The 2024 Women In Law Report

(August 20, 2024, 2:04 PM EDT) --
Group of multicultural women talking around a conference room table

(iStock.com/Jacob Wackerhausen)


While law firms are slowly diversifying their ranks, they're still behind the curve when it comes to improving opportunities for women, and progress remains extremely slow.

Law360 Pulse's annual Women in Law Report reveals an increasing proportion of female lawyers in private practice at firms in the U.S., but women are only very slowly making their way into the higher ranks. About half of associates are now women, yet they represent just over a quarter of equity partners and a third of executive committee members.

Check out our visualizations to see how female attorneys are faring at firms and in the industry. You'll also find a deep dive into the data we've collected this year.

The 2024 Women in Law Report: How Firms Stack Up

Female attorneys have reached a new high in their share of law firm equity partnerships, but firms' progress simply hasn't been significant enough to shatter the longstanding glass ceiling in the industry.

A Deep Dive Into Law360 Pulse's Women In Law Report

The legal industry continues to see incremental gains for female lawyers in private practice in the U.S., according to a Law360 Pulse analysis, with women now representing 40.6% of all attorneys and 51% of all associates.

These Firms Have The Most Women In Equity Partnerships

Law firms still have a long way to go before they can achieve gender parity in the upper levels. But these law firms are performing better than others in breaking the proverbial glass ceiling that prevents women from attaining leadership roles.

Representation In The Ranks: How Firms Are Faring

Law360 Pulse's Women in Law Report provides a data-driven view of U.S. law firms at the end of 2023. Here, we look at the representation of women at all levels of a typical law firm, from associates to equity partners.

Expert Analysis

How 2 Litigators Decided Dad Would Stay Home With The Kids

Jennifer Hoekstra at Aylstock Witkin shares the tough conversations about timing, goals, logistics and values involved in her family's decision that she would build her career as a litigator and law firm partner while her husband stepped back from his own litigation role to stay home with their children.

For a reprint of this article, please contact reprints@law360.com.

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