Fair Measure

Fellow Assessors:

The ABA's Commission on Women recently published its second edition of Fair Measure: Toward Effective Attorney Evaluations. In her forward to the second edition, Pamela Roberts notes that although women comprise roughly half of law school graduates and 30% of all lawyers, they represent only about 17% of partners in private firms. And it is reported regularly in the legal press (and obvious without seeing it in the paper) that progression once in the partnership is equally disappointing, with very few women partners attaining prominent and powerful positions in their firms.

Reviews of women attorneys at all levels must be fair and impartial, and it takes a very conscious effort to counteract the insidious effects of unconscious gender bias and "maternal wall" bias. Fair Measure provides a wonderfully user-friendly format, including a CD-ROM and a handy orientation that sends the reader to the relevant section based on the reader's role in the firm: firm administrator, managing partner, executive committee, or evaluating attorney.

What's that you say? Your firm doesn't have a gender bias problem because you hire equal numbers of women and men? You have just as many women advance to partner as men? Maybe so, but if that is really true, the following assessment will validate your view. If your firm thinks it is gender-bias free, it's probably just in denial. Gender bias is so ingrained in business settings that it takes a conscious effort to counteract, unless you are a firm of one. In that case, you are right, you won't need to do any self assessment. But remember, it is not just men who evaluate women in a biased manner, many supervising women demonstrate implicit bias against women, and particularly against women with children. The maternal wall is still standing quite intact.

So here is the Bias-Free Evaluation Checklist from Fair Measure:

1. Does top management communicate a commitment to a clearly defined and articulated evaluation system that is bias free?
2. Has the firm conducted any programs on gender bias?
3. Has the firm conducted any programs on how to avoid gender bias in the performance evaluation system?
4. Are partners held accountable for advancing the careers of women lawyers in the firm?
5. Does the firm's compensation system include financial incentives for training and supervision by senior associates and partners?
6. Are women visible in firm management committees and roles?
7. Have the firm's personnel policies been reviewed for potential gender bias?
8. Has the firm conducted an internal (and/or external)analysis of hiring compensation, retention, attrition, and advancement of attorneys with particular focus on different rates associated with gender?
9. Are male and female at all levels in the firm included in the design, implementation and monitoring of the evaluation process?
10. Does the firm have a written performance evaluation policy that sets forth the process and timelines?
11. If the answer above is yes, does the policy include a method for attorneys to raise concerns if the policy is not adhered to?
12. Has the firm discussed with its attorney evaluators proper techniques for conducting a performance evaluation?
13. Are recruitment criteria consistent with attorney evaluation criteria?
14. Are attorney evaluation criteria consistent with admission to partnership criteria?
15. Has the firm recently reviewed its evaluation form to ensure that the criteria and standards are consistent with the firm's strategic goals and gender fairness policies?
16. Are the performance objectives rated on the evaluation form specific, measurable, tied to position requirements, descriptive of the skills or experience the attorney must gain in order to achieve each objective, and measurable?
17. Is there a second tier of review (before appraisals are finalized and results communicated to the attorneys) that analyzes and compares all attorney evaluations for consistency, job-relatedness, and fairness?
18. If yes, does the review include a statistical analysis that correlates the gender of the attorney being evaluated with the overall scores or outcomes of the evaluation?
19. If yes, is the feedback provided through the evaluation process reviewed to ensure that it is: (1) specific, (2) factual, (3) tied to job requirements, and (4) based on concrete examples of behavior, performance and conduct rather than personality?
20. If the foregoing are all yes, is action taken to correct any concerns identified through the second-tier review?
21. Does the firm's current evaluation system include a self-analysis by the attorney being reviewed?
22. Does the firm's current evaluation system include an upward review system?
23. Are action plans developed for each attorney based on the results of the evaluations?
24. Does the firm's evaluation committee coordinate its policies and procedures with the assignment, mentoring, recruiting, promotion, and training functions in the firm?

So, how do you measure up?

Cynthia