The report found the total number of female partners in
The survey findings represent a marked change on last year, when the results showed a decline in the number of female partners.
Yet despite the increase, men still dominate law firm partnerships. Not only do they make up 76.5% of law firm partners, but almost half of all male lawyers are partners — in contrast with only 22% of women.
The discrepancy comes despite the fact that women make up more than 43% of all solicitors with practising certificates. That figure looks set to increase in the future, with women last year making up 61.5% of all registered trainees.
The report also shows partnership prospects improved slightly over the year. The research found there were 31,624 partners working within private practice in July 2007 — equating to 38.3% of all private practice solicitors. The figure represents a modest improvement on the 2006 figure of 35.7%.
Commenting on the findings, Howard Morris, chief executive at Denton Wilde Sapte (pictured right), said: “In the City it is harder to make partner, but it is a strong market. Partnership is not [necessarily] the goal. We have people who are partner candidates but do not want the job because of life goals.”
The Law Society research also found that the number of solicitors on the roll increased by around 2% during 2006-07 to reach 134,378.
Meanwhile, the number of solicitors with practising certificates grew by less than 4% to 108,407. More than three-quarters of these (76.2%) work in private practice.StudentsSpring2008
