For the second year in a row, Working Mother magazine has listed Husch Blackwell as one of the nation’s “Best Law Firms for Women” in rankings released today. The annual list recognizes 60 U.S. law firms for their policies in the advancement of women and for the implementation of work-life balance initiatives.
The firm has undertaken a number of measures to support women attorneys:
- Adopting a written policy that explicitly recognizes the importance of a healthy work/life balance and encourages all attorneys to propose work arrangements that meet their individual needs.
- Changing the compensation structure to eliminate origination credit and to add metrics that reward and incentivize teamwork and client service.
- Continuing development of the Sponsorship Initiative. Sponsors (senior attorneys with “clout”) in the Initiative have committed to using their power and influence to help their protégés (female attorneys or attorneys of color at the senior associate or junior partner level) advance to the next level.
- Offering more programming aimed at addressing issues related to the advancement of women.
Seven of the nine promotions to partner effective January 1, 2017 were women and, based on recent equity partner promotions, the number of women equity partners increased 16 percent.
“Husch Blackwell understands that a well-balanced work life contributes directly to the success of our attorneys and by extension, to our success as a firm,” said Diane Carter, Partner and Executive Board Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Chair. “As part of our firm ethos of guiding our clients from where they are to where they want to be, we know that giving our attorneys flexibility and support in their work-life balance contributes to favorable results for clients.”
The full list of the 2018 Working Mother Best Law Firms for Women will be published in the August/September 2018 issue and highlights law firms where on average almost half of associates and more than a third of partners are women, while one-fifth of equity partners are women. These firms also increasingly offer extended parental-leave benefits and encourage more lawyers to work remotely and use flexible hours.
The 2018 Working Mother Best Law Firms for Women application included more than 300 questions about attorney representation, schedule flexibility, paid time off and parental leaves, and development and retention of women. Profiles are culled from the applications and reflect 2017 data. The ABA Journal acts as a partner in recruiting participant firms and publicizing results.