North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Quotes Smith Anderson Attorney Caryn Coppedge McNeill on Women’s Progress Up the Legal Ladder

With its cover story “Tipping the Scales,” North Carolina Lawyers Weekly (NCLW) gives a nod to Women’s History Month and shares Smith Anderson attorney Caryn Coppedge McNeill’s thoughts in the article that explores the upward trajectory of female attorneys navigating the legal landscape.

Law firms and other legal organizations are seeing increased trends of women in leadership roles, and, as the 123^rd president of the North Carolina Bar Association from 2017-2018, Caryn was the seventh woman to sit in the president’s seat.

"We’ve stopped counting in that way, though, which I think is a good thing," Caryn, who also serves on Smith Anderson’s Management Committee, told NCLW. "It’s normal enough that people have lost track of what the number is."

Citing a 2020 global study conducted by the Thomson Reuters Institute, NCLW says that women now make up 56 percent of junior associates. While this is a notable improvement from 50 years ago, NCLW writes, there is more work ahead. For example, women account for only 24 percent of equity partners. And, according to an American Bar Association study, women over 50 make up only 27 percent of the profession.

Caryn leads Smith Anderson’s Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation practice group. She regularly advises public and private companies on all aspects of the design, implementation and administration of employee benefit plans and executive compensation arrangements, including stock option plans and other types of equity-based compensation arrangements.

The full NCLW story can be viewed here.

About North Carolina Lawyers Weekly

North Carolina Lawyers Weekly is the state’s leading weekly legal newspaper reporting news, court opinions, verdicts and settlements and other issues of importance for North Carolina’s legal community.