50 best law firms for women are named
Deborah Epstein Henry is founder and president of Flex-Time Lawyers. (Photo from Flex-Time Lawyers’ site.)
Working Mother and Flex-Time Lawyers have named this year’s 50 best law firms for women.
Law firms on the list had more female equity partners (20 percent on average) than the national average of 17 percent. Sixteen percent had at least three women among their top 10 rainmakers, up from 11 percent last year. And women held 27 percent of the seats on equity partner promotion committees, the highest in five years.
Best law firms in which women make up 25 percent or more of equity partners are: Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz (35 percent); Fredrikson & Byron (35 percent); Hanson Bridgett (31 percent); Holland & Hart (28 percent); Ice Miller (25 percent); and WilmerHale (25 percent).
Best law firms understand the value of both retaining and promoting women lawyers, Flex-Time Lawyers president Deborah Epstein Henry said in a press release (PDF). “They are cultivating female talent to facilitate that they get the good work, the skills and the flexibility they may need,” she said. “Yet they are also investing in women with business development and leadership opportunities.”
Other statistics, contained in an executive summary (PDF):
—At law firms with a one-tier partnership structure, 33 percent of partner promotions went to women, up from 31 percent last year. At two-tier firms, 30 percent of equity partner promotions went to women, up from 25 percent last year. Thirty-five percent of nonequity partner promotions went to women, down from 38 percent last year.
—All the best law firms offer reduced hours, and 96 percent allow reduced-hour lawyers to be eligible for promotion to equity partnership. However, no lawyers at the best law firms were promoted to equity partner while working a reduced schedule last year.
—The flexible work arrangement most used by lawyers at the best law firms is remote work, used by 51 percent of staff attorneys, 41 percent of associates, 52 percent of counsel, 49 percent of nonequity partners, and 47 percent of equity partners.
—Twenty-three percent of lawyers at the best law firms use flex-time, up from 20 percent last year. The option is most popular among staff attorneys, 32 percent of whom use it.
—Nine percent of lawyers at the best law firms opt for reduced hours, down from 10 percent last year. The option is most popular among counsel, 31 percent of whom have reduced hours.
—Eighty-eight percent of the law firms have backup child care, up from 86 percent last year.
The 50 best law firms are:
Baker & McKenzie
Blank Rome
Bradley Arant Boult Cummings
Chapman and Cutler
Cooley
Crowell & Moring
Davis Wright Tremaine
Debevoise & Plimpton
DLA Piper
Dorsey & Whitney
Drinker Biddle & Reath
Duane Morris
Epstein Becker Green
Faegre Baker Daniels
Farella Braun + Martel
Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner
Foley & Lardner
Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz
Fredrikson & Byron
Gibbons
Goodwin Procter
Hanson Bridgett
Hogan Lovells US
Holland & Hart
Hunton & Williams
Ice Miller
Katten Muchin Rosenman
Kaye Scholer
King & Spalding
Kirkland & Ellis
Latham & Watkins
Lindquist & Vennum
Lowenstein Sandler
Manatt, Phelps & Phillips
McDermott Will & Emery
Morrison & Foerster
Munger, Tolles & Olson
Neal, Gerber & Eisenberg
Norton Rose Fulbright
O’Melveny & Myers
Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe
Perkins Coie
Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman
Quarles & Brady
Reed Smith
Schiff Hardin
Seyfarth Shaw
Sidley Austin
Vinson & Elkins
WilmerHale
Details on each firm are available here (PDF). The firms, which must have 50 or more lawyers, are chosen based on applications that answer more than 300 questions reflecting 2014 data.
