Top Ten Family Friendly Firms

Yale Law Women is excited to announce its 2009 Top Ten Family Friendly Firms List.  The Top Ten Firms, in alphabetical order, are:

Arnold & Porter
Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton
Covington & Burling
Jenner & Block
Katten Muchin Rosenman
Mayer Brown
Munger, Tolles & Olson
Patton Boggs
Sidley Austin
WilmerHale 
 

YLW congratulates these Top Ten Firms who are leaders in developing and implementing family friendly policies.

YLW believes that the discussion of family friendly firm policies remains salient in the midst of the current recession. As the prototypical law firm model changes to accommodate new market demands, YLW hopes leading firms will use this period of transformation as an opportunity to develop more flexible work arrangements and career paths for their attorneys.  With this focus, firms can respond to market forces and, at the same time, reap the benefits of retaining the top talent in whom they have invested.

In its fourth annual survey of the Vault Top 100 Firms, YLW found that many firms have already embraced more flexible career paths.  Twenty-five percent of firms who responded to our survey offer formal “off-ramp / on-ramp programs,” which allow attorneys to leave the firm for a number of years to pursue other types of legal practice or to take time off to spend with their families. 

Flexible and part-time work options are also becoming the norm: 99% of part-time requests were granted on average, and 41% of responding firms automatically grant part-time requests if conditions in a written policy are met. On average, 7% of attorneys in these firms were working part-time in 2008.  Many firms have devoted formal oversight to their alternative work programs, providing a partner to manage part-time attorneys’ work flow or adopting firm alumni programs.

Despite these gains and innovative policies, YLW remains concerned about the dearth of women in leadership positions, the gender gap in those who take advantage of family friendly policies, and the possibility that working part-time can derail an otherwise successful career.

Although YLW found that, on average, 45% of associates at responding law firms are women, women make up only 16% of partners and 20% of executive or management committee members.  Additionally, women made up just 23% of the partners newly promoted in 2008, on average.

The gender gap in firm leadership is mirrored in the availability and use of parental leave policies.  While 61% of responding firms have adopted gender-neutral policies in this area, women are allowed more than twice as much parental leave as men on average, with birth mothers receiving 15 weeks of parental leave compared to 6 weeks for men.  Furthermore, while 92% of mothers used the maximum parental leave offered, only 55% of fathers did the same.  Perhaps unsurprisingly, women make up the vast majority (81%) of the 7% of attorneys working part-time. 

The question of whether part-time work still carries the stigma or career-limiting effect it once did remains elusive.  While 99% of the requests for part-time work were granted, part-time work is rarely used by attorneys in leadership positions.  Of the 7% of attorneys working part-time, only 12% were partners, a number that may also include partners approaching retirement.  Only 5% of the partners promoted in 2008 had worked part-time in the past, on average, and only 3% were working part-time when they were promoted. 

Survey results also raise the question of whether it is possible to truly work part-time.  Statistics indicate that while part-time attorneys appear to be fairly compensated, many may work more hours than originally planned.  Most firms (78%) provide additional compensation if part-time attorneys work more than the planned number of hours or make part-time attorneys eligible for bonuses (94%).  However, part-time attorneys received bonuses at higher rates than full-time attorneys (59% compared to 46% on average), suggesting that many part-time schedules may morph into full-time hours over the course of a year.

YLW is encouraged that many firms are moving in the right direction.  Still, much more can be done to reduce gender disparity in firm leadership and ensure that all attorneys can achieve successful careers without sacrificing their commitment to their families.

Many thanks go out to the entire Top Ten List Committee, without whom the Top Ten List would not have been possible.  Please contact us with any questions.

Emily Oldshue, Co-Chair
Lauren Gerber, Co-Chair
Alice Shih, Statistician
Melissa Lou, Publicity Co-Chair
Noorain Khan, Publicity Co-Chair
Katie O’Banion, Survey Design Co-Chair
Alexandra Harwin, Survey Design Co-Chair
Courtney Carrell, Member
David Diamond, Member
Nicole Jeong, Member