Alternative legal services provider Elevate has revealed its female employees were paid more on average than men last year.

The female employee headcount was paid 3% more on average than the total headcount for men, and the firm's management said it is indicative of its commitment to diversity.Chairman Liam Brown said when the company first started in 2011 with a core team of 17, that group almost consisted of a 50/50 gender split, with about a quarter identifying as LGBT.

Brown said this team make-up was not by design but likely linked to the attraction of the disruptive nature of the firm as a new market player.

He told Legal Week: "By definition, people who are likely to leave big corporate law departments for an alternative are likely not to be your classic old-school law types."

Currently, the ratio of the firm's board and global leadership team is 40:60 in favour of men, although the global leadership has a slightly higher male content – 63% compared with 37% women.

Within its global employee force too there are fewer women (43%), but this varies  depending on jurisdiction.

In Europe (which includes the UK), the US and the Philipines, Elevate employs more women.

But in its India and Australia bases the pendulum swings far further towards men in terms of headcount – 71:29 in the former and 80:20 in the latter.

However, these figures do not include the company's latest acquisitions of a legal staffing firm in the UK, a legal department consulting business in Hong Kong, and an Elevate-like consulting, technology and managed services business known as Yerra Solutions.

Brown said: "In any areas where there is a pay gap, sometimes that's a gender gap and sometimes that's a location gap. I am not opposed to setting goals if we identify gaps in the business, and there are some areas where we can improve."