There is no shortage of female lawyers entering practice today. But a 2012 study showed that women equity partners on average earn only 89 cents on the dollar to what their male counterparts make. Women are also less likely than men to even become equity partners or land spots on high-level committees in firms.

As clients of outside firms, general counsel can use their leverage to encourage these firms to make gender policies and practices fairer. That’s one message from a new report just released by the American Bar Association’s Presidential Task Force on Gender Equity.

The report, created in partnership with the association’s Commission on Women in the Profession, provides practical advice for in-house counsel trying to address this persistent problem. It calls on general counsel to serve as advocates and key facilitators of change.

“They can really use their considerable economic power and clout to move the needle on this issue,” Bobbi Liebenberg, chair of the task force and co-author of “Power of the Purse: How General Counsel Can Impact Pay Equity for Women Lawyers,” told CorpCounsel.com.

General counsel are especially well positioned on gender diversity issues because their companies are likely to encourage and track diversity. Many human resources departments are keenly aware of these issues, Laurel Bellows, president of the ABA, told CorpCounsel.com. In contrast, Bellows noted, outside law firms put a good deal of power in the hands of hiring and compensation committees, which do not always consider diversity closely in their decisions.

Liebenberg pointed out that corporations can create incentives to employ diverse teams of outside counsel that include women, and are increasingly doing so. “Because their customer base is diverse,” she said, “they want to make sure they have outside law firms that are also diverse.”

Paying attention to diversity and female involvement at all levels is good business practice for the outside firms too, Liebenberg added. Firms invest time and money in training women, and when female attorneys feel underappreciated and leave, valuable talent and institutional knowledge goes as well. “Losing that means that they have to pay for someone to start over and relearn it,” she said.

Belows said law firms can benefit if general counsel take up this issue. “I’m not accusing law firms of not trying,” she said, “but I think what we’re suggesting by this is they need help. “

According to the report, one of the key ways general counsel can help empower women in the profession is through benchmarking outside firms. Merely asking the firms to reveal statistics about the roles women play in the legal work—including billable hours, committee positions, and credit received—can help them get the compensation and praise they deserve, Bellows said.

Asking for and closely analyzing these numbers, she added, should come naturally to corporate counsel, who are used to dealing with diversity issues and rewarding diverse practices within their own workplaces.

The report suggests that law departments issue formal diversity reports to their outside counsel, to help them keep track of how their progress measures up to the company’s standards.

Another ideal time for in-house counsel to support gender diversity, according to the report, is during the request for proposals (RFP) and pitch processes. RFPs are an excellent opportunity to specify what the company is looking for in outside firms, as far as diversity is concerned, and to ask potential outside counsel to disclose their diversity policies.

The presence of women on pitch teams may be indicative of the premium that the outside firm places on diversity, the report said. But general counsel should be careful to ensure that these women are more than just figureheads, it added, and that they continue to play important roles after the firm has landed the business.

There is no shortage of female lawyers entering practice today. But a 2012 study showed that women equity partners on average earn only 89 cents on the dollar to what their male counterparts make. Women are also less likely than men to even become equity partners or land spots on high-level committees in firms.

As clients of outside firms, general counsel can use their leverage to encourage these firms to make gender policies and practices fairer. That’s one message from a new report just released by the American Bar Association’s Presidential Task Force on Gender Equity.

The report, created in partnership with the association’s Commission on Women in the Profession, provides practical advice for in-house counsel trying to address this persistent problem. It calls on general counsel to serve as advocates and key facilitators of change.

“They can really use their considerable economic power and clout to move the needle on this issue,” Bobbi Liebenberg, chair of the task force and co-author of “Power of the Purse: How General Counsel Can Impact Pay Equity for Women Lawyers,” told CorpCounsel.com.

General counsel are especially well positioned on gender diversity issues because their companies are likely to encourage and track diversity. Many human resources departments are keenly aware of these issues, Laurel Bellows, president of the ABA, told CorpCounsel.com. In contrast, Bellows noted, outside law firms put a good deal of power in the hands of hiring and compensation committees, which do not always consider diversity closely in their decisions.

Liebenberg pointed out that corporations can create incentives to employ diverse teams of outside counsel that include women, and are increasingly doing so. “Because their customer base is diverse,” she said, “they want to make sure they have outside law firms that are also diverse.”

Paying attention to diversity and female involvement at all levels is good business practice for the outside firms too, Liebenberg added. Firms invest time and money in training women, and when female attorneys feel underappreciated and leave, valuable talent and institutional knowledge goes as well. “Losing that means that they have to pay for someone to start over and relearn it,” she said.

Belows said law firms can benefit if general counsel take up this issue. “I’m not accusing law firms of not trying,” she said, “but I think what we’re suggesting by this is they need help. “

According to the report, one of the key ways general counsel can help empower women in the profession is through benchmarking outside firms. Merely asking the firms to reveal statistics about the roles women play in the legal work—including billable hours, committee positions, and credit received—can help them get the compensation and praise they deserve, Bellows said.

Asking for and closely analyzing these numbers, she added, should come naturally to corporate counsel, who are used to dealing with diversity issues and rewarding diverse practices within their own workplaces.

The report suggests that law departments issue formal diversity reports to their outside counsel, to help them keep track of how their progress measures up to the company’s standards.

Another ideal time for in-house counsel to support gender diversity, according to the report, is during the request for proposals (RFP) and pitch processes. RFPs are an excellent opportunity to specify what the company is looking for in outside firms, as far as diversity is concerned, and to ask potential outside counsel to disclose their diversity policies.

The presence of women on pitch teams may be indicative of the premium that the outside firm places on diversity, the report said. But general counsel should be careful to ensure that these women are more than just figureheads, it added, and that they continue to play important roles after the firm has landed the business.