The gender pay gap in the legal industry

As part of the UK government’s commitment to closing the gender pay gap, all companies which employ more than 250 people will have to disclose their pay gap. They have until April 2018 to do this but several law firms have already submitted their figures.

We will use this page to keep track of the top 200 UK law firms (ranked by revenue by The Lawyer) who are required to release this data. Companies are required to report on their employees’ hourly rates, how many men and women fall into each quartile of pay, and on bonus pay. You can find the data for each company on the government’s gender pay gap reporting page.

The following statistics are based on the law firms that have so far disclosed their pay gap – these will be updated as more figures are released. A table of the figures for each law firm can be found below.

The average hourly rate for women is

LOWER than it is for men.

The average percentages of women in each quartile of law firms’ payrolls are:

" data-responsive-mode="2" data-from-history="0" > Firm Women's average hourly rate compared to men's (%)* Pay quartiles (% of women in each) Firm Women's hourly rate (%) Top Upper middle Lower middle Lower Winckworth Sherwood +5.2 68.2 69.7 65.1 74.2 Forsters -2.3 64.9 60.8 85.1 58.9 Trowers & Hamlins -4.2 54.9 64.2 56.8 64.6 Irwin Mitchell -12.8 63.8 73.1 78.6 75.6 Brodies -13 65 69 89 70 Howard Kennedy -13.1 62.5 66.7 79.7 75 Penningtons Manches -13.2 58 76 64 75 Kingsley Napley -13.3 69.6 75.7 82.9 72.5 Taylor Wessing -13.5 46 43 71 69 Lester Aldridge -13.6 70 75 89 72 Russell Cooke -13.7 61.3 79.7 82.8 79.7 Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer -13.9 49.8 52.9 67.7 51.3 Slaughter and May -14.3 46.7 42.7 55.2 72.3 Clyde & Co -14.3 57 55 76 74 Keoghs -14.3 59.1 66.3 70.4 69.8 Bird & Bird -14.5 55.2 52.2 64.4 71.7 Travers Smith -14.7 57.3 53.8 73.1 63.1 Hogan Lovells -15.3 58 50 67 72 Shoosmiths -15.4 60 73 81 69 Bevan Brittan -15.8 52.5 62.3 70.5 72.1 Macfarlanes -16.5 45.1 54.5 66.2 69.4 Fieldfisher -16.5 57 64.4 68 69 Fletchers -17 58 64 70 59 Norton Rose Fulbright -17 54 53 59 75 Weightmans -17.1 56 69.5 79.6 72.7 JMW -17.1 39 71 80 76 CMS -17.3 60 63 74 83 Mishcon de Reya -17.3 58 62.1 81 68.5 Holman Fenwick Willan (HFW) -17.4 41.2 44.7 57.6 73.8 Shakespeare Martineau -17.4 59 76 79 73 DLA Piper -17.8 49 59 63 72 Bates Wells Braithwaite -18.2 53 71 84 69 Lewis Silkin -18.3 55.1 64.7 76.8 76.5 BLM -18.4 53.1 64.7 74.2 69.4 Stewarts Law -18.6 56.1 69.7 72.7 68.2 Herbert Smith Freehills -19 49 52 68 79 Withers -19.4 58.2 58.2 80.6 69.4 Burness Paull -19.6 57 62 86 69 Allen & Overy -19.8 52 53 63 71 Shepherd & Wedderburn -19.8 51 64 83 73 Walker Morris -19.9 48.9 69.6 80.4 65.2 Mills & Reeve -20.1 58.9 69 80.2 78.7 Clifford Chance -20.3 51.1 53.4 59.4 81.5 Stephensons -20.3 57.1 71.5 82.5 83.5 TLT -20.4 58.6 67.5 79.2 74.3 Harper Macleod -20.4 58.1 75.7 80.5 76.3 Browne Jacobson -21 55 73 76 74 Clarke Willmott -21 60 74 83 78 Farrer & Co -21.1 64 61.3 77 85.3 Capsticks -21.4 58.1 72.8 76.3 77.8 Charles Russell Speechlys -22 57 64 73 77 Kennedys -22.2 52 63 75 82 Berwin Leighton Paisner -22.3 53.6 58.1 75.6 72.7 Royds Withy King -22.3 61 79.8 88 82.9 Pinsent Masons -22.4 54.4 62.7 77.1 74.1 Ashfords -22.8 62 77 87 74 Watson Farley & Williams -22.9 54.5 47.3 76.4 67.3 Bircham Dyson Bell -23 50 61.8 90.9 72.7 Linklaters -23.2 44.9 53.9 55.9 79.2 Eversheds Sutherland -23.2 52 63 74.6 74.2 Burges Salmon -23.3 48.7 58.7 76.1 76.8 DWF -23.7 48 67.2 74.2 67.3 Osborne Clarke -24.4 51.7 63.3 76.7 79.1 Stephenson Harwood -24.7 45 51 66 77 Ashurst -24.8 44 62 61 81 Gowling WLG -25 53 62 78 78 Hill Dickinson -25.9 48.9 64.3 73.3 68.6 RPC -26 41 61 68 71 Simmons & Simmons -26.1 53 66 57 83 Blake Morgan -26.1 51 72 82 78 Simpson Millar -26.9 42.9 63.9 73 66.7 DAC Beachcroft -27.1 52.6 63.5 69.5 72.5 Winn Solicitors -27.4 55.2 68.7 62.7 80.9 Foot Anstey -27.5 54.1 73.9 82 78.2 Ince & Co -28 42.6 42.6 66.7 71.7 Wright Hassall -28.9 53 66 80 71 Digby Brown -29.1 49.2 70.3 82.8 71.9 Womble Bond Dickinson -29.3 52.3 68.6 82.6 78.8 Thorntons -29.7 63.8 85.3 94.7 87.4 Ashtons Legal -30.5 62.3 84.4 94.8 84.2 Birketts -30.6 60 71.8 86.2 87 Thrings -31 53 77 79 85 Brabners -31.4 50 63.2 72.1 79.4 Ward Hadaway -34.8 58 71 88 81 Wilkin Chapman -35.1 60 82.3 90.6 88.2 Cripps -36 50 66 86 80 Knights -36 44 69 79 77 Michelmores -38.1 53 72 85 81 Stephens Scown -39.3 50.8 71.7 95 93.3 Gateley -47.7 26.8 61.9 75.6 77.3