What do clients want? As a lawyer, you are doing something wrong if you can't go a long way towards answering this question. But standing in a room full of senior City partners and general counsel debating the lack of diversity in the legal profession last week, it became apparent quite how nuanced the answer can be.

The event – organised by Obelisk, a commercial venture aimed at getting senior City lawyers back into work, particularly after motherhood – looked to address the main issues hindering the rise of women to the top of leading law firms.

For as much as the in-house community was quick to denigrate their less diverse private practice colleagues, law firm representatives countered that clients are doing little to help the situation: what clients say they want and what clients actually want are two different things.

GCs – accustomed to the working environment of large corporates – say they are all in favour of flexible working if it helps retain female lawyers. And they add that there are few occasions where it actually makes a difference which particular lawyer is handling a matter, or whether they are even in the office. Or so they say. 

Yet partners – particularly those in transactional practices – believe that, despite the rhetoric, this is just not true. When push comes to shove, companies want their regular adviser, and they want them now. Indeed, senior female corporate lawyers were among the loudest critics at the event, arguing that flexible working on the terms in-house teams impose just doesn't work.

But while each side is quick to blame the other, many of the problems boil down to the fundamental dynamics of the legal profession. While there is so much emphasis placed on chargeable hours and an 'up or out' culture to make partnership, it is unsurprising there is so little take-up of flexible working practices. There remains too much focus on input rather than outcomes. And clients have to take some of the blame too. Although we have seen some rare examples of law firms choosing not to pitch for panels because the terms are too arduous and the rates too low, it is still clients who call the shots – and, especially in the wake of the downturn, they are becoming more demanding still.

It is increasingly common for in-house legal teams – particularly at financial institutions; JPMorgan being one of the first – to ask law firms for diversity data as part of panel pitches. But speaking to a lawyer at one large bank, it is clear this commitment doesn't run deep. If the price was right, he said, the firm would win a place – no matter their diversity record.