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Attorneys, Female

In contrast to nursing, social work, librarianship, or teaching, all of which have traditionally been viewed as female occupations, the legal profession in the United States has been considered nearly exclusively a male domain. The early practice of excluding women from the male-dominated legal profession continued well into the early to mid-20th century.

Achieving Equality for Women in Law

The last state to allow a woman to practice law was Alaska, which admitted Mildred Herman in 1950. From these beginnings, the present day achievements of women attorneys make it evident that women lawyers have made significant progress. Women in the legal profession have experienced dramatic growth to an apparent full integration into the practice of law. Just the sheer numbers would support this view, as 50 percent of law students are women, and one third of practicing lawyers are female.

But the numbers of female law students and attorneys alone do not tell the complete story about how they fare in the legal profession. Women lawyers are not yet close to achieving equality in all aspects of the profession. Since the 1990s, women have comprised half of all law students, yet only 15 percent are partners at law firms. This situation has been termed the 50-15-15 problem, as it is has been over 15 years that women comprise 50 percent of all law students, but only 15 percent of law firm partners.

As a response to this phenomenon and other data showing unequal achievement in the law, and to better understand and improve gender fairness in the legal system and the profession, the American Bar Association (ABA), as well as many states and the federal courts, have since established commissions to study the status of women in the profession. Thus, the legal profession has turned its gaze inward to analyze women's performance and the obstacles they face in the practice of law. The ABA created the Commission for Women in the Profession to “to assess the status of women in the legal profession, identify barriers to advancement, and recommend to the ABA actions to address problems identified.” This commission has examined the status of women practicing law and “found persistent gender discrimination throughout the legal profession.”

Women Lawyers in the United States

Overall, women comprise 47.1 percent of all law school graduates, and 45.7 percent of law firm associates. According to the ABA, women account for 31 percent of the 1,180,386 attorneys licensed to practice law in the United States This means that there are over 343,000 women in the legal profession in the United States, but the number of women aged 29 to 34 who are practicing law has decreased considerably in the last 20 years.

Female attorneys comprise 15 percent of Fortune 500 company chief executive officers and general counsels. Nationwide, women comprise 20 percent of all law school deans and 19.2 percent of all law firm partners. As of 2010, 26 percent of U.S. state judges and 22 percent of federal judges are women. Twenty state supreme courts are headed by female chief judges. However, two states (Indiana and Idaho), have no women on their highest state courts.

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