Background to the Research

• The primary purpose of this project was to examine the issue of equality of opportunity, and to determine whether a 'Glass Ceiling' exists within the legal profession in NI by examining the male and female solicitors' career patterns, prospects, remuneration, and terms and conditions of employment.
  

Research Approach

• A postal survey was sent to a sample of 500 male and 500 female solicitors currently practising in NI. Valid returns were received from 414 respondents, a response rate of 41%, of whom 257 were women and 157 were men. In addition, three focus groups were also held with practising solicitors from both the public and private sectors.
  

Main Findings

Working As A Solicitor

• Reasons for leaving last job
  • Women were more likely than men to cite fewer prospects for promotion, and the absence of flexible or part-time working arrangements in their previous job, as important factors in their decision to seek employment elsewhere.
• Position in the profession
  • The survey highlights the under-representation of women solicitors in the sensor levels of management in private practice. Overall, less than a quarter of women solicitors (23%) were either equity or salaried partners in their firm, compared with over two thirds of men (69%). Despite the survey finding that, compared with their male counterparts, a higher proportion of female respondents in the survey had either first or upper second class degrees, women tended to occupy the lower grades in the profession.

   

Pay And Conditions Of Employment

• Type of remuneration package
  • Three types of remuneration package are prevalent in the profession, namely a flat salary, salary with profits, and 'other arrangements'. Considerably more females (70%) than males (32%) received a flat salary. Conversely, more than twice as many males as females received a salary plus profits or 'other arrangements'. These arrangements included 'partnership drawings', 'commission on work brought in' and 'occasional payments'.
• Salary levels of full-time solicitors
  • Marked gender differences emerged regarding remuneration levels within the profession. In general, women respondents in the survey with a comparable levels of professional experience tended to earn less than their male counterparts. This finding is particularly true of 10-19 year band: while nearly three quarters (70%) of male solicitors in the survey earned in excess of £35,000 per annum, almost two thirds (62%) of women respondents earned less than this figure.
  • In private practice, it was found that women solicitors at all levels of post-qualification experience are disproportionately represented in the lower pay bands.
• Remuneration review arrangements
  • Sectoral differences emerged regarding salary review arrangements. Whereas in the public sector the vast majority of all respondents had their salary reviewed at fixed intervals, in private practice half of the male solicitors had 'other arrangements', compared with only 15% of women. These arrangements included: 'profit related'; 'review by partners'; 'reviewed at regular intervals'; 'only reviewed when hours and duties change"; 'never reviewed'; 'now and again'; and 'as I feel reasonable'.
• Working patterns: part-time and flexible working
  • In spite of the greater weight of caring responsibilities typically associated with women, less than a third (31%) of all female respondents had access to flexible working arrangements. Only one in ten respondents, but 15% of the women surveyed, compared with only 3% of men, were working part-time.
• Formal contract of employment
  • Under the provisions of the Employment Rights (NI) Order 1996, employees have a statutory right to obtain a written statement of their employment particulars from their employer, clearly outlining the main terms and conditions of their post, within two months of the date when their employment began. In the survey, it was found that only one third of all respondents had a formal contract of employment. In private practice, less than one in five (17%) had such a document.
    
  • Employees who began work before 7 February 1994 are not automatically entitled to a written statement. When those respondents who were employed before the above date were excluded from the analysis, it was found that only 21% (22) of the 106 solicitors in private practice had a formal contract of employment.
• Maternity Issues
  • Female respondents were asked a series of questions relating to maternity issues. Over one third (38%) had taken maternity leave at some point during their career, a quarter of whom had taken an additional period of unpaid leave. Women solicitors who took maternity leave were divided on their perceptions of the effect maternity leave had on their career.
  • In private practice, less than two in five (38%) of those women solicitors who had not taken additional period of unpaid leave, said that this option was available to them. Moreover, in the private sector, nearly three quarters (70%) of those women solicitors who had taken some form of maternity leave, felt under pressure not to take up their right to an additional period of unpaid leave.
  • Three quarters of women on maternity leave reported that no locum was employed to cover their absence. Over a quarter continued to work from home. Nevertheless, most women solicitors (79%) reported that their organisation had handled their absence on maternity leave either very or fairly well.
  • Most women felt there would be a serious effect on their career if they reduced their hours of work following maternity leave. However, women solicitors employed in the public sector felt more secure about taking their full range of entitlements under the legislation than did their colleagues in the private sector. Of those women solicitors working in private practice, a quarter thought there would be an adverse effect on their career after taking the standard maternity leave, while almost two thirds felt their career would be affected if they took additional unpaid leave.

Other Equal Opportunities Issues

• Gender stereotyping
  • Women solicitors were asked whether any activities they had been asked to perform were those that a male colleague would not have been asked to do. One third of women indicated they had been in this situation. The list of activities included, making coffee, typing, cleaning premises, softening up clients, baby-sitting and sewing on buttons.gueguhuh
• Sexual harassment
  • Almost one in three women solicitors (31%) reported experiencing some form of sexual harassment from either colleagues or clients. This may have included unwanted attention, physical contact, or discussions of a sexual nature. Over a quarter thought that sexual harassment is either very or fairly common in the legal profession.
• Job discrimination
  • One in five female respondents said they had definitely been discriminated against, in terms of position or promotion opportunities, because of their sex and a further third thought they probably had.

   

The state of equal opportunities within the legal profession

• Over one half of women solicitors thought that the general state of equal opportunities were improving within the profession. However, 45% felt that there was no change in the provision of equal opportunities.

Effective measures to promote greater progress for women within the legal profession

• Women solicitors were presented with a list of several options, and asked to choose the one which they believed would be most effective in advancing progress for women within the profession. Over half thought using the issuing of equal opportunities guidelines by the Law Society Council would be effective. A quarter suggested that having a greater representation of women in the Law Society Council would be effective. Only one in fifty indicated that seminars or conferences on equal opportunities would promote progress.

Focus Groups

• In general, the opinions expressed by participants in the focus groups mirrored those in the survey, and provide further support for the key findings cited above. It was also argued that the lack of managerial expertise, combined with a failure to comply with some basic aspects of employment law, had led to many difficulties in areas such as equal opportunities and maternity provision.