Sometimes I think there must an entire industry banking on women being clueless. Or just stupid. How else to account for the proliferation of those lists that name the "best" law firms or workplaces for women?

The latest is WomenInc. Magazine's 2019 top 100 law firms for women. The magazine states that these firms were picked based on their "inclusive advancement, equity and policy for women."

First of all, holy moly! Who knew that there are now 100 major firms deserving of such an honor? Last I checked, women are underrepresented in just about every measure at most firms. The firms on the list appear to be Am Law 200 firms—which means that the chosen ones are in the top 50%. Whoopee!

So which firms are on the list? Well, this gets a bit interesting. What jumped out was Jones Day, a firm that's facing two high-profile lawsuits for gender discrimination: one brought by six of its female lawyers and another by former Supreme Court clerks Mark Savignac and Julia Sheketoff, a married couple who worked at the firm.

Even assuming for the sake of argument that those lawsuits are meritless, it's still hard to argue that a firm like Jones Day belongs on any "best" list for women.

As every Big Law watcher knows, Jones Day operates as a black box on compensation and equity partner matters, meaning no one knows how many female partners have equity or how much they make. Ironically, though, WomenInc. makes a big fuss that it focused on women's equity status in its selection: "These law firms have purposefully worked to foster inclusion by promoting women attorneys into equity partnership ranks."

And what firms didn't make the list? Debevoise & Plimpton; Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer; Littler Mendelson; and Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr were all conspicuously absent, despite their progressive reputations on the gender front.

All this raises the question of how firms get on these list. (We've asked WomenInc. for comment but have not heard back.)

According to WomenInc.'s press release, the publication used "objective criteria" based on "a demonstrated track record of commitment through holistic actions." Beside looking at how firms hire, retain and promote women, the publication considered work-life balance policies like "parental leaves, flexible work schedules and affinity employee resource groups."