Law and Reorder by Henry Deborah;

Author:Henry, Deborah; [HENRY, DEBORAH EPSTEIN]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 1760225
Publisher: American Bar Association

5. Assignments and Advancement

Lawyers using work/life policies need to be assigned challenging work to give them the necessary experience and exposure to develop and advance. They also need to be mentored by influential colleagues and staffed on important client matters. In turn, lawyers working reduced hours should be eligible for non-equity (where applicable) and equity partnership and evaluated by the same criteria as their full-time colleagues.25

If partnership promotion decisions are determined by billable hours, among other factors, it may be appropriate for lawyers working reduced hours to be eligible for partnership after they have met the same requisite number of billable hours as their full-time colleagues. The delay in consideration (often a year or two) helps minimize colleague resentment and may improve the likelihood of promotion because the lawyer has more time to gain experience and exposure. In the 2009 Best Law Firms for Women survey, about one-third of the winning firms promoted their reduced-hour lawyers at a delayed pro rata rate, based on their percentage of full-time hours.26 At firms where partnership promotion decisions are determined by experience gained, competencies achieved, or business produced, it may not be necessary to delay advancement for lawyers who work reduced hours. In the 2009 Best Law Firms for Women survey, reduced-hour lawyers were eligible for promotion at about two-thirds of the winning firms at the same rate as their full-time colleagues.27

Some colleagues of flexible and reduced-hour lawyers do not believe they should be partner eligible. These colleagues may resent that flexible and reduced-hour lawyers are not called upon as frequently for the emergency work on Friday afternoons or other inconvenient times, and therefore they believe they should not get the exciting work or be eligible for promotion. This issue can be partially remedied by putting flexible and reduced-hour lawyers on a rotation schedule for emergency work on new matters. Under this system, different attorneys each week are notified in advance that they are “on weekend call” from Friday afternoon through the weekend, and if a new matter or deal comes in during that time frame, they should expect the call. Those working reduced hours and paid a proportionate reduction would be included less frequently and proportionately in the rotation schedule.28

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