The Examiners: Richard Chesley on the Restructuring Gender Gap

What factors can make restructuring a difficult field in which to balance work and family obligations, and what should professional firms be doing to help employees? 

The statistics that measure the gender gap in the legal profession are well-known: While women comprise nearly 50% of law school enrollment and 44% of the seventh-year law firm associate class, they constitute only 15% of firm equity partners. The numbers within investment banking are worse; outside the United States, the statistics for professionals are still bleaker. If there was ever a doubt that this pervasive gender gap also exists within the restructuring practice, one need look no further than the courtrooms and boardrooms where corporate restructurings occur.

As for the root causes of the disparity within the restructuring practice, blame is often placed upon the urgent nature of the industry, which at times resembles an emergency room. The practice, it’s claimed, places too great a strain on the work-life balance, which more negatively impacts women. This is unfair. While it is true that the restructuring practice is highly demanding and can be chaotic, the same can be said for virtually any practice in today’s 24/7 environment. Moreover, this argument marginalizes the growing number of quality female restructuring professionals within law and advisory firms and neglects the countless professionals, male and female, who work hard to balance family and community commitments with those of their profession.

The gap in the restructuring practice persists nonetheless. What can we do to bridge the divide? First, the array of both firm and practice group mentoring and sponsorship programs must provide women with practical exposure and access to all aspects of the restructuring practice. There are opportunities for both male and female leaders to support this. Men in powerful and influential positions can use their political capital to help open doors and create opportunities for, and with, their female protégés. And as women attain more high-level positions throughout the restructuring community (women hold more than 30% of the seats on the bankruptcy bench, for example) and increase their representation on public company boards of directors and in the C-suite, including the office of the general counsel, mentoring more junior women can help provide meaningful opportunities for advancement.

Also, while most professional service firms, including those in the restructuring practice, have put in place varying types of supportive infrastructure for women, much more can and should be done to bolster and expand these offerings for everyone, regardless of gender. Workshops on work-life balance, advantageous, flexible work schedules and parenting leave policies are beneficial to all professionals, men and women alike. And when law firms enthusiastically endorse and implement such practices without stigma, they are much more likely to retain lawyers that otherwise may choose to leave a firm, or the profession, because of an inability to continue working while maintaining a good quality of life.

Allowing all restructuring professionals the opportunity to lead a more balanced life can have enormous benefits: reducing attrition, lowering costs of hiring and training lawyers and maintaining relationships, which ultimately has a positive impact on the profession and on client service.

Richard A. Chesley is the co-chair of DLA Piper’s restructuring practice, focusing on bankruptcy transactions both in the United States and internationally. He is based in Chicago.