Does this sound like discrimination?

[Groveparkmama]

I am a corporate lawyer working in the City. I was put up for promotion to Counsel last year (my firm uses this as a stepping stone to partner) and was unsuccessful. At the time of the promotions process I was pregnant. There was me and another girl in my team (who is childless and very open about never wanting children) who were up for promotion and it was very likely that only one of would get it. My boss said that he thought we were equally worthy of promotion and in the end the other girl was promoted. I do not begrudge her promotion at all, I think she is good at her job and have always considered us to be very equivalent. However, I know for a fact that my stats (in terms of hours billed and fees collected etc) were far better than the other girls’ stats. At the time, I did wonder whether the promotions panel promoted her knowing I would be going on maternity leave and then would “deal” with me later. There were no real reasons given for why I was not promoted - it just seemed like it was a bit of a numbers game.

I have been on maternity leave since the start of Feb, but was put back up for promotion again this year. Found out earlier today that I have once again not been successful. The reasons given for not being promoted were: (1) smaller promotions round this year due to Covid (fair enough) and (2) I have not been around most of this year. However, during the promotions process I spoke to a number of partners (including some partners on the promotions committee) and every single one of them told me that being on maternity leave would not impact my consideration for promotion. Something was mumbled about me not having been able to demonstrate reaching the goals set for me last year, but no goals were actually set - I was just told that there was nothing wrong with my application, but that it was just bad luck and to try again!

I am going back to work in a couple of weeks and now feel completely dispirited. My boss regularly tells me how great I am and that he couldn’t do without me, but it’s very hard to feel valued when I keep being passed over for promotion.

I just have this nagging feeling that my pregnancy and maternity leave have been unspoken setbacks for me. Potentially the fact that I now have a child will continue to be a setback when I go back to work. I will be the only woman in my team with children (some of the men have children, but they also have stay at home wives).

I just don’t know what to do now and part of me is thinking that maybe I need to move jobs and find somewhere where I will be better valued.

(2) I have not been around most of this year.

I just have this nagging feeling that my pregnancy and maternity leave have been unspoken setbacks for me.

Seems like it's pretty clear that the maternity leave is being used as an exact reason. You haven't been around for most of this year because you were on maternity leave.

I think even though it's against the law, in the real world there is a case of our of sight out of mind when it comes to internal promotions. If you've been wowing them the day before an interview their perception might be different than if they haven't seen you in 6 months. They simply forget how good someone is ! It's absolutely illegal but imo it happens all the time.

My firm wouldn't low someone bring on maternity to be a bar to promotion. In fact I reckon it would actually go in your favour as they would err on the side of caution. The reason you've been given sounds dubious. Question is whether you're willing to ask what they mean and push it. In an ideal world of course you would but I know it's not that easy in real life.

For the promotion during pregnancy, it's a very common situation where there are two people up for promotion but only one position. You say your chargeable hours and fees collected were better. What about winning new work? All firms are different but at my firm, provided you've met the minimum standards for chargeable hours etc they don't really matter on promotion. It's all about bringing the work in.

*let someone

@Nomaigai - in terms of bringing in new work, most of the clients I work for are large, very established clients of the firm (e.g. investment banks). So, generally speaking, I am part of a large group of people putting together pitches and it’s a real struggle for me to be assigned any credit for bringing a deal in as there’ll be a bun fight between senior partners over credits before I even get a look in. There are some slightly smaller clients that I work for who will often approach me in the first instance to let me know about new deals in the pipeline. Credit for those is split between me and the relevant partner. I guess I probably don’t have the strongest stats in terms of bringing in new work, but have been told that is more important at partner level than counsel level and it is something I addressed/explained in the submission I put forward. Also, the other girl that got promoted last year is in the same position to me so isn’t bringing in lots of new clients or deals.

I do think there is probably an element of discrimination in terms of what has happened to me, but of course it is very hard to prove. Also, I’m not sure how beneficial it will actually be to allege discrimination. Either I win my point, but the decisions have already been made and I will still have to wait for next year’s promotion round (and in the process probably not endeared myself to many people). Or I lose the point and make it very awkward for myself to continue working at the firm.

It’s just a really horrible situation and one that probably happens quite regularly, but very little is done about it.

There's probably an element of discrimination, however when looking to promote someone the partners may be looking at evidence of what someone has contributed to the business lately. Sadly if you've not been active you may not naturally be in their radar. What I would do is ask for a meeting with them once you are back, explain and demonstrate to them your commitment and ask for a promotion. If not agreeable, ask for targets, time lines and what they expect from you precisely in order to get to this next level. They may squirm a bit. Explain you do feel the process has been unfair due to your maternity leave.

The reality is alleging discrimination is (sadly) still probably a career killer, at least in that department. In your situation I'd be looking to move, although I would establish your working routine at your existing firm first. You could give it one more year and see if promotion happens but doing that the first year back after maternity will be hard as you're going to have a lot of adjustments to make.

