Progress, as we all know, is slow. Back in the 1600s, Shakespeare depicted women as weak, writing the now-famous phrase, "Frailty, thy name is woman!" More than 350 years later, Mao promoted the idea that women could be an economic force, declaring that "Women hold up half the sky." Half a century after that, it appears that even the world's largest and mightiest law firms may finally be taking women seriously.

I'm Lisa Shuchman, bringing you this week's edition of The Global Lawyer—our weekly summary of the major news and trends affecting the global legal industry.