How These Women Took The Reins of Their Firms

No one has talked much about it, but for the past several months, women lawyers have played leading roles in many of the most significant events in Big Law.

From the Locke Lord and Edwards Wildman merger to Morgan Lewis & Bockius ’ acquisition of 750 Bingham McCutchen lawyers to Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld ’s expansion into London, Hong Kong and Frankfurt, the law firms making the news tended to have women at the helm.

There’s nothing unusual about women leaders — it’s just that they’re so underrepresented in the legal profession. The stats speak for themselves:About ...