Law firms urged to recruit women

Many female legal professionals are talented members of staff and law firms must do more to encourage these women to join their company.

Sarah Veal, Head of Equality and Employment Rights at the Trades Union Congress, has suggested that fewer females tend to enter the legal profession and those who do can fall behind the progress of their male counterparts when they take time off to have children.

'The legal profession is eventually going to rob itself of a lot of talent if it doesn't accommodate people who need to work rather differently to the old-fashioned nine to five ways that we all got used to,' she said.

These comments follow research from the Law Society recently which reported that a female solicitor can expect to earn an average wage of £41,000 per year, while male solicitors collect an average yearly paycheque of £60,000 - a difference of 32%.

Ms Veal added that an increasing number of women who are going to university are likely to be pursuing a career in the legal profession.