When taking office as ABA president last summer, Hilarie Bass announced a year-long study of why the proportion of female lawyers in the ranks of senior lawyers does not match the proportion in law school or in the beginning years in the profession. Great progress has been made in encouraging women to enter the law, at or above their representation in the population; they just continue to leave earlier than their male counterparts.

So what has happened in the intervening months? There were forums at Harvard and Northwestern, focus groups, statistical studies, and a panel discussion at the ABA Convention in Chicago in early August 2018. A more formal written report is promised for September.

That differences remain is shown by several statistical comparisons discussed in Chicago:

• 81 percent of women say they were mistaken for a lower-level employee, but this didn't happen to men.
• 60 percent of women said they'd left firms because of care-taking commitments, compared to 46 percent of men.
• 54 percent of women said they were responsible for arranging child care, as opposed to 1 percent of men.
• 39 percent of women said the task of cooking meals fell on their shoulders, compared to 11 percent of men.
• 34 percent of women say they leave work for children's needs, versus 5 percent of men.

Another set of numbers is particularly interesting, though not wholly surprising. While law firm managers were fairly optimistic as to several metrics—for example, how much attention is given to the issue and whether progress is being made—women were markedly less so.

• Firm leaders are active advocates (82 percent of managing partners agreed vs. 61 percent of women lawyers).
• The firm promotes women into leadership (75 percent of managing partners agreed vs. 54 percent of women lawyers).
• Gender diversity is a priority (79 percent of managing partners agreed vs. 54 percent of women lawyers).
• The firm promotes women into equity (71 percent of managing partners agreed vs. 47 percent of women lawyers).
• The firm has been successful at retention (64 percent of managing partners agreed vs. 46 percent of women lawyers).

A particularly troublesome example of why women leave is that, compared to their male colleagues, women feel they are not given recognition for their successes. This leads to lower job satisfaction and likely is emblematic of continuing biases.

These statistics mirror the findings in a recent comparable report by the International Bar Association.

The situation warrants further serious attention. We look for the full report in September and a healthy debate, both public and in the halls of corporate, government and private law offices, of steps to be taken.