Working Mother and Flex-Time Lawyers today announced the 2015 Working Mother and Flex-Time Lawyers 50 Best Law Firms for Women, recognized for their family friendly policies and career and business development initiatives that are helping to retain women attorneys and advance them into the leadership pipeline. For the fifth time Holland & Hart LLP has been selected to this prestigious list.
The full list of the 2015 Working Mother and Flex-Time Lawyers 50 Best Law Firms for Women is posted here with highlights on representation of women and women of color in key leadership roles, and usage and promotion rates for reduced hour lawyers, among other key data points. Working Mother and Flex-Time Lawyers co-founded the 50 Best Law Firms for Women initiative in 2007 to celebrate the law firms that are most successful in retaining and promoting women lawyers. The goal is also to give law firms the information and benchmarking tools they need to improve the status of women in their firms in the future.
The Best Law Firms for Women employ more female equity partners (20%) in 2015 than the national average (17%). Among the 2015 Best Law Firms for Women, 16% have at least three women among their top ten rainmakers, up from 11% last year. Women also hold 27% of equity partner promotion committee seats—the highest representation in the past five years.
Jennifer Owens, editorial director of Working Mother Media, says, “The 50 Best Law Firms for Women are setting and pushing forward the standard when it comes to retaining women--and advancing them to the very top, equity partnership. These firms are also committed to creating best practices that support working parents.”
Deborah Epstein Henry, president of Flex-Time Lawyers LLC, adds, “Law firms that focus exclusively on flexible and reduced hour policies to retain women or solely on getting women in power seats are missing the mark. We see our Best Law Firms for Women who are having the most success to be the ones that understand the value of focusing on both retention and promotion simultaneously. They are cultivating female talent to facilitate that they get the good work, the skills and the flexibility they may need. Yet they are also investing in women with business development and leadership opportunities to ensure they have a strong presence and voice in the equity partner ranks, the governing committees and in running the law firm as a business.”
Read the Executive Summary for aggregated data on the 2015 Working Mother and Flex-Time Lawyers Best Law Firms for Women.