Latest news – Firms get serious on gender balance; Social media opportunities go begging; Cold shoulder for workplaces

Gender gap starts to close

The latest edition of The Australian Financial Review’s Law Partnership Survey indicates that law firms are starting to make headway on the gender equality front. It shows that two-thirds of the 128 new partners appointed at the nation’s leading law firms in the past six months were women. There is still a way to go, however, with the survey noting that the overall proportion of female partners edged up just half a percentage point to 24.9 per cent.

Only 13 of the nation’s largest law firms have 30 per cent or more women in partnership, with the “odd standout such as Clyde & Co and TressCox Lawyers breaking through the 40 per cent mark”, according to a Fairfax report on the survey. It revealed that, last year, 55 per cent of managerial appointments in law firms were female – among them Allens competition lawyer Fiona Crosbie being appointed chairman of the firm; Lander & Rogers chairman Genevieve Collins; Maddocks CEO Michelle Dixon; and global law firm King & Wood Mallesons’ chief executive partner Sue Kench. In terms of pay equality, Fairfax reported that the “latest Australian Taxation Office statistics show that nationwide, female solicitors with salaries in the top two tax brackets (above $80,001) earn $128,966 on average; for men, the average is $151,554. That’s an additional 64 days women have to work to earn the same amount”.

American firms miss social media opportunities

A new American survey points to a low adoption among law firms of social media platforms such as LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter as “business development activities”. The Bloomberg Law survey, the first Labour and Employment Practice Benchmarks Report, reveals that social media use among respondents is far from all-encompassing, with LinkedIn being the most popular social media tool. However, fewer than seven in 10 lawyers (69 per cent) use LinkedIn. The other key findings include:

• more than half of all matters are settled and, of those, almost two-thirds are settled pre-judgement
• larger firms (51 or more lawyers) are more likely to offer a fixed-fee structure, with 77 per cent offering this option compared with just 37 per cent of smaller firms
• four in 10 firms offering fix fees respond that they are somewhat profitable (39 percent), almost the same amount say they break even (37 per cent) and one in four firms are somewhat unprofitable (24 per cent).

Bloomberg Law offers practitioners a review of how their peers conduct many facets of practice, including business development, talent recruitment, the use of technology and fee and compensation structures. The survey reveals that almost a quarter of labour and employment lawyers say their firms are not using any social media service. While some occasionally use LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter for marketing and business development, networking and client tracking, more than half of respondent firms do not curate their social media networks, nor do they require lawyers to monitor their personal pages.

Officer temperatures leave workers cold

Also out of the United States, a survey of more than 1200 full-time office workers asked respondents to identify what they hated most about their office space … and air-conditioning topped the list. Commissioned by the International Interior Design Association and the Business and Institutional Furniture Manufacturers Association, the survey found that “ability to adjust your workplace temperature” was the most complained about office quality, with almost half of all workers (46 per cent) saying they were unsatisfied with that aspect of their work. Confirming the dissatisfaction, “temperature” also made the list, coming in at fifth place, with 36 per cent of workers being unhappy with it.

Pointing to the importance of design, 44 per cent of respondents did not like the sound privacy in their offices; 37 per cent were unhappy with their ability to control the light; and 37 per cent were unsatisfied with the level of visual privacy. Other aspects that workers complained about were the colours and textures in their office and the lack of natural light.