On November 18, 2024, Law360 quoted Elizabeth Manno on a recent report the National Association of Women Lawyers (NAWL) released highlighting the experiences of female attorneys in both law firm and in-house positions. According to the article, NAWL has been surveying female law firm attorneys for more than a decade but explored female in-house attorneys’ roles for the first time this year.
Manno, who co-chairs the group’s research committee, told Law360 “that the results surprised the researchers.” “We wanted to expand to in-house counsel because there's this sort of anecdotal suggestion, a sort of pervasive view, that it is better for women lawyers and other underrepresented groups in-house,” she explained. “So we wanted to test that.”
“It wasn't like this landslide [where] in-house is better on everything,” Manno noted. “My takeaway was there was a lot that in-house legal departments are doing right as far as inclusion and retaining talent.”
Law360 reported that organization's in-house research will likely continue. Manno shared that NAWL will use the data to understand what areas are right for more exploration, “because our goal is to understand some of the best practices that will help improve the experience for women and underrepresented groups” at both law firms and corporations.
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