This paper documents and studies the gender gap in performance among associate
lawyers in the United States. Unlike other high-skilled professions, the legal profession
assesses performance using transparent measures that are widely used and comparable
across firms: the number of hours billed to clients and the amount of new client revenue
generated. We find clear evidence of a gender gap in annual performance with respect
to both measures. Male lawyers bill ten percent more hours and bring in more ...
This paper documents and studies the gender gap in performance among associate
lawyers in the United States. Unlike other high-skilled professions, the legal profession
assesses performance using transparent measures that are widely used and comparable
across firms: the number of hours billed to clients and the amount of new client revenue
generated. We find clear evidence of a gender gap in annual performance with respect
to both measures. Male lawyers bill ten percent more hours and bring in more than
twice the new client revenue than do female lawyers. We demonstrate that the
differential impact across genders in the presence of young children and differences in
aspirations to become a law firm partner account for a large share of the difference in
performance. We also show that accounting for performance has important
consequences for gender gaps in lawyers earnings and subsequent promotion. Whereas
individual and firm characteristics explain up to 50 percent of the earnings gap, the
inclusion of performance measures explains a substantial share of the remainder.
Performance measures also explain a sizeable share of the gender gap in promotion.
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