The Law Society has recommended all law firms produce pay gap reports voluntarily and adopt the same system of calculating the figures, in an attempt to improve transparency around the issue.  

The recommendations feature in a document released today (6 November), which also urges firms to include at least three separate figures in their reports: one for all workforce (employees and partners combined); one for employees only; and one for partners only.

It also calls for firms to distinguish between equity and non-equity partner pay, publish a full-time equivalent total compensation gap based on a full financial year, report any equivalent partner bonus scheme that can be compared with the employee bonus scheme, and calculate based on the same weekly working hours for partners as for employees.

The document also urges smaller firms to produce pay gap reports voluntarily, despite the fact that firms with less than 250 employees are not currently required by government regulations to do so.

Law Society president Christina Blacklaws said: "Law firms can get ahead of the curve by assessing and tackling the range of pay gaps that may exist in their organisation

"Inequalities can be compounded by the intersection of protected characteristics like gender and ethnicity, so identifying these dynamics will help firms to create far more effective and sustainable equality action plans."

Law firms have come under increasing pressure in recent months to present a more accurate picture of their gender pay gap by including partners in their reporting.

Earlier this year, all five magic circle firms were asked to publicly reveal the full details of their gender pay gap by the parliamentary committee investigating the effectiveness of the new reporting requirements. The five firms have an overall pay gap of between 60% and 66% when using a mean average.

Last week, Macfarlanes became the latest major firm to include partners in its gender pay gap reporting.