Best Law Firms for Women and Female Equity Partners (2020)

Law360 released its seventh annual Glass Ceiling Report, which surveyed 300 law firms on gender diversity and ranked the best law firms for women based on the percentage of female equity partners in the United States. According to the report, women make up 40% of all attorneys and 25% of partners in law firms across the country.

Firms with the highest levels of female equity partners tend to focus on building a clear pipeline to equity partnership for women and offer benefits like work schedule flexibility, mentorship programs and greater leadership opportunities in order to retain top-performing attorneys.

What Are The Best Law Firms for Women?

“The firms on this list are finding ways to expand the representation of women in their upper ranks. At many of the largest firms, more than 30% of equity partners are women. At some smaller firms, more than half of equity partners are women,” (as quoted in Law360). Among the 300 law firms surveyed, Jackson Lewis tops the list of the biggest firms with the most female representation this year, with 30.5% female equity partners. Immigration boutique Fragomen stands out among firms with 101 to 600 attorneys, with 51.0% female equity partners, the report notes.

In the biggest category of ‘Big Law’ firms (601+ attorneys), firms with the highest percentage of female equity partners were Jackson Lewis (30.5%), Littler Mendelson (30.4%), Morrison & Foerster (29.5%), Ropes & Gray (29.1%), Ballard Spahr (28.1%), and Jones Day (27.2%).

For medium to large sized firms (101-600 attorneys), the top five best firms for female partners were Fragomen (51.0%), Tyson & Mendes (50.0%), Berry Appleman (42.9%), Verrill Dana (39.6%), and Hanson Bridgett (38.8%).

Among the 300 law firms surveyed, small firms (20-100 attorneys) had the highest percentage of female equity partners, including Reichman Jorgensen (75.0%), Wright Finlay (66.7%), Walsworth (58.3%), Sideman & Bancroft (57.1%), and Wilson Turner (56.3%).

See the full article and rankings on Law360.

Contact Bill Sugarman for more information.