The gender pay gap for law firm partners narrowed in 2019 even as men’s earnings continued to outpace women, according to Major Lindsey & Africa’s (MLA's) sixth biennial Partner Compensation Survey.

While male partners on average earned $1.13m last year compared to $784,000 for their female counterparts, women partners saw their compensation rise by 15%, double the increase for men at 7%. Overall, partner compensation rose 10% in 2019 to $1.05m from $962,000 a year earlier, the survey, which was based on the responses of 1,271 partners across the US, showed.

Jeffrey Lowe, global practice leader of MLA’s law firm practice, said: “Though all of our biennial surveys have shown significant disparities between men’s and women’s compensation, we are encouraged to see the gender pay gap shrink as the legal industry takes more proactive steps to address it. We are hopeful that the gender pay gap will receive even greater attention by law firm leaders.”

The survey, which was launched in July and conducted by Acritas, found that more than two-thirds of respondents (70%) said they expect Covid-19 to have some impact on their 2020 compensation, despite the legal industry fairing better than initially feared at the start of the pandemic. Lowe says those Covid-related compensation impacts could affect women more than men.

He said: “Like many in the industry, we are concerned about the short-term and long-term effects that Covid-19 will have on female partners’ compensation, as more and more studies note with alarm the disproportionate impact of the pandemic on women, both in and out of the workplace.”

According to a separate flash survey conducted by MLA in November, however, there were signs those concerns may have receded, with almost two-thirds of respondents saying they do not expect their 2020 compensation to be impacted—albeit from a smaller sample of partners. Of those firms that had imposed austerity measures in response to the crisis, 43% of the flash survey respondents said they had completely reversed those measures, with a further 41% saying they had begun partially rolling them back.

Lowe said: “It’s encouraging to see that many law firms were able to quickly respond to the challenges brought on by Covid-19 and adapt their strategies to end 2020 on a successful note.”

A report published by Thomson Reuters last month found that the setting up of women-only networks and reverse mentoring programmes may be unwittingly undermining gender diversity within law firms.

In February, the Move the Needle Fund, which will spend more than $5m exploring how to improve diversity and inclusivity in the legal profession over a five-year period, completed its line-up of five US law firm investors.