Time was public opinion broadly characterised the legal profession as overwhelmingly white, middle-class (or higher) and male – and little has changed. But crucially, the wider business environment is changing, meaning that the clients of commercial law firms are more likely to be female. This will spell a change in the way many partners and senior associates currently network to win business.
The profession is undoubtedly waking up to the gender imbalance in law firm partnerships, although it can hardly be a ringing endorsement of the steps taken to improve diversity and gender equality that the notion of ‘women in the law’ is often considered to be an issue in itself, somehow distinct from the everyday working concerns of the rest of the profession.
