that are less satisfied with their seniority, less likely to believe that their workplace is well-managed and less likely to believe that achievement and reward are fairly assessed. You will see this pattern repeat as you read the various sections that make up the report. Building on that, we can see from the results that, as a broad rule of thumb that generally holds good throughout this report, the more an individual di- verges from the elite-educated, white, male norm the less well-paid and the less satisfied they will be with their ca- reer progress. So white women earn less and are overall less satisfied than white men. However, black women are even less well-paid and more dissatis- fied than either white men or women. There are a few minor examples where this rule breaks down though and it is important to note that overall, black men tend to report lower salary and more negative perceptions of their ca- reer progression than any other group. We must stress that we have not focused on direct intentional discrimi- nation. Rather, the report illustrates structural and social drivers within the profession that force patterns of ad- vantage and disadvantage that militate against diversity and inclusion. 8 HEADLINE FINDINGS –– 0.3 In summary, this report points to three headline areas of concern: Culture Elite-educated white males still dom- inate the positions of prestige and higher reward in the sector, while women and ethnic minority lawyers find themselves in less prestigious and less remunerative areas of the profession. Management practices Many respondents expressed concern that they are inadequately prepared and supported in the management of others and this could go some way to explaining why the management of diversity and in- clusion is proving to be such a challenge. Social mobility In the past, this was driven by the state selective education sector but as that has shrunk, the progress of peo- ple from less privileged backgrounds to leading positions in the sector appears to have slowed. The patterns of participation and satisfaction differ very considerably between lawyers and business serv- ices professionals. The contribution of business services professionals to the success of the sector is often less valued than the contribution of lawyers. The overall emphasis in law firms places vast- ly more pressure and more value on the work of those who are client-facing and directly generating income. There is also the perception that the ‘client expecta- tion’ is that lawyers should be available 24/7. This idea works very much to the detriment of part-time and flexible work- ing lawyers (who tend to be women of course). It also means that those in busi- ness services have comparatively greater freedom to manage their working lives more sensibly and sustainably. Of course, many law firm clients will themselves either be working according to contemporary patterns or in organisa- tions where such patterns are accepted and successful. This inevitably leads us to question whether the ‘client expecta- tion’ is in fact something of a myth that supports the status quo in law. Alongside this is the apparent belief that people with certain backgrounds and charac- teristics will meet the expectations of cli- ents or project a better brand image in terms of being the public face of a firm, perhaps because they have greater social polish and poise. Here the bias seems to be towards those who have received an elite education. The impact of gender and ethnic- ity on career progression is remark- able among lawyer respondents and they are slightly less marked in busi- ness services. There are complicated factors at work here to generate the pat- terns we find. In the case of women law- yers, flexible or part-time working has a significant impact on career progression and there is much anecdotal evidence that it is perceived as a lack of commit- ment to the organisation and a legal ca- reer. That perception supports the domi- nant group’s view of itself as best suited to leading positions in the profession. In the case of ethnic minorities the driv- ers can be found in factors such as the sectoral bias that favours those with an elite education and the unconscious bias against ‘the other’ that people have and need to be highly aware of in performing management roles. White males seem to be getting the most support from role models, sponsors and mentoring. This sur- prised us because the most high-profile and formal mentoring or sponsoring programmes are generally aimed at as- sisting women or ethnic minority indi- viduals. However, it is thought by many that dominant groups will reinforce their positions by preferring those who are like them or who want to be like them and follow their patterns of behaviour (like will mentor and sponsor like). The findings of this report indicate that such patterns of behaviour are prevalent in the legal sector. Underpinning these three areas are the following key findings:Next >