The Legal Intelligencer reports on a survey of law firm partner compensation among men and women, and I was struck by this line:
Some good news out of the survey was that the gap in compensation between male and female partners shrunk in 2009. But the report also pointed out that the smaller gap is likely an overall effect of reduced compensation at the equity level generally. Between 2008 and 2009, the median pay fell for all positions regardless of gender and was sharpest for equity partners. Pay for the equity partner category in 2009 fell below 87 percent of the median compensation in 2008.
I suppose it would be even better news if everyone were fired, thus entirely eliminating the gap in compensation between male and female lawyers.