Women Flying Solo: Success Stories from the Small Firm World

“Since Ada H. Kepley became the first woman to graduate from law school in 1870, women have found success in the legal profession—in government, in corporate legal departments, in academia and on the bench. Even so, women have yet to match the success of men in BigLaw, leading to countless studies and articles analyzing why that’s the case.

This article is different. It will explore the success of women in solo and small law firms, an area that is often left out of the discussion over diversity in the law. Take, for example, the ABA’s A Current Glance at Women in the Law (January 2017), which highlights the percentage of women in the legal profession overall (36%), women who are Fortune 500 general counsel (24.8%), women who are law school deans (31.1%) and women on the federal courts of appeal (35.9%). The study’s statistics on women in law firms, though, is limited to larger firms—looking at equity partners (18%) and female managing partners of the top 200 law firms (also 18%).”