Parenthood Status and Compensation in Law Practice

This article asks how cultural frameworks of status influence the evaluation of performance including compensation and advancement of lawyers who were seven years into their practice. We borrow from the work on status expectations that goes beyond gender distinctions and assesses whether the concept of motherhood has a negative impact on assessment of female lawyers. Status expectations theory hypothesizes that mothers are valued less because they are less committed to the workplace and thus receive a motherhood penalty while men receive a fatherhood bonus in compensation decisions. Employing data from the After The JD study, we test the impact of parenthood on compensation decisions.

Our analysis reveals that gender matters more than parenthood status in compensation. Thus we conclude that parenthood is not found to have a significant effect on credentials, orientation to work, or practice setting. Women in Legal Practice: Global and Local Perspectives, Symposium, June 5-8, 2012. Annual Meeting of the Law and Society Association.