Women In Law - Are Things Really Getting Better For Women Lawyers?
Saturday, November 15th, 2008 Subscribe To Our Feed
Some months ago Working Mother has announced its second annual ‘Best Law Firms For Women’ list, showing that although the playing field is not yet level its getting better. For New Zealand lawyers, where we publish LawFuel.co.nz from and run our legal jobs board, women in law have been doing well.
But is ‘Working Mother’s’ survey shows that the improvement for women in law is improving only slowly.
The stats show nearly four of five female associates leave their firm in the first five years. The list singles out 50 law firms that have made strides to curb attrition rates and keep women lawyers happy.
“We want to arm firms with information so they can start improving their retention and promotion of women,” Deborah Epstein Henry, president of Flex-Time lawyers LLC, a consulting company she started after working as an associate at Patterson Belknap Webb and Tyler in New York and Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis in Philadelphia. (As reported by Law.com).
San Francisco’s Folger Levin & Kahn, at just 68 lawyers, made the list for a second year as did Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, which employs 1,753 lawyers in the U.S. alone.
This year 115 firms participated, compared to 85 last year, although several did not reapply, which may help explain the 52 percent year-over-year turnover in those firms that made the list.
This year’s research touched on some positive trends: the average maternity leave inched up to 14 weeks from 12 last year and the rate of female equity partners rose to 19 percent from 16, with nonequity partners at 28 percent, up from 22 percent.
Working Mother and Flex-Time don’t rank the firms but instead highlight some firm programs and statistics. The reason: to encourage participation, says Henry. This year’s special mentions included Bricker and Eckler, a 325-lawyer Columbus, Ohio firm, lauded for having 28 percent female equity partners and a job share program.
LawFuel.co.nz is the New Zealand and international legal jobs site with legal jobs, law firm news and resources for lawyers worldwide.
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