The legal sector hit by ‘a drain of women’

Our findings highlight the challenges faced by the powerhouse sector as it tries to boost the under-representation of women in senior positions.

Paul Cotton, senior office partner at Eversheds in Leeds, said that the legal profession suffers from “a drain of women” at the most senior levels, which deprives firms of “a serious pool of talent, expertise and experience”, while resulting in less role models and mentors for other women.

He warned that while women are in the majority among legal staff at entry level, they leave in increasing numbers as time passes, becoming a small minority at the top level.

Gender is a hot topic in the business world at the moment. A new European Union directive may force listed firms to reserve at least 40 per cent of their non-executive director board seats for women by 2020.

The proportion of women on FTSE 100 boards recently topped 20 per cent for the first time, while a 2013 report by BDO showed that women make up just 10 per cent of the boards of the largest Yorkshire businesses.

Christabel Cowling, audit partner at EY in Leeds, stressed that having a diverse workforce helps to foster the highest performing teams and creates competitive advantage.

The professional services sector is one of the key strengths of Yorkshire’s economy, with a recent report by Capital Economics naming the industry an important driver of jobs growth in the region for the years ahead.

The Yorkshire Post asked the Big Four accountancy firms and Leeds’s Big Six law firms to reveal the proportion of women in their partnership in their Yorkshire offices. The Big Six law firms:

In Squire Sanders’ Leeds office, nine of a total of 28 partners are women, equating to 32 per cent.

At Walker Morris, which is solely based in Leeds, 10 out of its 49 partners are female which equates to just over 20 per cent.

At DLA Piper’s offices in Leeds and Sheffield there are 58 partners, 21 per cent are female.

At Eversheds’ Leeds office, there are 35 partners of which 20 per cent are women.

At Pinsent Masons, “slightly above” 20 per cent of its 40 partners in its Leeds office are women. It declined to divulge the exact figure.

At Addleshaw Goddard, there are 11 female partners in the Leeds office out of a total of 40 partners, equating to 28 per cent.

Big Four accountancy firms:

KPMG has one female partner, out of a total of 27 in its Leeds office, equating to 3.7 per cent.

At EY there are three female partners based across the firm’s Leeds and Hull offices, representing 25 per cent of the regional partner group

At Deloitte, there are four female partners out of a total of 28 in the Leeds office – 14 per cent.

At PwC, 10 per cent of its 20 partners in its offices in Leeds, Hull and Sheffield are women.

Heather Jackson, of Leeds-based An Inspirational Journey, which works to address the gender imbalance at the top of corporate Britain, said the findings by The Yorkshire Post were positive, but that there was still a long way to go given that 60 per cent of graduates entering these types of companies are female.

To tackle under-representation of women in senior positions, a rising number of professional services firms are setting partnership targets. Pinsent Masons set a target aiming for 25 per cent female partnership by 2018. Eversheds also has specific firm-wide targets to have women represent 25 per cent of partners by 2016.

In 2013, 17.6 per cent of all partners in the UK legal market were women. A 2013 report by Accountancy Age showed that in the top 10 accountancy firms in the UK 15 per cent of the partners were female.

Ms Cowling said: “Diversity is not just about being ethical and fair. As business challenges become more complex, solving them requires calling on the widest spectrum of views and opinions.

“Having a diverse workforce is an important factor in attracting and retaining the best talent in the region and nationally.” She added that diversity is not just about gender, with some focus needing to be extended to ethnicity, age, sexuality and background.

EY has in place targets for new partner admissions: 30 per cent women and 10 per cent black and minority ethnic by 2015.

Aside from targets, law and accountancy firms alike have a range of measures in place to ensure more women reach senior positions.

Eversheds said its initiatives include running workshops for the female associates’ forum explaining and demystifying the promotions process, while Squire Sanders has a Women’s Enterprise Group aiming to support female lawyers and partners in achieving their goals.

In Leeds, Squire Sanders has three female partners who work flexibly in order to balance family commitments with their careers.

PwC runs a ‘Shadow a Female Leader’ scheme, while Deloitte said it gives its high potential women additional networking opportunities.

Chris Hearld, office senior partner for KPMG in Yorkshire, said that the firm’s UK chairman Simon Collins “has instigated several measures to achieve greater gender parity”.

But he added: “We recognise the pace of change can be slow and that more needs to be done to close the gender gap at the most senior levels of our business.”