Ms. Attribution: How Authorship Credit Contributes to the Gender Gap

59 Pages Posted: 11 May 2022 Last revised: 8 Aug 2022

See all articles by Jordana Goodman

Jordana Goodman

Chicago-Kent College of Law - Illinois Institute of Technology

Date Written: May 10, 2022

Abstract

Misattribution plagues the practice of law in the United States. Seasoned practitioners and legislators alike will often claim full credit for joint work and, in some cases, for the entirety of a junior associate’s writing. The powerful over-credit themselves on legislation, opinions, and other legal works to the detriment of junior staff and associates. The ingrained and expected practice of leveraging junior attorneys as ghost-writers is, to many, unethical. But it presents a distinct concern that others have yet to interrogate: misattribution disparately impacts underrepresented members of the legal profession.

This Article fills that space by offering a quantitative analysis of gendered disparate impact of normative authorship omissions in law. Using patent practitioner signatures from patent applications and office action responses, which include a national identification number correlated to the time of patent bar admission, this work demonstrates how women’s names are disproportionately concealed from the record when the senior-most legal team member signs on behalf of the team. This work illustrates that, when women reach equivalent levels of seniority, they do not overexert their power to claim credit to the same extent as their male peers. This parallels sociological findings that competence-based perception, accent bias, and perceived status differentiation between male and female colleagues can manifest in adverse and disparate attribution for women. The gender gap in the legal profession is exacerbated through this practice by falsely implying that women do less work, are more junior, and do not deserve as much credit as their male colleagues.

Addressing the failure of current practices requires cultural changes and regulatory action to ensure proper and equitable attribution in scholarship, doctrine, and industry. Legal obligations to maintain the integrity of the legal profession must include these affirmative steps to remedy de facto and de jure discrimination.

Keywords: patent; intellectual property; gender; representation; equity; attribution; credit; diversity; equality; inclusion; prosecution

Suggested Citation

Goodman, Jordana, Ms. Attribution: How Authorship Credit Contributes to the Gender Gap (May 10, 2022). Forthcoming, to be published in Yale Journal of Law & Technology, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4105773

Jordana Goodman (Contact Author)

Chicago-Kent College of Law - Illinois Institute of Technology ( email )

565 W. Adams St.
Chicago, IL 60661-3691
United States

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