S&C Chair Credits Flexible Policies for Women-Dominated Partnership Class

Sullivan & Cromwell has promoted five lawyers to partnership, and four of them are women.

S&C chairman H. Rodgin Cohen told the New York Law Journal that the high-percentage of women is due to policies such as flex-time and maternity leave that are designed to retain more women lawyers.

"I think hopefully as we have more and more women joining us it will be the new normal," Cohen told the publication. The firm now has 30 women among its 172 partners.

Sullivan & Cromwell wasn’t on Working Mother magazine’s list of the top 50 law firms for women. The magazine said flexible policies were important at the top 50 firms. Nearly all of the top 50 offered reduced-hour schedules, 62 percent offered full-time telecommuting and 42 percent had written flexible-schedule policies.