Gender equality still one of ‘biggest issues’ for law firms

Tackling gender equality in law firms is “one of the biggest issues in the profession”, according to Mark Wasserman, US managing partner of international law firm Eversheds Sutherland.

Speaking in the firm’s Dublin office in advance of last weekend’s Aer Lingus College Football Classic, Mr Wasserman said that achieving equal gender representation at partner level continues to pose a challenge for most firms.

“Even 10 years ago, some people didn’t want to talk about it or said it’s not important. We’re past that. And most incoming classes to most firms, and we’re included, are at least 50/50 by gender,” he said.

“But we’re still not doing the job as a profession, we’re still not doing the job when it comes to the class that stays and is ready for partnership. It’s often not 50/50, its more 30/70,” he said, adding that Eversheds aims to achieve 35 per cent woman partnership by 2027.

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Data published under gender pay reporting requirements shows woman representation at other top Irish law firms also hovers at about that 30 per cent mark when all partners, not just equity partners, are included – (A&L Goodbody 30 per cent, McCann Fitzgerald 30 per cent, William Fry 32 per cent, Arthur Cox 40 per cent and Matheson 40 per cent).

Eversheds, like its peers, is still working on identifying the factors resulting in lower numbers of women feeding through to partner level.

“There’s sometimes that push early on in careers for hours and the time pressure that clients put on us that might have more of an effect [on women], but I’m not sure,” he said.

Mr Wasserman said improving gender equality is something clients are demanding more frequently.

“It’s important to our clients, who mostly have done an even better job than we have as law firms of diversifying their workforce. They’re demanding it, so it’s incumbent upon us both because it’s the right thing to do but also because our clients are demanding it, to make sure we’re continuing to work on it,” he said.

Eversheds is the official legal sponsor of the Aer Lingus College Football Classic, which attracted more than 40,000 international fans to Dublin at the weekend to watch Notre Dame beat Navy at the Aviva Stadium.

Mr Wasserman said that lawyers in Eversheds’s Irish operation, which has offices in Dublin and Belfast, act as the “quarterbacks” supporting US companies to do business across Europe, while there has also been an “uptick” in the past five years in Irish clients looking to break into US markets.

“We’ve got one of the largest practices in Ireland of any multinational law firm. We have well more than 200 folks here in Ireland . . . Ireland has been a very strong market for us, and Dublin one of the largest offices in the entire firm globally,” he said.

He added that US companies continue to establish EU bases here due to stability in Ireland’s regulatory and tax frameworks.

“The tax framework has changed some, but it’s still a very sane, good tax code that lets companies know what it is they need to do,” he said.

Mr Wasserman said that the firm will “continue to grow” in Ireland, recruiting staff and taking advantage of business opportunities flowing from the US.