It remains well-understood that while women have made up approximately one-half of law school classes over the past decades as well as the ranks of entry-level law firm associates, attrition is uneven across genders throughout the path to law firm partnership. No doubt this uneven attrition is the product of many complex variables and factors, some more troubling than others. What is less well-understood, however, is how attrition distributes post-law firm partnership.
In a recent paper, Gender, Credentials and M&A, Tracey George (Vanderbilt), Albert Yoon (Toronto), and Mitu Gulati (Virginia) explore this topic with data from one specific practice area: M&A. The specific practice area (M&A) is important as "[r]elative to a number of other practice areas, such as the issuance of corporate or municipal bonds or managing trusts and estates, M&A tends to be a “feast or famine” area. Lawyers are either busy working around the clock (if they are trying to close a deal) or are twiddling their thumbs.” And this aspect is salient for gender comparisons as "a high degree of variability in the demands from work tends to hurt more those workers who have bigger fixed outside obligations that cannot easily be moved or postponed (e.g., caring for small children or elderly parents).”
The paper executes a two-stage empirical strategy. It first explores the "universe" of M&A attorneys. The second stage analyzes who becomes a "lead deal lawyer" (representing either the buyer or the seller). One key finding is that while at both stages lawyer credentials matter, they "matter more" for women (emphasis added). The abstract follows.
“For the past several decades, women have made up roughly half of law school classes and the ranks of entering law firm associates. Attrition between entry to law firms and partnership results in women comprising 20 and 25 percent of partners. But is there yet more attrition to the top of the partnership pyramid? Analyzing the past decade of data on publicly-filed M&A deals and detailed biographical information of M&A lawyers, we find that women make up fewer than 10 percent of deal leaders. When we look at the factors that determine who becomes a deal leader, we find that credentials – both educational and professional – matter. But they matter more for women. And one credential – attending a top law school – seems to matter a lot. Using conversations with senior lawyers, we try to get answers for why.”
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