Business Insider, a financial and business news website, recently featured the just over a handful of women that hold the top leadership position in the world’s largest law firms, as measured by revenue. WilmerHale Co-Managing Partner Susan Murley was among the nine women highlighted.

The publication shares, “Women ascending to the partnership at elite law firms is still recent history, with many Big Law firms promoting their first women partners as late as the 1970s. But in the last two decades, female lawyers have finally started to rise all the way to the top.”

In her more than nine years leading WilmerHale, Ms. Murley has played an instrumental role in shaping a culture where it is business as usual to find women leading in both client representation and firm management. Under her leadership, along with fellow Co-Managing Partner Bob Novick, WilmerHale has repeatedly been ranked as a top law firm for women lawyers and recognized for its commitment to diversity and inclusion by various respected news outlets and organizations dedicated to advancing the representation of diverse individuals. Growing numbers of WilmerHale women lawyers have access to the prestige and profit available at the very top of the legal profession, and that the firm’s clients receive the strongest representation possible, drawing from all the firm’s talent.

A look at the firm’s work in 2019 and 2020 demonstrates these trends:

• 70% of the 30 largest investigatory matters handled by the firm were led or co-led by WilmerHale women.
• 60% of the firm’s public offerings and Rule 144A placements—which raised over $60 billion—were led by WilmerHale women.
• 60% of the trials and arbitrations handled by the firm were led or co-led by WilmerHale women.
• WilmerHale Women handled 14 appellate arguments in 9 state and federal courts, including 2 arguments in the US Supreme Court.
• Women at WilmerHale represent 27% of equity partners, 40% of the management committee and 44% of the compensation committee.

Of course, as demonstrated by Business Insider’s article, there’s more to be done and under Ms. Murley’s leadership, WilmerHale will continue to develop and support programs that foster career opportunities for all lawyers and that create an inclusive culture. Visit our Diversity and Inclusion, Diversity Leaders, WilmerHale Women and Women Trial Lawyers pages to learn more about our commitment to diversity at every level in the firm.