Amarchand Mangaldas emerged as the large law firm with the highest ratio of female lawyers ranked by the 2014 Chambers and Partners lawyer directory, while J Sagar Associates (JSA) and Trilegal came lowest with as few as 6 per cent of senior female lawyers.
Meanwhile, banking and finance was the major practice area with the largest percentage of women - 34 per cent - compared to corporate and private equity where only around 15 per cent of ranked lawyers were women.
Firm wise (see table below)
Amarchand, Khaitan & Co, JSA, AZB & Partners, Luthra & Luthra and Trilegal were the only law firms with more than seven lawyers ranked by the directory out of 150 Indian law firms.
However, nine lawyers, or 37.5 per cent of Amarchand’s 24 total ranked lawyers, were women; by contrast, at JSA and Trilegal, only one woman was ranked out of 18 and 11 total ranked lawyers respectively, giving percentages of just over 5 and 9 per cent.
Luthra had the second-most ranked female lawyers after Amarchand with four women, or one-fourth of its 16 rankings, belonging to women.
AZB with 17.65 per cent out of 17 total rankings and Khaitan with almost 16 per cent out of 19 total rankings were in a similar range.
At the mid-size firms, ALMT Legal and Wadia Ghandy performed best, as each had three ranked women as against four men, making up 43 per cent of the ranked lawyers at the firm.
Dua Associates, Economic Laws Practice (ELP) and Talwar Thakore & Associates had only one ranked woman each out of seven rankings.
The only two firms with a majority of ranked female lawyers were Samvad Partners and Juris Corp, where two thirds of ranked lawyers were women (four out of six in Samvad’s case, and two out of three at Juris Corp).
Practice wise (see table below)
Banking and finance emerged as the most female-friendly practice area out of the six largest practice areas, according to Chambers.
Over 34 per cent out of a total of 38 rankings in banking were earned by women, while projects was the large practice area with the fewest women: only two women (less than 7 per cent) out of 30 total ranked lawyers.
Banking and finance, Mumbai and Delhi-based corporate and M&A, private equity, intellectual property and projects, infrastructure and energy were the areas with over 30 lawyer rankings.
Insurance was the most women-friendly practice area overall with three out of five ranks going to women, followed by competition and anti trust, where four out of seven ranked lawyers were women.
According to Chambers data, women were not represented at all in law firm practices such as capital markets, employment, shipping and Delhi-based real estate.
And in the dispute resolution senior counsel rankings, there were also zero women ranked out of 23 senior counsel.
However, Delhi dispute resolution boasted 28 per cent ranked women, compared to Mumbai where in dispute resolution there was only one out of 15 women.
Chambers & Partners’ ranked women lawyers out of total ranked lawyers per firm
| Organisation | Total ranked women | Total ranked men | Total ranked lawyers | Percentage women ranked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amarchand & Mangaldas & Suresh A Shroff & Co | 9 | 15 | 24 | 37.5 |
| Khaitan & Co | 3 | 16 | 19 | 15.79 |
| J Sagar Associates | 1 | 17 | 18 | 5.56 |
| AZB & Partners | 3 | 14 | 17 | 17.65 |
| Luthra & Luthra Law Offices | 4 | 12 | 16 | 25 |
| Trilegal | 1 | 10 | 11 | 9.09 |
| ALMT Legal (Indian Advocates) | 3 | 4 | 7 | 42.86 |
| Wadia Ghandy & Co | 3 | 4 | 7 | 42.86 |
| Dua Associates | 1 | 6 | 7 | 14.29 |
| Economic Laws Practice | 1 | 6 | 7 | 14.29 |
| Talwar, Thakore & Associates | 1 | 6 | 7 | 14.29 |
| Samvad Partners | 4 | 2 | 6 | 66.67 |
| Kochhar & Co | 1 | 5 | 6 | 16.67 |
| Nishith Desai Associates | 1 | 4 | 5 | 20 |
| Phoenix Legal | 1 | 4 | 5 | 20 |
| S&R Associates | 1 | 4 | 5 | 20 |
| Mulla & Mulla & Craigie Blunt & Caroe | 0 | 5 | 5 | 0 |
| Poovayya & Co | 1 | 3 | 4 | 25 |
| Crawford Bayley & Co | 0 | 4 | 4 | 0 |
| Desai & Diwanji | 0 | 4 | 4 | 0 |
| DSK Legal | 0 | 4 | 4 | 0 |
| IndusLaw | 0 | 4 | 4 | 0 |
| Majmudar & Partners | 0 | 4 | 4 | 0 |
| Platinum Partners | 0 | 4 | 4 | 0 |
| Juris Corp | 2 | 1 | 3 | 66.67 |
| Anand and Anand Advocates | 1 | 2 | 3 | 33.33 |
| Bharucha & Partners | 1 | 2 | 3 | 33.33 |
| Kanga & Co | 1 | 2 | 3 | 33.33 |
| Karanjawala & Co | 1 | 2 | 3 | 33.33 |
| Rajani, Singhania & Partners | 1 | 2 | 3 | 33.33 |
| Tuli & Co | 1 | 2 | 3 | 33.33 |
| K&S Partners | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 |
| Lakshmikumaran & Sridharan | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 |
| Link Legal | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 |
| Tatva Legal | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 |
| Vaish Associates | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 |
| Dave & Girish & Co | 1 | 1 | 2 | 50 |
| K Law | 1 | 1 | 2 | 50 |
| R K Dewan & Co | 1 | 1 | 2 | 50 |
| Udwadia, Udeshi and Argus Partners | 1 | 1 | 2 | 50 |
