ANALYSIS: How Early-Career Transparency Can Close Law’s Wage Gap

Gender pay inequity continues to exist in the legal industry. Female attorneys at or near the beginning of their legal careers are actively negotiating their salaries, but they still have valid concerns about being underpaid. Nationwide improvements to pay transparency practices will supply early-career female attorneys with more essential data, which will help narrow the pay gap as they advance in their careers.

Female attorneys made 19% less than male attorneys in 2022, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics Report data on median weekly wages for selected job titles. The gender pay gap in legal exceeds the national pay gap for all full-time labor, where women now make 16% less than men on the dollar as of July 2023.

Although the gender pay gap for lawyers is still stark, BLS data do show that female attorneys have been narrowing the gap since 2020.

2020 was an especially difficult year for women, as many bore the brunt of the reduced labor force. Women faced job loss and worked reduced hours when compared to men, due in large part to the reduction of the child care labor market. Indeed, 2020 was the only year in the past four in which the wage gap for lawyers widened instead of narrowed.

But while the pandemic widened the gender pay gap for full-time labor, the post-pandemic picture looks more promising for women. The gender pay gap in legal is narrowing close to pre-pandemic levels for the industry.

Women continue to fight for equal pay in the legal industry, and early-career female attorneys are getting a head start. For instance, early-career female attorneys are negotiating their salaries just as often as male attorneys of similar tenure, according to results from Bloomberg Law’s State of Practice Survey, conducted in summer 2023.

About 4 in 10 female and male attorneys with less than 10 years of experience said they negotiated or at least attempted to negotiate their current salaries—which contrasts with the popularly held belief that women negotiate their salaries less often than men.

These results show that early-career attorneys in general are negotiating their salaries at higher rates than the national industry-wide average, where 28% of women and 32% of men said they have negotiated or attempted to negotiate for more pay, according to a Pew Research poll.

Despite this parity in salary negotiation maneuvers, survey results also show that early-career female attorneys are still more likely than their male counterparts to feel unsatisfied with their current compensation. When asked if they feel fairly compensated, 43% of female attorneys with less than 10 years of experience said they feel they are underpaid, while only 34% of male attorneys of similar tenure feel the same. Additionally, 7% of male attorneys in this group feel they are actually being overpaid, whereas no female attorneys in this group feel they are.

Female attorneys have cause to report feeling lowballed, based on wage-gap data from the BLS and other researchers. For example, a 2022 study by Texas A&M University’s law school found that high-achieving female attorneys earn less in the state of Texas than lower-achieving male attorneys. The study said that high academic achievement has less bearing on female attorneys’ earning potential than on those of male attorneys in the state.

A Lower Reference Point for Pay

Results from the most recent Bloomberg Law Attorney Workload and Hours Survey also reveal a divergence in how women and men perceive pay.

The survey asked attorneys to estimate the amount they believe their law firms or organizations are paying first-year associates. On average, female attorneys with less than 10 years of experience assumed that first-year associates at their workplace make about $155,200—a number roughly $5.5k lower than the average estimate provided by their male counterparts.

People respond to survey questions by drawing from their unique personal experiences and knowledge. Therefore, data showing that early-career female attorneys assume first-year associates make less on average at their firms suggest that women’s reference point for first-year associate salaries is lower than men’s. Notably, pay inequities often begin with starting salaries and follow employees throughout their careers.

So, while 4 in 10 early-career female attorneys are negotiating at a comparable frequency as their male counterparts, their initial offers may be lower than those proposed by male attorneys of similar tenure and experience.

How Pay Transparency Can Help

Associate pay, at least at the nation’s largest law firms, is generally not a mystery. Resources that have been available for some time now, which include the Big Law Salary Scale and the National Association of Law Placement’s (NALP) annual salary survey, provide valuable resources for entry-level and early-career attorneys that can help re-adjust reference points.

However, pay transparency at small to medium-size law firms for early-career salaries isn’t as transparent. Law firms of all sizes should be providing salary estimates for all positions at all levels to mitigate the gap and attract more talent.

The increasing prevalence of pay transparency practices nationwide will help female attorneys at all stages of their careers re-adjust their reference points, giving them more power in salary negotiations. An article posted in September by job board Indeed.com said that the majority of the jobs it posts now list salary ranges. What’s more, governing bodies are creating laws to advance the practice of pay transparency at all levels. As of mid-October, 10 states have enacted pay transparency laws requiring employers to list salary ranges in job postings.

The Bloomberg Law survey results indicate that this readjustment could be the most dramatic when it comes to early-career attorneys. Pay transparency practices shift some negotiating power to employees, enabling them to advocate for themselves by seeing how much others in similar roles are making. (Additionally, studies have also shown that pay secrecy isn’t in anyone’s best interest).

The growing transparency in pay is set to empower early-career female attorneys as they negotiate their salaries and progress in their careers. Consequentially, it is possible that overall salary satisfaction might actually decrease among attorneys, as they become better equipped to negotiate what they are worth. But the truth still remains that pay equity is progressing in the legal industry, and knowledge is power.

Access additional analyses from our Bloomberg Law 2024 series here, covering trends in Litigation, Transactional, ESG & Employment, Technology, and the Future of the Legal Industry.

Bloomberg Law subscribers can find related content on our Pay Transparency In Focus and our Pay Equity Practical Guidance resources.

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