For women whose tenure in the legal profession is measured in decades, news of annual surveys reporting equity partner and compensation statistics feel like the movie "Groundhog Day," but without the happy ending. It is confounding that decades after women and men began graduating from law school in approximately equal numbers, women partners are still paid less than their male counterparts and their rate of achieving equity partner status has only increased in small increments.

It is also noteworthy that the reported percentages of women partners likely skew high. Many law firms do not respond to surveys seeking compensation and partnership data. It is likely that non-responders are firms that know that reporting their statistics would reveal them to be at a competitive disadvantage to their peer firms.

A recent article about one firm's higher percentage of women equity partners focused on the strength of its women's affinity group, quoting successful women partners describing its focus on career-building skills and a desire to replicate the old boys' network. Unfortunately, the article also disparaged working moms and generally ignored the critical opportunity that affinity groups have to identify and address the institutional barriers and unconscious biases that thwart careers of those who are not part of the majority culture.