Unfortunately you've chosen one of the areas of law where there aren't many senior women for a good reason - it is a very hard job to do with young children because of the unforgiving hours and clients. You need to find a way that you can still perform whilst having young children. Part of that is rock solid childcare and making sure that your partner does their fair share (or is a stay at home parent like the men in your team have). Part of that is it's just going to be hell for the early years. The alternative is to change speciality/firms/move in house and accept you're at a stage that means you can't prioritise your career. What you can't realistically expect to do is to be less productive than your colleagues and get promoted. Productive doesn't mean you are at you desk until the early hours but equally you can't work less hard just because you had a child and expect to be put ahead of the group coming up for promotion this year.

What Nomagai said. It seems pretty clear that there has been discrimination if they say that you being off on mat leave was one of their reasons not to promote you. However, raising it will not go down well.

How you are going to deal with the pressure and hours with a young child is a valid point though. I used to do a similar role and just couldn’t continue with young kids, like so many of my female peers. It’s shouldn’t be that way but unfortunately it still is. But while firms talk the talk when it comes to equality, they don’t walk the walk.

I was a banking lawyer with young kids (now in house but not because of taking a step back (refs above are actually to my previous firm)). It can certainly be done but it's hard work and a lot of mum guilt. I had a very supportive husband and a full time nanny but the early days (when I was doing my LPC part time, with two under two and 'proving myself' for a training contract nearly broke me). I don't know many couples who've managed both in this type of job if they actually want some form of family life. I can only think of one senior women I know who had kids and whose partner hasn't taken a step back. The thing is the default is it's the mother. It does not have to be unless that's what's right for your family.

Thanks for the replies. I think it’s almost certain I have been discriminated
against but, as others have pointed out, raising it as an issue will not be helpful.

That being said, I think I am going to request a meeting and ask for detailed reasons to be provided as to why I was not promoted. I find it hugely frustrating that both times I have been fobbed off with excuses about bad luck and it not being my time.

Longer term, I’m not sure what I will do. I will go back to my firm initially since, as pointed out above, now is not the time to change jobs. I need to establish a new working pattern and at least I’m going back to colleagues and clients I know. It’s definitely not the time to prove myself at another firm. Maybe moving to a smaller/boutique firm will be better. Moving in house is a possibility, but unfortunately I chose a specialism where in house roles in the UK are very rare.

I have a very supportive husband but he is an investment banker and earns more than me. Also his career will probably not last longer than another 10 years - people either move up to very senior positions in the bank or leave banking and go into consultancy / set up their own businesses / do something else completely.

I think I may just have to accept that for the next few years, while we have small children (we would like to have another child), my career is probably going to be put on hold. Hopefully, that means that in a few years it can then be my time to push my career forward, but I do worry that I will have missed the boat and be seen as a terminal associate.

I wish that early 20s me had thought about some of this - but of course you don’t! My firm makes a huge show of how women friendly they are, but the reality is that it’s the same as everywhere else. It shows in that there are very few examples of female partners with kids, who also have a husband with a demanding career. It makes me so sad and angry as I have ambition and I’m good at what I do, but until attitudes fundamentally change I am just one of a long line of women that is going to come up against this problem.

I had my partnership process delayed by a year when I was off in maternity leave. That wasn’t the official reason obviously but it was pretty clear. This was 20 years ago so it’s sad that we’ve not made progress in that time.

What I did, on my return, was have a very clear conversation with my sponsor partner and laid out my ambition and expectation and asked for his unqualified support. I think he was a little taken aback that I was so upfront but it meant that he was fully tied in to my success so as committed as me to achieving it. If he hadn’t felt able to give it then I would have had to leave I think but I decided I would rather know where I stood and if they weren’t going to promote me then I wasn’t necessarily going to put in the hours I did.

It might be worth considering if anything like that might work for you.

I think it's a bit unfair to blame the firm for the fact that there are few senior women with partners with high flying careers. How many senior men are there with partners with high flying careers? The reality is that it is hard to raise a family when both parents have high flying careers. If you want to earn the amounts you can earn at the senior levels in corporate law then the hours are going to be long and demanding. As I've said, it doesn't have to be the woman who takes the step back - that's choice. Or of course neither of you take a step back and get some very good childcare.

Don't assume in-house isn't an option just because you are in a specialised area (unless you want to stay in that area of course). The big companies don't necessarily care what area of law your background is in. What matters is how you think. That's the case for my current employer anyway. I see a lot of corporate lawyers hired in positions that don't touch on corporate work at all.

@Groveparkmama - totally agree that attitudes unfortunately haven’t changed. I think we need to recognise that the crazy working patterns of corporate law and banking are made for men (who tend to have women at home to take care of the dc and house) and we need patterns of work that work for everyone. That said I know someone on a four day week who just got made up to partner so things are moving on somewhat.