In the 13th iteration of its family-friendly Top 10 list, Yale Law Women has expanded its scope to recognize those firms trying to make inroads to close the gender gap in Big Law.

“Breaking out the two lists is an effort to recognize that gender equity and family friendliness are not the exact same thing,” said Megan Mumford, a first-year law student at Yale and co-chair of its survey committee.

After feedback last year from alumni that an exclusively family-friendly report focused on issues such as child care helped perpetuate gender stereotypes, Mumford said that Yale decided to create two separate lists with accompanying data.

“The Top 10 Female and Family Friendly Firms Lists of 2018” released by Yale Law Women, an organization dedicated to the advancement of women at the school and within the legal profession, surveyed around 50 firms in Big Law and examined their policies related to family leave and gender equality. The responses were then weighted against surveys of both men and women alumni from Yale currently working at those firms.

Topping the newly created “female-friendly firms,” listed in alphabetical order, are: Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer; Bryan Cave (now known as Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner); Hogan Lovells; Holland & Knight; Katten Muchin Rosenman; Littler Mendelson; McDermott Will & Emery; Morgan, Lewis & Bockius; Morrison & Foerster; and Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe.

Many of those firms also topped the family-friendly list, which includes: Bryan Cave; Fish & Richardson; Hunton & Williams (now called Hunton Andrews Kurth); McDermott; Morgan Lewis; Orrick; Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman; Reed Smith; Vinson & Elkins; and Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr.

To calculate the gender equity among the firms, the Yale Law Women report looked at gender equity among a firm's hiring levels and the representation of women in leadership and promotions, as well as a firm's commitment to equitable training and mentorship.

Among the nearly 50 firms surveyed, 46 percent of associates were women, 21 percent of equity partners were women and 36 percent of lawyers promoted to equity partner last year were women.

Only three firms out of 50 had at least 25 percent women equity partners: Littler Mendelson, Ropes & Gray and Wilmer. Hunton & Williams, Morrison & Foerster, Perkins Coie, Reed Smith and Squire Patton Boggs were the only firms surveyed that have an executive committee composed of at least 35 percent female representation.

In addition to looking at a firm's policies, the Yale Law Women report also looked at the gender breakdown of policy usage.

“For example, with paid leave, if only women are taking [it] then that's not necessarily a sign of gender equity, even though you have the family-friendly policy,” Mumford said.

Only 32 percent of male lawyers in the firms' surveyed took some amount of caregiver leave. Firms with the highest percentage of men taking child care leave include Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft; Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo; and Morgan Lewis.

The data and report from Yale Law Women is just the latest to cast a spotlight on gender equity within the legal profession, although some legal market observers have expressed skepticism about the value of various surveys and rankings designed to measure success.

Another survey released this week by Acritas Research Ltd. found that the mean average pay for male equity partners was 27 percent higher than that of female equity partners. The report by the market research consultancy also found that women were less likely to be selected as lead partners on matters, a startling trend that directly affects female compensation, often due to an emphasis on origination credits.