In a bunch, they're awesome. Conversation pinballs from their latest big deal, to skiing, sports cars, childcare, and acerbic observations on the service in the Edinburgh restaurant where we're lunching. These women could talk for Scotland. Sometimes they do. They share that understated elegance, most obvious in their accessories, especially those aggressively pointy Italian shoes that took over where shoulder pads left off in the power-dressing stakes.

These women are not only partners in the law practice Semple

Fraser but each heads up her own group or department within the firm that numbers Tesco, ICI, and the Clydesdale Bank among its clients. They're stitching together some of the biggest corporate deals in Scotland.

Elspeth Carson, 36, head of commercial property, was recently named by Scottish Business Insider magazine as one of 20 ''up-and-comers with that vroom factor'' in the Scottish legal profession. Alison Gow, 44, runs the litigation department and is renowned for her innovative flair. Another litigator, 38-year old Denise Loney, has just been recruited to develop the same department in the company's Glasgow office. Dawn Davidson, 41, a former head of legal services at SMG, was recently promoted to head of corporate affairs. Rachel Grant, 44, runs the corporate recovery and insolvency side of the business and was the first solicitor in Scotland to act for the DTI in director disqualification cases. Glass ceiling? What glass ceiling, you might ask if you met them.

Around 20 years ago when the gender balance shifted and the numbers of female law graduates joining the profession in Scotland began to outnumber the men, many onlookers believed women would be running half of Scotland's law firms within a generation. It hasn't happened. The petticoat power at

Semple Fraser remains the exception. Some firms have yet to appoint a single female partner.

Even fewer reach the rarefied heights of senior or managing partner. Among the big hitters, there are just two: Linda Urquhart, chief executive of Morton Fraser, and Shonaig Macpherson, senior partner at McGrigor Donald.

Figures from the Law Society of Scotland show a sharp increase in the number of women solicitors. The latest tally is 4443 women practising, compared with fewer than 3000 five years ago. However, during the same period the number of women partners in law firms has risen by fewer than 100. There are now 696 of them, compared with 2875 men. So while women account for more than 40% of solicitors practising in Scotland, they constitute less than 20% of partners. The Law Society of Scotland is so worried about the imbalance that it has asked the Equal Opportunities Commission to investigate. ''We're concerned to find out why the number of female partners is not keeping pace with the increasing number of female solicitors,'' said a spokeswoman.

The script for in-house lawyers, working for business, the Scottish Executive, local government, the fiscal service, and other organisations, is quite different. Many in-house teams are either all women or have a majority of women. For example, 28 of the 37-strong legal team at NHS Scotland are female and at the Law Society itself, women solicitors score 15 out of 20. Why isn't this metamorphosis happening in law firms? Are women being excluded by sexism, or at least old boy networks? Or are women themselves, especially those with child-care commitments, not pushing for partnerships because they consider their work/life balance is more important to them than the power, prestige, and rewards of a partnership?

Research at Dundee University indicates that although deliberate sexism is on the wane, male

networking (the Friday night pint, hobnobbing at the golf club, junketing at the racing and the footie) are all alive and well. They also found that child-rearing issues remain a barrier for women in law.

On an anecdotal level, the women of Semple Fraser came up with plenty of backing for this but believed the culture was slowly changing. ''When I was newly qualified, people didn't believe I was a lawyer at all,'' says Alison Gow, who is barely 5ft tall. At one interview, she was asked two questions: whether she was engaged or married and whether she played golf. Denise Loney lost count of the clients who assumed she was a secretary.

Rachel Grant has found that once men realise she knows what she's talking about, they give her respect. ''But you still get middle-aged men who take the attitude that they'll phone 'that girl' and tell her what to do.''

Elspeth Carson has seen attitudes change since she qualified in 1989: ''Running a law firm is much more sophisticated and complex today, especially when you're dealing with major blue-chip clients. They want the sort of service and contacts you're not going to get through networking at the golf club.''

Is it possible to combine the pressures of parenthood and partnership? Gillian Meighan, of the Law Society, knows one solicitor who decided not to have children. ''She resented the way that women with children were always getting away early and felt that there was a form of reverse discrimination at work.''

She believes the stress and long hours worked by partners in law firms are major factors in why so many young female solicitors are unwilling to seek promotion or opt for the in-house sector instead. Of the Semple Fraser five, three appear cheerfully childless but two, Denise Loney and Rachel Grant, have two children each.

Denise was working for Boyds in Glasgow when she was first made a partner. The move surprised many in the profession because she had just returned from maternity leave and was working four days a week. ''I'll not pretend it was easy. He was a dreadful sleeper and for a long time my life was work, baby, and nothing else.

''Some people worried about how clients would react but I told them that clients could be educated. It was never an issue. My husband works from home and that makes a big difference,'' she said.

Rachel Grant agrees. ''In my experience, women who are successful either don't have children or their husbands don't work full-time. I know some women get to this stage and think they've achieved what they want in their careers and there's more to life than working 12 hours a day.''

This long-hours culture in law firms is perhaps the biggest barrier to women with families. Dawn Davidson believes that this ''presenteeism'' - the belief that hours spent at work are an index of productivity and commitment - needs to be challenged, not just for the benefit of working mothers but so that everyone can reclaim a better balance. ''The business of being in the office all hours is self-defeating. It's all about imposing a discipline about time. Do it and everyone is happier.''

New technology helps. Laptops and mobile phones mean location is less important. Of course, they also mean that clients may believe their lawyer should be available 24/7. A lawyer friend of Alison Gow was once busy assuring a prestigious client that she was just leaving the office and heading for court when one of her children ran into the room screaming his head off. ''That took some explaining.''

The biggest distinction among the Semple Fraser women is between the two mothers and the other three. While Denise and Rachel drive ''big boxes'' for transporting little people, Alison, Dawn, and Elspeth all have sports cars. Alison idly wonders if she might add a big motorbike to her Mercedes convertible. These women don't talk about earnings but it would be surprising if they were on less than six figures apiece.

They work hard and play hard. When she's not raising or defending actions on behalf of her clients, Alison can be found on the ski slopes. Dawn and her partner are building a home near Biggar. She is into hillwalking and gardening on a grand scale. Elspeth took a sabbatical to travel in South America and Australasia.

As they bowl along George Street after lunch, as effervescent as their mineral water, they're planning a day's shopping and you know it won't be M&S. By contrast, Rachel Grant looks a bit blank when you inquire about hobbies. ''Hobbies? What are they?''

THE EVIDENCE OF CHANGE

l Women account for more than 40% of solicitors in Scotland but fewer than 20% of partners in law firms.

l In 1921 Madge Easton Anderson from Glasgow became the first woman in the UK to qualify as a solicitor.

l Solicitor General for Scotland Elish Angiolini, left, is the first woman to hold the post.

l Nationalist Winnie Ewing has been a solicitor for 51 years. She is life member of the Law Society.

l There are three women High Court judges out of 32. Lady Cosgrove is the first woman to be appointed to the Inner House of the Court of Session.

l Of 432 practising advocates, 95 are women.