Better Balance at the Top?

At Ashurst’s most recent annual partner conference, held in Madrid last October, senior partner Charlie Geffen announced “aspirational” plans for women to fill one quarter of all firmwide management positions by 2014. The ambitious quota—the first ever set by a top U.K. law firm in relation to women in management—was the latest step in Geffen’s campaign to improve diversity and gender equality at the firm. Around 14 percent of Ashurst’s management posts are currently filled by women.

It didn’t take long for the new policy to yield results. Shortly after the conference, Madrid real estate head Cristina Calvo was appointed as Ashurst’s first-ever female board member, replacing former real estate funds head David Evans, who left the firm in October to manage the London office of Goodwin Procter. Calvo triumphed in an all-female contest against London real estate finance partner Ruth Harris; energy, transport and infrastructure partner Jan Sanders; and leveraged finance partner Helen Burton, who also chairs the firm’s Diversity Committee.