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There are as many females as males in law school but the profession is male dominated. The females are being nudged out along the way by lack of work-life balance and the glass ceiling.

IT WAS a typical morning waiting for my turn in court when I struck up a conversation with a female lawyer.

“Ten years in practice” she answered. “It has not been easy, especially after the birth of my daughter and when I was made a partner. I love what I do and I am good at being a lawyer. However, it seems like I have to give up the profession soon. It’s difficult to juggle between the job and being a mother.”

Statements like this are not rare. The disproportionate number of women leaving the legal profession has led to fewer women becoming partners in law firms.

In September 2009, the Vancouver Sun reported that there has been a significant exodus of women from the legal profession in recent years.

Economist Bentley Coffey of Clemson University in South Caro-lina, stated that “despite the fact that women made up half of the students graduating from law schools in the past 15 years, the legal profession remains a male-dominated world”.

In our country, visits to private universities and college have shown that an almost equal number of females and males study law and enter the legal profession.

As both genders progress into the profession, there are fewer females holding leadership positions in large law firms.

According to the Malaysian Bar, out of 13,196 lawyers in 2009, only 6,279 were female.

Women leave the legal profession for numerous reasons. Family commitments and the lack of work-life balance are two.

The legal profession is very demanding and long and irregular hours are involved.

Most women in the profession have spouses who hold an equal if not higher responsibility for household income.

As both are subject to severe time constraints, that makes it difficult to find time for the family.

The Malaysian Bar reported that in 2009, only 1,709 lawyers make it past seven years in practice.

Female lawyers who are not married and who are seven to eight years into practice normally find that it is the right time to start a family.

This often results in women leaving the profession.

In a reversed situation, the majority of men in practice have spouses with a lesser commitment to their own careers, and therefore are in a position to provide time for family commitments.

However, having children isn’t the primary reason for women leaving the profession.

In fact, gender bias and traditional prejudices within the firm often underlie these reasons. More often than not, a glass ceiling is built against women in general, or against women who are pregnant or are mothers.

In a male-dominated profession, women are sometimes perceived as weak or incompetent.

A lack of equal advancement eventually leads to dissatisfied and unappreciated women leaving the profession.

Other reasons include having a spouse with a better paying job overseas.

The female lawyer would be at the crossroads and it ultimately becomes a choice of either her or her spouse’s career.

Usually, it’s the woman’s career that gets sacrificed.

So, how do we reduce the female legal brain drain?

For starters, firms could allow for part-time work arrangements.

In Australia, more than a quarter of female senior lawyers in large law firms have opted to work part-time. This allows them to juggle a career with family commitments.

A small number of law firms in Malaysia opt to provide services as counsel for a better work-life balance.

Another female lawyer I recently spoke to agreed that working part-time was a good arrangement.

It allowed her to spend time working while her children were at school in the morning and spend time with them in the afternoon.

In 2008, The Australian reported that the number of Australian lawyers working part-time increased only slightly from an average of 8.5% to 9.1%.

Two years later, The National Law Journal reported that the number of part-time lawyers in the US had increased from 5.6% to 5.9% in 2010.

Whatever the statistics, the reasons are usually the same – women who worked part-time may stay longer in the profession compared to those who worked full time, but are less likely to be made partners.

This is usually because part-time partnerships are just not a common option with many law firms.

Those who worked part-time also found it harder to retain clients compared with full-time lawyers although having the same quality of work as full-time lawyers.

Another option would be to introduce flexible working arrangements. It has been argued that flexibility is much more than just part-time work as not everyone wants to work part-time, but they do crave flexibility in their jobs.

Firms that offer balanced hour programmes benefit not only the female lawyers but also the firm by improving business development, productivity, and increasing clientele.

The rationale behind this is that keeping female lawyers offer clients with a broad diversity of lawyers. Further, it is extremely expensive for a firm to lose a trained lawyer.

However, for some firms, the idea of flexibility may not be practical, especially when there is a shortage of lawyers.

Law firms could also look into providing day care services. This allows working mothers to juggle work and family.

Other methods include raising awareness of and correcting bias within the firm. It is imperative to overhaul evaluations and improve partnership prospects for female lawyers.

A woman in society wants to explore her abilities in the legal profession, but has many hurdles to cross.

Over the years there have been countless studies and surveys done on this issue and the conclusions have not changed. They do not tell us anything new that we don’t already know.

Up till now, there has not been enough pressure from lawyers to create fundamental change within law firms.

Ultimately, change must happen before we lose some of our brightest talents in the profession.

> The writer is a young lawyer. Putik Lada, or pepper buds in Malay, captures the spirit and intention of this column – a platform for young lawyers to articulate their views and aspirations about the law, justice and a civil society. For more information about the young lawyers, please visit www.malaysianbar.org.my/nylc.