<p>Right, that's real big news that the large firms have had to "relax" their standards in regards to blacks when hiring new associates, and (by the way) this might over time impact advancement possibilities within these firms</p>
<p>Never would have guessed</p>
<p>The news is in the actual qualitative difference between students. 18th percentile versus 75th. That is huge spread.</p>
<p>sallyawp - I'm not sure this trend is isolated to major law firms: the trend outlined in this study appears to me to echo corporate trends nationwide.</p>
<p>You can look at many possible reasons. But the simplest and most obvious reason may be that people promote people like themselves. I've seen this time and time again. It's just human nature. The man who equates fist-pounding "go get 'em" attitudes to potential success, is just more likely to doubt the fire-in-the-belly potential of a quiet, thoughtful woman.</p>
<p>Women get ahead more easily when they try to be (or naturally are) like the men. While women who do not act like the men in senior management can be promoted, they have many, many more obstacles to overcome, if indeed they can be overcome. </p>
<p>I also have to differ with you a bit on one point: I have almost never seen the attitude of senior women in management saying that they don't want to help other women, merely because they themselves had it tough. As a senior woman in a multi-billion corporation (which I can say here, since this thread is not read as broadly as the other threads on this forum ! ), I see that smart women have recognized that because "like follows like", it helps all women when other women are in decision-making positions, since the women fall on the right side of the "like follows like" equation. I will grant you, however, that the culture of each corporation would affect the mentality of the employees - men and women alike - with regard to how encouraging or accepting they might be to others.</p>
<p>Yes, I have, unfortunately, all too often seen female law firm partners who just don't support and mentor the younger, more junior women in their law firms. There are just so few women partners to begin with that it really does have a practical and morale effect on the younger women. In fact, I have actually often heard the tales of the difficulties some of these women faced when they were coming up, and heard them say (with some contempt, I might add) that the women in law firms today should stop any complaining because they just don't know how good they have it. It's quite troubling, since obviously, law firms have a long way to go in retaining and promoting smart, talented women, but it's not terribly uncommon in law firms. I have always been blessed to have wonderful male mentors, but it would have been nice to see senior women pushing for more inclusiveness and more opportunities for junior women too. </p>
<p>I do think that this is changing as the more women become law firm partners, but the boys' clubs remain and all too often there is no girls' club.</p>
<p>You're right, sallawp. That is very troubling to hear. I saw that a bit some years ago in the corporate world, but much less now, as I said. So I wonder if perhaps it's an evolution? I have often thought law firms integrated - minorities and women - much later than large corporations did. Perhaps the law firms will evolve over time to the more enouraging culture I see occurring in the corporate world now.</p>
<p>We can only hope, and do our bit to contribute to that evolution, right?</p>
<p>I'm certainly trying my best!</p>