UK: Women partners at London firms paid 24 per cent less than men

The figure is one of the key findings from a survey by Major, Lindsey & Africa of 180 partners representing 67 firms. The survey was sent to Magic Circle firms, the top 30 UK law firms, and 100 leading US-headquartered firms with London offices.

The report states: “Average total compensation for female partners in London is 24 per cent less than for male partners.

“However, the difference in average originations between female and male partners is significantly less at 10 per cent.

“This suggests that factors other than originations are impacting the determination of female partners’ compensation.”

Nick Paleocrassas, managing consultant in Major, Lindsey & Africa’s partner practice group, said: “The legal profession is still catching up. This data highlights that we still have a long way to go before we reach compensation parity for women in law firms.”

He added: “Some women become partners later than men but in fact everyone is becoming partner later nowadays. It might have been that a lawyer would become a partner six, seven or eight years after qualification but that has now shifted to 14 or 15 years post-qualification as law firms all focus on increasing their profitability.”

Over half of the partners surveyed felt that bias plays a role when it comes to determining compensation, with just 38 per cent saying there was no perceived bias in how their firm determines compensation.

However, men and women had wildly different views on whether there was gender bias in determining compensation.

Just eight per cent of men felt there was gender bias in determining compensation, compared to 37 per cent of women.

Both men and women thought cronyism was the biggest source of bias.