Macfarlanes publishes gender pay gap data for 2018

London-based Macfarlanes LLP has released its gender pay gap data, becoming only the second City law firm to include partners’ pay in its results after Allen & Overy LLP revealed its partner gender pay gap data in September.

Every UK employer with more than 250 staff is now required to report annually on gender pay gap data. Macfarlanes’ mean statutory employee gender pay gap is 16.8%. Its median is 34.6%. Including partners, the mean overall firm’s pay gap is 75.2% with a median of 49.1%.

The report states that this disparity is due to “a female-heavy secretarial/administration population” and claims that removing this population from the data leaves a mean and median pay gap of only 2.6% (not including partners). The firm’s 85 partners are split 73 male and 12 female, and the mean partner pay gap is 54.5% with a median of 73.3% which is reflective of the significantly higher number of senior male partners.

Julian Howard, managing partner, writes in the report: “We are committed to creating an inclusive workplace based on a culture of openness and mutual respect, where everyone is able to reach their full career potential. We are also serious about reducing our gender pay gap where possible.

“Last year we announced that addressing the gender imbalance in senior roles (particularly in the partnership) is a strategic priority for the firm and, as a result, the firm has implemented a number of important initiatives.”

You can read the full report here.