Gender balance

Allen & Overy is seeking to improve how its lawyers talk about female barristers when recommending them to legal directories, by monitoring how "gendered language" is used.

The issue was raised at an event the firm held with legal chambers last month, regarding gendered language being used in its lawyers' quotes about barristers to industry legal directories.

A&O intellectual property global head David Stone said the firm is hoping to implement a project monitoring the language used about female barristers, in order to examine how men and women are talked about differently.

He said: "Solicitors are quite frequently asked to quote about barristers in the directories, and we found that often different language is used to describe both. Women are more likely to be described as 'good with the paperwork' or 'dependable', whereas men are described as 'a firecracker' or 'good at thinking on his feet'."

Separately, Stone also said A&O is encouraging the barristers it works with to be more open about their flexible working arrangements, to ensure that those who have non-traditional working hours are not being sidelined.

Stone added that the firm has also spoken with chambers about increasing the number of women on their lists of recommended barristers for A&O clients to use.

Fellow Magic Circle firm Clifford Chance is also looking at how it works with female barristers, and is set to introduce a policy that will ensure its lawyers put at least one female barrister forward for clients to consider instructing on their case.