Great article. In the same way that I would prove a Civil Rights case I would prove discrimination in law firms. Partners who evaluate those unlike themselves hold others to a higher standard. The standard is what the partner himself is capable of on his best day. When it is someone from their own background, they forgive mistakes and make excuses. The standard then is what the partner would have done as a young associate and what he would want to be forgiven for. It is true that women and minorities have to perform at a higher standard than their white male counterparts. If you check Martindale Hubbel ratings for early participants, you will find women and blacks getting many more B ratings than white males. We called it the "B for Bitch" rating for women litigators. This has been explained to me as follows: when a man makes a mistake, men say "everyone makes a mistake now and then." When a woman or a minority makes a mistake or uses a condescending attitude towards a man: "never use that woman again." EVER. When it came to compensation committees, I was told that I did not get the automatic raise like the men did because they were "raising a family" or "just starting out and should not be penalized." The "penalty" he was talking about was the fact that the men were entitled to be paid more than me. My hours and my reviews were higher as well as my billings from my own clients. I was also the only partner (out of 45) who had to pay small fines for making mistakes and turning in late timesheets. The male partners who were late were "excused." On my evaluations in the years before I made partner I received the following remarks: "lacks commitment to the practice of law (for having babies and taking maternity leave)." "Lacks judgment." No examples were given. These areas brought down my overall scores.

I don't think the bias is entirely unconscious. The other comments about being criticized for standing up for oneself definitely resonate. I'm sure there's an even more pronounced bias against black women lawyers.

I'd also point out something quite questionable about the study. The study purposely only studied white and Asians at the firm. No explanation for this is given. I suspect that the same type of feelings that cause white male supervisors to provide over-glowing comments about younger white women does not extend to younger black women since white guys don't find black women as attractive.

The study authors, a female and someone using initials as their first name and therefore likely another female, probably didn't like the way the study turned out when people of all races were considered. Of course, people of all races SHOULD have been considered.

To avoid lawsuits, reviewers made nice comments about (inevitably) inferior female attorneys. One of the strongest dynamics in all of humankind is that older guys have a kind and protective attitude toward younger women.

Its the narratives that were overstated in favor of the women, not that the women were cheated out of numerical points.

I often had the impression that men were much more inclined to fight for a higher rating in reviews. It may just be anecdotal, but I frequently found myself annoyed upfront already, knowing they'd want a better score. I bet that some managers would give in and hand out higher numerical values to men right away, just to avoid the hassle of having to argue. The written assessment would simply remain the same. I guess it might not even happen deliberately, but subconsciously. Unfair nonetheless, and something every manager should be considering while writing their reviews and assessments.

Having been a practicing attorney for the past 27 years, and having worked in various firms, I'm not at all surprised by the study -- it confirms my personal experience. So, I have just started my own practice with my husband, which I think will be the perfect solution.

It's not just law....I've gotten the "aggressive and arrogant" label in government relations and downgraded on evals for it.

I was an Army JAG on active duty back in the 1980's and women were only about 10% of the force in those days. "They" always advised boards considering folks for promotion that women and minorities tended to get rated lower that white men and the board should take that into account when scoring the files. I am so not surprised big firm law hasn't figured that out they hate women. I was there too I ought to know.

I agree with the author's observations and readers' comments, based on my 22 years of experience in law. So now that there is no shortage of well-trained, well-connected, and affluent women lawyers - why wait for men to promote you? Start your own firm!

Excellent post. This is the hidden discrimination that needs to be taken seriously and addressed by the firms. The evaluators (i.e., senior attorneys) need to be educated - they too often transmit their social biases into an evaluation and would be stunned to hear that they are using different standards and language for the women.

My boss called me aggressive because he said I stand up for myself and that its a personality flaw.

My experience has been that men appear to have an "instant credibility" -- they are deemed competent until they demonstrate that they are not, whereas women are assumed incompetent until they prove that they are. Unfortunately, I have found that women are simply not given the same opportunities to prove themselves that men are. At my current boutique firm, the majority shareholder refuses to travel with female associates, hence we are not introduced to clients like the male associates are.

Geez, who do you think writes those reviews? Blind performance reviews are at best uninformative and at worst are invitations to a consequence-free cheap-shot. That firms rely on them (and maybe even believe what they say) them would, like so much about law firm management, be funny if it weren't so stupid. I guaranty that if reviews were signed and published they would be far fairer.

This is,hopefully, our last frontier. We now have the opportununity to work, but we need the same support that men get so we can also succeed at work while having balanced lives. If men have historically been able to succed while having family lives, playing golf, and having affairs, women should be able to thrive as well without needing to work any harder than men always have. They just need to be treated fairly now for their true contributions.

Great article Vivia - unfortunately, no suprises there! :o)