Turnover and Promotion of Lawyers: An Inquiry into Gender Differences

Abstract

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.. University of Wisconsin Press andThe Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Journal of Human Resources. ABSTRACT This paper analyzes the turnover and promotion of male and female lawyers, using data on two cohorts of lawyers; one which entered law firms between 1969 and 1973, and the other entering between 1980 and 1983. This study considers whether law firm promotion decisions have differed for women, and if so, whether these differences have declined over time.A competing risks duration model is employed to capture the link between the lawyer's decision to stay or leave and the firm's decision to grant or deny promotion. We find that over the entire sample period, women are considerably less likely to be promoted and slightly more likely to leave the firm without being promoted. However, we also find that the parametric differential between men and women in partnership hazards has been reduced substantially, and in the most general of our specifications, eliminated across the two cohorts. In contrast, the gap between male and female job turnover rates does not appear to change over time. We find that the gap between males and females in the cumulative partnership rate at seven years of experience falls from 32 to 14 percent. The turnover gap increases about 0.2 percent, with females slightly more likely to exit from the firm in the later period.

Hierarchical Rank and Women’s Organizational Mobility: Glass Ceilings in Corporate Law Firms

“…Several previous studies have found that women's prospects of promotion to law firm partnership are lower than men's (Spurr 1990;Spurr and Sueyoshi 1994;Hagan 1998, 1999;Gorman 2006). In this study, in line with the contrast between entry and "top" levels implicit in the glass ceiling metaphor (Hymowitz and Schellhardt 1986), we compare women's mobility into entering associate positions with their mobility into partner positions.…”

Equal investments, different rewards: gender inequalities among Israeli lawyers

“…For example, Dixon and Seron (1995) found that only 8% of partners in leading law firms in the US were women in the late 1980s. Similarly, Hagan and Kay (1995), Hull and Nelson (2000), Kay (1997), Kay andHagan (1998, 1999), Noonan and Corcoran (2004), Spurr (1990), Spurr and Sueyoshi (1994) found, after controlling for productivity, academic distinction, and rank of law school work experience, marital status, current work hours and other measures of social capital, that women were less likely to achieve partnership. Spurr (1990) found that male lawyers were twice as likely to attain partnership.…”

“…One example of such a position is what has been referred to as the "mommy track", which allows women to balance work and family, taking time out to raise children or work fewer hours (Crosby, 1991;Futter, 1989). However, many women who choose or are forced to follow this track find that it results in career paths that are less lucrative and less likely to lead to job advancement such as partnership in law firms (Bender, 1989;England et al, 1994;Huang, 1997;Spurr & Sueyoshi, 1994). Indeed, Elias and Shitrai (1998) found that after controlling for human capital and occupational segmentation, male lawyers in Israel still earned more that female lawyers when occupying the same job status.…”

Gender and wages: a cohort study of primary school teachers

“…Such evidence has not, however, been as consistently found in studies of other occupational groups. Of the several studies of North American lawyers, Spurr (1990) and Spurr and Sueyoshi (1994) both concluded that their ®ndings`suggested' discrimination against women but Laband and Lentz (1993) were unable to ®nd consistent evidence in relation to earnings or promotion, though they reported that women were treated less well than men. In addition, with regard to US federal employees, Lewis (1986) found no evidence of discrimination.…”

“…Building on the pioneering studies of Oaxaca (1973) and Greenhalgh (1980) , most recent work has dealt with changes in the size of the diVerential over time (Blau and Beller, 1988;Foot and Stager, 1990;Katz and Murphy, 1992;O'Neill and Polachek, 1993;Spurr and Sueyoshi, 1994;Kahn, 1995, 1997;Loury, 1997). However, the goal of this study is to examine the contribution of diVerent factors to the size of this diVerential at a point in time.…”