The New York State Bar Association House of Delegates voted on Saturday to overwhelmingly approve a task force report finding that major gender disparities persist in courtrooms all across the state.

The study, which is based on questionnaires from New York state and federal judges who documented the gender of lawyers who spoke and appeared before them during a four-month period, built on a similar effort in 2017 that found women attorneys to be significantly underrepresented as lead counsel in criminal and civil litigation.

According to the new study, the proportion of women acting in leading courtroom roles rose slightly to 25.3% in 2020, compared with 24.7% three years earlier, a number that the NYSBA called a "disappointingly tiny" improvement that revealed "little progress" in the fight to close the gender gap.

"At this crucial moment in our history as a state and a nation, as we struggle to overcome long-standing and deep-seated systemic inequalities, we must recognize that true progress lifts everyone up," NYSBA President Scott M. Karson said in a statement. "As a profession, we must—and we will—do better to ensure that all attorneys, regardless of their race, gender, and/or sexual orientation have the opportunity to excel and succeed."

The report also outlined recommendations for improving gender equity across the legal profession, including programs to support, train and advance female attorneys in private firms. It also recommended a "continued focus" on diversity in retaining outside counsel by in-house corporate legal departments, as well as ongoing efforts by the judiciary to encourage more women in courtroom leadership roles.

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