Earlier this week, thanks to the recently released National Law Journal 500 ranking, we found out which U.S.-centric Biglaw firms were the biggest of them all in terms of headcount. As a companion piece to the NLJ 500, today we’ve got the NLJ Women’s Scorecard, a ranking of the percentage of female attorneys and percentage of female partners at the largest 350 firms in the country.
For this ranking, both equity and nonequity partners were counted as partners, while nonpartner or “other” figures include special counsel, of counsel, and other staff attorneys. Temporary and contract attorneys aren’t included in the count. In the event of a tie, the higher rank is awarded to the firm with more female equity partners.
This year, 271 of the nation’s 350 largest law firms by head count answered the survey for the Women in Law Scorecard, which ranks the nation’s largest law firms by representation of women attorneys. Among all 271 firms surveyed, women comprised 36.5% of 141,466 attorneys in 2018. But the equity partnership ranks were only 23.5% women, out of 59,000 total partners. Women comprised 47% of the 67,166 associates at all 271 firms.
Without further ado, here is the NLJ Women’s Scorecard Top 10 for 2019:
- Berry Appleman & Leiden
- Fragomen
- Kubicki Draper
- Kaufman Borgeest & Ryan
- FordHarrison
- Constangy Brooks Smith & Prophete
- Littler Mendelson
- Foley & Mansfield
- Hanson Bridgett
- Kelley Kronenberg
You may be wondering where the largest, namebrand Biglaw firms appear on this list. While the majority of the top 30 firms on the scorecard have a head count of fewer than 300, there were some exceptions, with Littler, Ogletree, Jackson Lewis, and Lewis Brisbois all making an appearance in the top 30. Other firms, like Ropes & Gray, O’Melveny, and Thompson Coburn made major strides in the right direction when it came to “not just about bringing women into the firm, but keeping them.”
Congratulations to all of the firms that succeeded in boosting their ranks in this year’s Women’s Scorecard by placing women in leadership roles and fostering a pipeline of female and diverse attorneys.
You can check out the rest of the rankings here.
The NLJ 500: Women’s Scorecard Chart 2019 [National Law Journal]
The NLJ 500: Climbing Mountains, Cracking Ceilings [National Law Journal]
Staci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.