A recent survey of 1,771 senior in-house counsel undertaken by UK-based Acritas Research has found that, on average, women in senior in-house legal positions are still ‘consistently’ being paid less than their male counterparts. This is unlikely to come as a surprise to anyone with an eye on in-house diversity. More interesting than what the survey uncovered about how much in-house leaders earn, however, was what it discovered about how they spend.
Women more ‘cost-conscious’
Men in senior in-house roles don’t just earn more – they spend more. According to Acritas’ data, male in-house leaders across the globe are planning to increase their international spend by an average of 21 per cent over the next 12 months, while female in-house leaders believe that an average increase of just 14 per cent will be sufficient. As far as overall legal budgets go, men in senior in-house roles are planning an average 12 per cent expansion over the next year. Women, on the other hand, aren’t planning to up their budgets at all.
Values gap
Male and female GCs seem to differ not only in how much they’re willing to spend on outside counsel, but also on the characteristics they value in a potential partner firm. Quality and specialised expertise were top of the list for both male and female respondents, but women also favoured commerciality, responsiveness, efficiency, client focus and understanding of the business as key crucial factors when looking to purchase outside legal support. Men, on the other hand, listed results, relationships and reputation as top priorities.
Acritas’ full Diversity Report 2016 can be downloaded here.
Sources: Corporate Counsel; Acritas
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