Amid the volumes of research on women and minorities in the workplace, little analysis has been done on the factors contributing to more diverse law firms. The intent of this paper is an empirical investigation of those variables that have caused increases in diversity at both the associate and partner level. My research suggests leverage, the ratio of associates to partners, may be the most significant factor on increasing the percent of lawyers that are women. Among minorities, high leverage instead showed a negative relationship. The most significantly negative factor on the percent of minorities in the firm was found to be the presence of a non-equity track promotion structure. In addition the quality of work environment and training held statistical significance on the percent of women.
","abstract_html":"<p>Amid the volumes of research on women and minorities in the workplace, little analysis has been done on the factors contributing to more diverse law firms. The intent of this paper is an empirical investigation of those variables that have caused increases in diversity at both the associate and partner level. My research suggests leverage, the ratio of associates to partners, may be the most significant factor on increasing the percent of lawyers that are women. Among minorities, high leverage instead showed a negative relationship. The most significantly negative factor on the percent of minorities in the firm was found to be the presence of a non-equity track promotion structure. In addition the quality of work environment and training held statistical significance on the percent of women.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Hobbs, Ben"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"M.A.","degree_level":"Campus Access Thesis","degree_discipline":"Moore School of Business","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["John Gordanier"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2011,"date_issued":"2011-01-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2011-01-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T04:37:28Z","subjects":["Economics","Social and Behavioral Sciences","diversity","law","minorities","women"],"languages":[],"rights":["© 2011, Ben Hobbs"],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/etd/913","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["John Gordanier"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Hobbs, Ben"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Moore School of Business"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Campus Access Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["M.A."]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Economics","Social and Behavioral Sciences","diversity","law","minorities","women"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["© 2011, Ben Hobbs"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/etd/913"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Amid the volumes of research on women and minorities in the workplace, little analysis has been done on the factors contributing to more diverse law firms. The intent of this paper is an empirical investigation of those variables that have caused increases in diversity at both the associate and partner level. My research suggests leverage, the ratio of associates to partners, may be the most significant factor on increasing the percent of lawyers that are women. Among minorities, high leverage instead showed a negative relationship. The most significantly negative factor on the percent of minorities in the firm was found to be the presence of a non-equity track promotion structure. In addition the quality of work environment and training held statistical significance on the percent of women.
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