As such, the association is urging the legal profession “to improve the advancement of women in the profession by committing to a number of concrete measures”.

The average percentage of female partners in any given firm sits at 24 per cent, showing “progress in this measure has stalled” when compared with 2012’s women partnership figures sitting at 23.3 per cent.

According to the WLANSW, this “is not surprising given there are still partner admission cohorts where no women are being promoted.”

Analysis showed “many cases” where firms had not completed “any of the key steps to address any gender pay gap in their organisations,” with 14 firms out of 68 not doing any remuneration analysis, while only 18 firms had reported pay metrics to the board.

It also showed a dire and gendered uptake of flexible work. While 33 per cent of female partners are working part-time, only three per cent of male partners are doing so.

“Men are not using parental leave to any great extent, despite firms offering paid leave, and men are not taking up formal part-time work arrangements,” the analysis continued.

WLANSW acting president Larissa Andelman said law firms are not taking the required steps to advance women into senior roles.

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“Many are clinging to an outdated and very traditional partnership model where full-time work and a long-hours culture are preventing women, and men who don’t want to work that way, from making it to the top,” she explained.

“This needs to change in order to unlock the true potential of all lawyers.”

The WLANSW has released a list of top recommendations to improve the advancement of women in the profession.

The first, that “firms should set targets for admission to partnership, based on a 40/40/20 model, with 40 per cent of any new admissions in any year being male, 40 per cent female, and the remaining 20 per cent varying depending on the candidate pool.”

If firms are unable to meet this in any year, for example, due to a merger, then a three-year rolling average should be adopted.

The WLANSW also recommends “all legal firms should undertake an annual gender pay analysis of employees and partners and take concrete steps to address any gaps found.”

“The results of that analysis should be reported to the board and partnership group, with progress tracked, and at a minimum, any like-for-like gaps eliminated, and analysis taken to understand the causes of those gaps developing.

It then suggested that firms publicly disclose remuneration in quartile bands, like is done within the UK’s pay disclosure model.

Lastly, firms should “adopt targets for men taking up parental leave and flexible work arrangements and develop strategies to actively encourage all employees and partners to share caring responsibilities.”

According to Ms Andelman, “firms that adopt the WLANSW recommendations will be taking positive steps to achieve a more gender balanced firm with equal opportunities for all.”

Noting that it is 100 years since women were first permitted to practice as lawyers in NSW due to the passage of the Women’s Legal Status Act 1918, she said “let’s not wait another 100 years until women and men share the benefits of working in this wonderful profession.”