Women have made up roughly half of law graduates in the United States and the UK for years, yet they remain a minority among equity partners. The pandemic forced law firms into remote working almost overnight, and many have since settled on hybrid models. That has revived an old question: does flexibility help women stay in the profession and get promoted?
The case for
The most-cited argument is about attrition. A 2021 study published in PLOS ONE by Justin Anker and Patrick Krill, based on a survey of nearly 2,900 lawyers in California and Washington DC, found that women were more likely than men to be considering leaving the law because of mental health problems, burnout or stress (24% compared with 17%). Women with high work-family conflict were four and a half times more likely to be leaving or considering leaving. If hybrid work reduces that conflict, it could keep more women in the pipeline long enough to reach partnership.
Hybrid arrangements can also reduce the "face time" culture in which visibility in the office stands in for performance, a culture that tends to penalise anyone with caring responsibilities.
The case for caution
Researchers and practitioners also point to risks:
- Proximity bias. If partners mainly mentor and promote the people they see in the office, those who use flexibility most, still more often women, may lose out.
- Two-track careers. Flexible roles can become a separate, slower track with lower status.
- Always-on work. Remote work can blur boundaries and lengthen the working day rather than shorten it.
What seems to help
Firms that report better results tend to combine flexibility with structure: clear criteria for promotion, measured allocation of good work, sponsorship programmes, and leaders who use flexible arrangements themselves. Tracking who gets which assignments, and who is promoted, is the only way to know whether a hybrid policy is narrowing the gap or quietly widening it.
Why it matters
The legal profession's diversity affects who gets heard. Lawyers who represent unpopular clients, as Pat Finucane did, need the support of a profession that values them. A profession that loses talented people early is weaker for it.