When it comes to keeping women in law, role models matter. However, stats compiled by Legal Week last week for a series of articles to coincide with International Women's Day highlight just how hard it is for women to find such role models in their firms.

While more than 50% of most firms' trainee intakes are female, this balance has tailed off markedly by partnership and, as a consequence, when it comes to leadership positions at either a firmwide or practice level.

Our main feature found only one in six practice leadership roles within the UK's top 15 law firms are held by women. This falls to just 13% when looking at the core corporate, finance and disputes practices.

But the lack of female law firm leaders isn't just the result of the dwindling numbers still working in private practice by the point at which they should be going for such roles. From a lack of self-belief, to not being open about career aspirations, we've compiled a list of what's holding women back, with some top tips for success from those who've made it.

There is no quick-fix solution to the problem, but a number of high profile female lawyers from firms including Hogan Lovells, CMS and BLP gave us their insight on how to change things for future generations of women – click on the links below for more:

 And here's the best of the rest of Legal Week last week: