More Women Graduate from Law School
About half the people in law school nationwide are now women, more than double the percentage 30 years ago. The local numbers are even higher: 63 percent of students entering the UC Davis School of Law last year were women.
A Sacramento Business Journal article looks at the practice of law as more women enter the legal profession. In the November 6 article, Dean Rex Perschbacher is quoted. "Women have come into law very strongly," he says "There's no affirmative action. We take them as we find them, with high grade-point averages and competitive (law school entrance exam) scores."
Although law school employment statistics are not broken down by gender, 96 percent of the 176 law students who graduated from Davis in 2005, the majority being women, were employed in the legal field nine months later.
The journal article suggests that although women are entering law firms at a very similar rate to men, and that both women and men now demand flexible hours and good leave policies, over the long haul, women lawyers nationwide earn less then their male counterparts and receive fewer promotions. Private law firms have a retention problem when it comes to keeping women lawyers on board long term
"The manner in which law is practiced is not yet as conducive to the retention and promotion of women," said Perschbacher.
But as more women graduate from law school and enter the work force, subtle changes just might shift the practice of law.