Survey shows pay gap between male and female partners is widening

A new survey by legal search firm Major, Lindsey & Africa in cooperation with ALM Legal Intelligence reports that the annual compensation of respondent partners rose by an average of 6.4 per cent to $681,000 over the last two years. The increase was driven in part by an increase in the average partner billing rate, from $555 per hour in 2010 to $585 in 2012. According to the survey, which drew responses from more than 2,000 partners at leading US firms, women partners earn an average of $497,000, a 3 per cent decrease since 2010, and male partners earn an average of $734,000, an increase of more than 8 per cent since 2010. Partners in open compensation systems earned an average of $810,000 per annum, while partners in closed or ‘black box’ systems earned an average of $465,000.

Survey shows pay gap between male and female partners is widening abovethelaw.com Sat, Sep 22, 2012