Women lawyers get lower salaries

The latest Law Society pay survey has revealed that women salaried partners are still earning an average of pounds 9,000 a year less than their male counterparts, while average salaries of female assistant solicitors lag by pounds 4,000 behind males.

Tony Girling, the society's president, and Kamlesh Bahl, chairwoman of the Equal Opportunities Commission, said yesterday that they were writing to every solicitors' firm asking them to re-examine pay scales and implement the EOC's Equal Pay Code of Practice.

Mr Girling said: "Discrimination in pay is professional misconduct, quite apart from being against the law of the land."

Ms Bahl said: "Pay equality makes good business sense. It helps keep down staff turnover and loss of key skills to a minimum. It also sends an important message about a firm's corporate values."