Women in the World's Legal Professions

Women lawyers,less than a century ago still almost a contradiction in terms, have come to stay. Who are they? Where are they? What impact have they had on the profession that had for so long been a bastion of male domination? These are key questions asked in this first comprehensive study of women in the world’s legal professions. Answers are based on both quantitative and qualitative analyses, using a variety of conceptual frameworks. 26 contributions by 25 authors present and evaluate the situation of women in the legal profession in both common and civil law countries in the developed world. 15 countries from four continents are covered: the United States of America, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, England, Israel, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Finland, France, Italy, Brazil, Korea, and Japan. The focus ranges from judges and public prosecutors, to law professors, lawyers (attorneys), notaries and company lawyers. National differences are clearly in evidence, but so are common features cutting across national boundaries. Experience of glass ceilings and revolving doors is as widespread and as real as success stories of women lawyers pursuing their own projects.