I just read an interesting article in Bloomberg Law by Heidi K. Gardner, Distinguished Scholar, Harvard Law School Center on the Legal Profession, which touches on the persistent gap in origination credits between men and woman law firm partners. As the article states, collected data (timesheets, billing records, origination files, personnel records) across multiple law firms shows that men and woman partners start their partner years with an equally small book of business. What accounts for the rapid divergence between men and women’s book of business over time? Women tend to grow their book incrementally and often through the more difficult process of developing clients who are brand new to the firm, whereas men tend to “inherit” institutional clients. To read the full article, click here.