| Archer & Angel | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| Bhatt & Saldanha | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| BMR Legal | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| CrestLaw Partners | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| Dhir & Dhir Associates | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| Federal & Rashmikant | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| HSA Advocates | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| LexOrbis Intellectual Property Practice | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| MNK Law Offices | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| PH Parekh & Co | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| Saikrishna & Associates | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| Seth Dua & Associates | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| SNG & Partners | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| Aarna Law | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Abhishek Manu Singhvi - Sole Practitioner | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Aditya Sondhi Law Chambers | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Advani & Co. | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Advaya Legal | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Agarwal Law Associates | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Amarjit & Associates | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| ANA Law | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Anil Divan - Sole Practitioner | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| A.N. Jayaram | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Anup S Shah Law Firm | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| APJ-SLG Law Offices | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| A.R.A. Law | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Arvind P Datar - Sole Practitioner | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Ashok Desai - Sole Practitioner | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Aspi Chinoy - Sole Practitioner | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Bharucha & Associates | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Bhasin and Bhasin Associates | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Bhasin & Co | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Bose & Mitra & Co | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Chadha & Chadha | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Chambers of S. Venkiteswaran | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Darius Khambata - Sole Practitioner | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| De Penning & De Penning | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Dhall Law Chambers | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Dhaval Vussonji & Associates | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| D.M. Harish & Co. | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| DP Ahuja & Co | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Dushyant Dave - Sole Practitioner | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Fali Nariman - Sole Practitioner | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Finsec Law Advisors | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Gagrats | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Gandhi & Associates | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Groser & Groser | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Hariani & Co | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Harish Salve - Sole Practitioner | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Holla & Holla Advocates | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| HSB Partners | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| IC Legal | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| I.L.A. Pasrich & Company | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Inttl Advocare | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Iqbal Chagla - Sole Practitioner | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Janak Dwarkadas - Sole Practitioner | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Jehangir Mistry - Sole Practitioner | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Juris Legal & Financial Services | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Kachwaha & Partners | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| K K Venugopal - Sole Practitioner | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Koura & Co | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| KoVe Global LLP | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Krishna & Saurastri | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Kusuma Advocates | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Lall & Sethi Advocates | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Law Chambers of G. Nataraj | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Lexygen | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Mason & Associates | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Messrs Doijode Associates | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Mohan & Associates | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| MPC Legal | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| M S Syali - Sole Practitioner | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| M. T. Miskita & Company | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Mukul Rohatgi - Sole Practitioner | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Mundkur Law Partners | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| M. V. Kini & Co | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| MZM Legal | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Naik Naik & Co | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Obhan & Associates | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| P & A Law Offices | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Parimal K. Shroff & Co | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Percy Pardiwala - Sole Practitioner | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Porus Kaka - Sole Practitioner | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| P P Rao - Sole Practitioner | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| PSP Law Office | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Rafique Dada - Sole Practitioner | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Rahul Narichania - Sole Practitioner | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Rajinder Narain & Co | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| RDA Legal | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Remfry & Sagar | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Rohinton Nariman - Sole Practitioner | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Sarin & Co | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Scriboard | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| S Eshwar Consultants | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| S Ganesh - Sole Practitioner | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Sibal & Company | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| S Majumdar & Co | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Soli Dastur - Sole Practitioner | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Soli Sorabjee - Sole Practitioner | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Solomon & Co | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| S.S. Rana & Co | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Subramaniam, Nataraj & Associates | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| The Chambers of George A. Rebello | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Thiru & Thiru | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| TLA (Tree of Life Associates) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Tyabji Dayabhai | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Vidhii Partners | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Virag Tulzapurkar - Sole Practitioner | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| W.S. Kane and Co | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Industry aggregate | 51 women | 315 men | 366 total | 14% |
Source: Chambers & Partners. Note: The table specifies counts only unique lawyers ranked per firm
Chambers & Partners’ female lawyers ranked by practice areas
| Practice Area | Total Female Rankings | Total Male Rankings | Total Rankings | Percentage Of Ranked Women |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Private Equity | 7 | 42 | 49 | 14.29 |
| Corporate/M&A: Mumbai-based | 8 | 37 | 45 | 17.78 |
| Banking & Finance | 13 | 25 | 38 | 34.21 |
| Corporate/M&A: New Delhi-based | 5 | 29 | 34 | 14.71 |
| Intellectual Property | 4 | 26 | 30 | 13.33 |
| Projects, Infrastructure & Energy | 2 | 28 | 30 | 6.67 |
| Dispute Resolution: Senior Advocates | 0 | 23 | 23 | 0 |
| Technology, Media, Telecoms (TMT) | 2 | 20 | 22 | 9.09 |
| Tax | 3 | 18 | 21 | 14.29 |
| Real Estate: Mumbai-based | 1 | 18 | 19 | 5.26 |
| Dispute Resolution: New Delhi-based | 5 | 13 | 18 | 27.78 |
| Capital Markets | 0 | 18 | 18 | 0 |
| Corporate/M&A: Bangalore-based | 2 | 15 | 17 | 11.76 |
| Dispute Resolution: Mumbai-based | 1 | 15 | 16 | 6.25 |
| Aviation | 1 | 13 | 14 | 7.14 |
| Competition/Antitrust | 4 | 7 | 11 | 36.36 |
| Intellectual Property: Litigation | 2 | 9 | 11 | 18.18 |
| Shipping | 0 | 11 | 11 | 0 |
| Employment | 0 | 10 | 10 | 0 |
| Tax: Senior Advocates | 0 | 8 | 8 | 0 |
| Dispute Resolution: Bangalore-based | 1 | 6 | 7 | 14.29 |
| Real Estate: Bangalore-based | 2 | 4 | 6 | 33.33 |
| Insurance | 3 | 2 | 5 | 60 |
| International Trade | 1 | 4 | 5 | 20 |
| Corporate/M&A: Chennai-based | 1 | 3 | 4 | 25 |
| Dispute Resolution: Insolvency | 0 | 4 | 4 | 0 |
| Real Estate: New Delhi-based | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 |
Source: Chambers & Partners. Note: Some individuals appear in more than one practice area.
Comments
The real anomalies worth commenting on may be shipping, employment, cap marks and B&F.
Chambers only compiles lawyers ranked per firm and we asked them for the data on male / female rankings.
We published the full list they supplied, ordered by the number of lawyers ranked per firm. Agree, the lower parts of the rankings don't give much insight into gender differentials, though they do also highlight how few female practitioners are ranked in directories such as Chambers.
Thought it was information that was worth sharing.
Best wishes,
Kian
Indeed, quite interesting data, though it has to be taken with a pinch of salt - it could partly depend on how good some firms are at marketing their partners by entering them into the running for directories.
