The ABA states that the results were disquieting. The Commission heard from Deans, faculty and students from 58 law schools, whose testimony showed repetitive concerns about bias in the form of gender stereotyping, sexual harassment, hostile and disrespectful behavior toward female students, a relative silence of women in the classroom, a lack of female role models and mentors, a low percentage of female tenured faculty, a disproportionately high number of women faculty on non-tenured track positions, and pay disparities between male and female professors with the same credentials. At the same time, students perceived law school as gender neutral. Witnesses reported that most professors treated women and minority students with respect, and many students acknowledged that some law school environments were changing for the better. Witnesses reported that women students who were reluctant to speak in classroom were pleased with clinical programs that gave opportunities for learning and success, and students praised some schools for making considered efforts to hire more women faculty and address gender related issues in a proactive manner.
Most women lawyers work in private practice, as do most men.
The greatest advances for women have come in the more prestigious sectors of the work force, such as private practice. Most women in the class of 1997 who have full-time jobs, but fewer than men, entered private practice. More women than men took judicial clerkships, entered government and went into public interest work. More men than women went into business. The ABA states that being a sole practitioner typically pays the lawyer less money than working in a law firm, although it may also bring more autonomy.