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Full-Text Articles in Legal Profession
The Gender Trap: Flexible Work In Corporate Legal Practice, Margaret Thornton, Joanne Bagust
The Gender Trap: Flexible Work In Corporate Legal Practice, Margaret Thornton, Joanne Bagust
Osgoode Hall Law Journal
Despite the fact that women comprise well over 50 per cent of law graduates in many parts of the world, women lawyers continue to be clustered disproportionately in the lower echelons of the profession. This paper considers the role of flexible work as a gender equity strategy and is illuminated by interviews with lawyers in elite corporate firms in Australia. It is argued that far from being a panacea, flexible work is being invoked to confine women to subordinate roles and to restrict access to partnerships. Not only is there a residual suspicion of the feminine in positions of authority …
Changing Opportunities For Partnership For Men And Women Lawyers During The Transformation Of The Modern Law Firm, Fiona M. Kay, John Hagan
Changing Opportunities For Partnership For Men And Women Lawyers During The Transformation Of The Modern Law Firm, Fiona M. Kay, John Hagan
Osgoode Hall Law Journal
Considerable controversy surrounds partnership in law firms, particularly regarding the possibility of systematic gender bias and discrimination. This article contributes to the existing literature by considering explanations of women's under-representation in partnerships within the historical context of changes in the structure of law practice. Such changes include transitions in the organization and scale of contemporary law firms, the emergence of branch offices and international markets, the diversification of recruitment practices and mobility routes through modified firm hierarchies, and rising expectations of billable hours. Using a survey of over 1,000 lawyers in Ontario law firms, the authors examine opportunities for partnership …