However, in aggregate, the numbers don't lie and an aggregate percentage of 14% across the industry should give plenty of food for thought...
In the case of Employment, 2 are up-and-coming and 1 is an associate to watch (all male); in competition 2 women are up-and-comers; capital markets has one associate to watch, one up-and-comer, and 2 'senior statesmen' (all male).
Madhurima Mukherjee is presumably not included this year since she's currently not practising...
Hi Madhurima fan (this also includes you, Kian, since you still haven't published my previous post - though I don't think there was anything offensive or abusive in my previous post)
Obviously, Chamber's will not rank a lawyer who is no longer practising. I don't believe that Madhurima is on a sabbatical (in the true sense). She has resigned from her previous job (or was asked to resign, I don't know). To put it more correctly, she is "between jobs"!
For example, how many senior female lawyers are ranked as a proportion to the total number of senior female lawyers? I suspect more than is the case for senior male lawyers. That indicates that there are fewer women partners AND they are very good.
Leaving aside rankings in Chambers, it would be interesting to see the split between larger law firms and smaller law firms in terms of number of female partners generally. Are larger law firms such as JSA, AMSS, AZB and Luthra (ignore the Chambers rankings here) better able to support women than smaller firms? If not, why not? And if so, does that alter the general perception of smaller firms as somewhat easier places for women to flourish than the larger firms?
Finally, impressive to compare the proportion of people in general ranked at smaller firms compared to larger firms. How many lawyers in total do firms such as TTA (7 ranked), Samvad (6 ranked), Phoenix (5 ranked) and S&R (5 ranked) have compared to AMSS, AZB, JSA, NDA etc and what proportion of the senior lawyers in these smaller firms are ranked compared to in larger firms?
If a woman is a good lawyer, she will make it to the top in a law firm and the gender does not matter if you have the capabilities and the expertise.
Look at Zia, Pallavi, etc. JSA may not have ranked lawyers, but they still have a lot of women on the top.
I don't think that there is any gender discrimination in any top law firm
If a woman is a good lawyer, she will make it to the top in a law firm and the gender does not matter if you have the capabilities and the expertise.
Look at Zia, Pallavi, etc. JSA may not have ranked lawyers, but they still have a lot of women on the top.
I don't think that there is any gender discrimination in any top law firm[/quote]
Zia and Pallavi own the firms. Let's look at more realistic examples. JSA has Dina at the top and she is their only ranked woman lawyer. Serious dearth of ranked women lawyers in the non family/ non senior woman lawyer segment.
The unmarried women are crazy workaholics. The married ones have different priorities. I checked the list and the 5 unmarried women (I am a male lawyer) are all well respected for their legal acumen. If paying was the only criteria, every relative of a family firm and equity partner in a non family firm would have a ranking. These rankings are not life altering but cannot be ignored either.
The figures, over and over again, point to the same conclusion that there is a huge gender inequality, even in law firms, and particularly at the bar. But the numbers only say so much, and the things most people say in public barely scratch the surface of some of the underlying problems. However, the unfortunate fact is that privately a lot of men (and some women too) seem to believe stereotypes such as the ones propounded by 'Gyan Connection'.
I don't think it's possible to deal with the problem of gender inequality in the profession by ignoring and addressing such prevalent, if prejudiced and misguided, attitudes, which are more common than many think.
I think your point, if anything, is another: many men also put pressure on their wives not to work, particularly once kids are in the equation.
So, what’s all the hue and cry here?
Fyi, some articles:
http://www.thelawyer.com/uks-top-firms-fail-to-increase-female-equity-partner-figures/1009165.article
http://www.thelawyer.com/revealed-females-make-up-less-than-10-per-cent-of-top-100s-equity-partner-ranks/1015190.article
http://www.thelawyer.com/diversity-league-table-female-lawyers-react/1015536.article
http://abovethelaw.com/2013/01/which-biglaw-office-has-promoted-only-one-woman-to-partner-in-25-years/
Diversity and Gender Equity in Law Firms http://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/marketing/women/gender_equity_task_force/rhode.authcheckdam.pdf