Female partners’ compensation still 44 per cent below male colleagues

Female partners’ compensation still 44 per cent below male colleagues
Female partners are missing out on the big money as male colleagues are more often handling the big-ticket cases; or at least are better at claiming credit for them!

That’s a key finding of a new study of partner compensation in large US law firms conducted by legal profession recruiter Major, Lindsey & Africa which revealed that the average for all partners at large firms is U$877,000, up 22 per cent in two years.

However, while men average $949,000, female colleagues average $659,000 – 44 per cent less.

“We asked partners to pinpoint the factors underlying the pay differences,” said Jeffrey A. Lowe, who heads Major, Lindsey’s law firm business. “We found that, predominantly, a partner’s compensation is tied to bringing in business to the law firm.”
 
Hogan Lovells announces new association in China
Hogan Lovells has entered into a new formal association in China’s Shanghai Free Trade Zone with Fujian Fidelity Law Firm.

The move, which the firm says is part of its growth strategy for the Asia region, makes Hogan Lovells only the third international firm to enter into a formal association in the FTZ.

Fidelity has 170 lawyers working from 7 offices across mainland China and is one of the largest firms in the Fujian province.

Hogan’s partners Andrew McGinty and Zhen (Katie) Feng will lead the relationship with Fidelity.
 
Human rights increasingly important for clients study reveals
Businesses are increasingly concerned about human rights and ethical sourcing in their supply chains according to new research.

The survey of 275 senior in-house counsel undertaken by global law firm Herbert Smith Freehills and the UK’s Legal Business found that 51 per cent of businesses had changed supply chain management practices in order to better focus on ethics.

“Companies and lawyers need to change their mindsets. Hard sanctions can increasingly be imposed via soft law mechanisms, or by what can be described as ‘new judges’ (any stakeholders) and companies must anticipate and get ahead of this risk,” commented Stéphane Brabant, co-head of HFS’s business and human rights group.

Almost half of respondents said they had made a public commitment to respect human rights which includes a code of conduct for their suppliers in more than half of those cases.

Sixty per cent of senior counsel said that their legal teams had taken steps to make their organization aware of human rights issues.