Disparity continues in the legal industry

Women make up the majority of the legal industry yet this dominance is not reflected in partner ranks, a new study reveals.

About 63 per cent of all lawyers are female, yet less than a third are on the board, research conducted by Australasian Legal Practice Management Association (ALPMA) and McLeod Duminy showed.

Of the 101 firms it surveyed, the report said the number of female equity partners increased to 23 per cent, a modest rise of 4 per cent rise, in 2018, while the numbers of salaried female partners remained the same at 43 per cent.

Sheryll Carey, president of ALPMA and the general manager at law firm Lowndes Jordan, said while there had been positive movement in gender diversity, the partner gender imbalance was entrenched, and more flexibility was needed to address it.

‘‘Given the number of women in the industry and the need to retain them, firms need to embrace more family-friendly benefits and policies and use these to gain strategic advantage in the employment market,’’ Carey said.

‘‘While flexible work arrangements are on the rise, the research show that only 19 per cent of firms offer parental leave entitlements over and above the Government scheme, which is a real missed opportunity,’’ she said.

The banking industry has taken a step in offering longer paid parental leave to its employee, with the country’s biggest bank ANZ increasing paid parental leave to 26 weeks in July, two years ahead of it becoming law.

Under the current employment law, workers are entitled to 52 weeks of unpaid parental leave, but only 18 weeks of that is government-paid parental leave.

The ALPMA survey revealed there was more awareness about a gender pay gap, but only 11 per cent of firms planned to conduct a gender-pay audit.

The survey also signalled continued growth for the New Zealand legal employment market, with half of respondent firms expecting to hire new staff predominantly to fuel firm growth this year.

McLeod Duminy Legal Careers director Kirsty Spears said employee turnover had decreased since last year, a sign that employee retention had become a focus for the industry.

‘‘When you consider that ‘finding good people’ is second biggest challenge for law firms, it certainly makes good business sense to develop new strategies to keep the people you have,’’ Spears said.

Salaries were also expected to rise 5 per cent for most lawyers.