Study looks at gender disparities among lead trial lawyers
A study of the roles litigators play in federal trials shows that it depends on whether they are women or men. “First Chairs at Trial: More Women Need Seats at the Table,” is a report on this first-of-its-kind study that breaks down the roles of litigators along gender lines.
The study, sponsored by the American Bar Association Commission on Women in the Profession and the American Bar Foundation, examines cases filed in 2013 in the federal trial court in Chicago. It found that men made up 73 percent of the trial attorneys and 76 percent of the lead counsel in the civil cases studied, among other findings.
The study is based on a random sample of cases filed in 2013 in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, and provides data on the uneven level of participation by men and women lawyers in civil and criminal litigation. It identifies characteristics of cases, practice setting and more that impact the extent to which men are more likely to fill lead counsel roles, and notes the following disparities:
• In civil cases, men are three times more likely than women to appear as lead counsel and trial lawyers.
• Men are four times more likely to appear as trial lawyers in criminal cases.
• Women are less likely to be lead counsel in contract, tort, labor and intellectual property cases.
Suggested best practices are offered to address these findings, including ways that law schools, law firms, clients, judges and individual lawyers can increase gender diversity among trial lawyers.
The authors of “First Chairs at Trial: More Women Need Seats at the Table” are Stephanie A. Scharf, partner at Scharf Banks Marmor LLC, and Roberta D. Liebenberg, senior partner at Fine, Kaplan and Black RPC.
Legal Aid and Defender holds 17th-annual charity golf outing
Legal Aid and Defender Association, Inc. (LAD) held its 17th annual charity golf outing on June 19 at TPC Michigan in Dearborn.
The winning men’s foursome in the best-ball tournament shot a 12-under-par score of 60. Members were Michael Carter of Farmington Hills, Maurice Cochran of Detroit, Michael Fleming of Southfield and Darrell Parks of Detroit.
The winning women’s foursome shot a 2-under-par score of 70. Members were Joanne Dawley of Northville, Naomi Jenkins of Detroit, Saundra Landry of Farmington Hills and Geri Tigner of Detroit.
Sommer Woods of Detroit won the women’s longest drive contest on hole 3, Ricardo Jackson of West Bloomfield the men’s longest drive contest on hole 13.
Hayden Archer of Southfield won the closest-to-the-pin contest with a shot 1 foot, 3 inches from the pin on hole 4.
Net proceeds from the outing will help LAD provide legal services to low-income people in metropolitan Detroit.
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