Female partners remain minority at US firms

While partner numbers at US firms have soared by around 25 per cent since the credit crisis in 2008, gender diversity remains a thorn in the side of many international firms in London.

In 2013, women represented just 17.6 per cent of UK partners across the top 30 international firms in London.

As revealed in the top 30 international firms in London rankings for 2012, US firms have been making big investments via the lateral hiring market. This method of bulking up in the City was identified as one of the challenges to gender diversity, with a number of sources pointing to how male-dominated the lateral hiring market is.

A year on, there’s little sign that attitudes have shifted. In total, 63 per cent of the top 30 had five or fewer female partners during 2013, with the UK offices of Davis Polk & Wardwell and Simpson Thacher both running an all-male partnership during the year.

—The lawyer, UK