Sexism row erupts over ranking of Britain's top lawyers

A sexism row has broken out over the ranking of Britain's top lawyers as one man has refused to have his name included in a protest at the lack of women who made the list.

Chambers & Partners, which is considered the leading authority on the who the best solicitors are, was criticised by Chris Arnold, a partner at a leading City law firm, for overlooking “brilliant and inspirational women".

In an open letter to the editors Mr Arnold, a capital markets and derivative lawyer, asked that his name be removed from the rankings until at least 25 percent of the list was female.

The legal profession has been beset by allegations of sexism and whilst there is a high number of women joining, they are underrepresented in the upper echelons of the profession.

The most recent statistics show that whilst 59 per cent of solicitors are women they make up just a third of partners in law firms in England and Wales.

Describing the latest rankings as “completely unrepresentative of the extraordinary female talent in this sector”, Mr Arnold said: “One of the root causes of inequality in the legal sector is a lack of diverse role models. Third party recognition is a critical element impacting a lawyer’s perceived success.”

In the derivatives rankings Chambers & Partners have named 16 men but only one woman, Emma Dwyer of Allen & Overy.

Mr Arnold said that there were at least 6 other women in the field who should have made the list and it was not the only category in which women were underrepresented, pointing out: “Only five of the 33 ranked lawyers in securitisation and six of the 41 ranked lawyers in debt capital markets are women”.

The LinkedIn post has received tens of thousands of views, more than 2,000 likes and hundreds of comments, most praising Mr Arnold for his stance.

Dee Sekar, Head of Diversity & Inclusion at Chambers and Partners, was one of those to comment and offered to meet the lawyer and discuss his concerns.

Ms Sekar said: “As a corporate lawyer myself (I left the profession largely because of the lack of inclusive firm cultures, lack of senior visible diverse role models etc), I personally understand the importance of inclusion in the legal profession and Chambers, as a business, is doing everything we can to ensure we are an inclusive organisation that helps further the advancement of inclusion across the profession globally.”

The firm released a statement saying that their rankings represented diversity in the profession as a whole.

One of the steps that Chambers & Partners has taken is to rebrand the leading category of someone who is “pivotal” to a firm’s success from “Senior Statesmen” to “Senior Statespeople”.

However, Mr Arnold argues that it “does not make up for it (especially when they are all men). Women lawyer role models should be recognised”.

The Solicitors’ Regulation Authority (SRA) has said that it is committed to improving diversity in the profession, saying that is important that the most talented people take the jobs and that a range of views ensures the effective administration of justice.

It is an issue which resonates throughout the legal profession, where just 29 per cent of court judges are women and in the Supreme Court, the UK’s highest court, just three out of 12 justices are female.