All four firms feature in The Times’s Top 50 ‘Where Women Want to Work’ ranking.
Herbert Smith is the only new entrant to the rankings, which are now in their third year. Addleshaws has featured in all three years, with CC and Eversheds making the grade in 2007 in addition to 2008.
The survey comes as a growing number of firms attempt to increase support for women in the workplace. Herbert Smith launched a women’s network in January 2007, while Clifford Chance has introduced maternity coaching to help deal with both the handover of work before maternity leave and the return to work. Addleshaws was commended for its schemes, which include support for pregnant lawyers and new parents.
Caroline Wilson, Eversheds director of diversity, said: “Nearly a quarter of our firm’s partners are female. The proportion of females in senior positions at Eversheds is 30% and we expect it to continue to rise.”
Sarah Twite, diversity manager at CC, said: "To be competitive we need to attract and retain the best people, so the work we are doing here is simply good business.”
The survey looked at organisations with more than 1,000 employees and addressed three main areas: recruitment, retention and development of female employees, and examples of successful female role models.
Outside the legal sector, seven professional services firms made the cut, including KPMG, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte and Ernst & Young.
