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More Law Firms Starting to Offer Flexible Work Arrangements

You are a bright, talented and ambitious woman, busy climbing the ladder at your law firm, trying to grab that brass ring. But then life happens , you get married, a child is born, a parent gets sick , and the pressure starts to build.

So, are you in or are you out?

In 2003, a New York Times Magazine article heralded “The Opt-Out Revolution,” the presumed trend of highly educated women entering the work force only to leave. Similarly themed stories followed in other national publications. Was this indeed a trend that was taking hold?

The international law firm of Heller Ehrman LLP wanted to find out, and, in May 2006, launched the Opt-In Project, tapping into a think tank of more than 900 representatives of various U.S. industries.

“We wanted to test the conclusion that women were being pulled out of the workplace voluntarily against the theory that they were being pushed out of the workplace by the lack of viable alternatives to a traditional workplace structure,” according to the report’s mission statement. “This structure, in conjunction with social forces that continue to put the primary responsibility for home and family on women, can make it difficult for women to feel successful and fulfilled.”

Spearheading the project was Patricia K. Gillette, a shareholder in the San Francisco office of Heller Ehrman, co-chair of the labor and employment practice group, and co-chair of its gender diversity committee.

In a recent interview with the San Diego Business Journal, Gillette observed that the business model of law firms has changed, and lawyers now are expected to make tradeoffs for that “pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.”

“The new model is you work, work, work and become a partner, and then you work some more,” she said.

Under the older model, once you made partner, there wasn’t as much pressure to continue all those burdensome billable hours, said Gillette.

“You were expected to go out and develop business and mentor people, and become more of a senior statesperson,” she said.


For Your Consideration

The Opt-In Project, which recently concluded a yearlong series of roundtable discussions, didn’t come up with any magic bullets when it issued its findings this past May. It did pose , although didn’t formally endorse , ways that businesses could achieve a greater work-life balance, and retain top talent , especially women.

“What we have done is tried to be a catalyst for thought,” said Gillette. “The idea that it’s a woman’s issue, a woman’s problem, that discussion needs to stop. It is not a woman’s issue. There are far bigger problems. We said, ‘Let’s think as far out of the box as we can.’ ”

Among the project report’s suggestions include: Rethinking the traditional concept of billable hours; doing away with the “up-or-out” system of the partnership track in favor of a tiered approach, with more ways to measure success; creating an “on-ramp,” that keeps valued departing employees connected to the firm; and offering a variety of employment options, including flexible and part-time schedules, without jeopardizing career paths.

How are law firms reacting to these ideas?


Head In Sand

“The response from law firms is, ‘Oh, my God! Let me put my head in the sand. Maybe I don’t have to do this,’ ” said Gillette. “Lawyers are rule followers and not rule makers. It’s hard to get law firms to say, ‘Maybe we could think about this differently.'”

But the younger generation will be a driving force of this new trend, said Gillette.

“They will insist on a different structure,” she said. “The current associates in law firms are dropping out in droves because they refuse to bill a certain number of hours. When firms realize that this model is ridiculous, they will have to recognize that they are losing talented, good people because of the inflexibility of law firms.”

In agreement is Lisa Weinreb, a prosecutor in the San Diego District Attorney’s office, immediate past-president of the Lawyers Club of San Diego, and a mother of two.

“People are skeptical, but we are seeing more women , and men , asking for more flexibility so they can be with their families, and spend less time sitting in the office with billable hours,” she said. “As a generation changes and goes to the top, this will be more widely accepted. But, it’s difficult to change a mind set. For those in charge now, it’s not the way they did it. But it will change.”

Diversity also is an important factor , especially to the socially conscious baby boomers and those who have followed, said Gillette.

“They won’t buy from companies that aren’t doing things socially responsible,” she said. “As we become more public and global, law firms will feel the need to reflect their consumers. And kids coming out of law firms are diverse.”


Down To Business

While the smaller law firms might be more open to change, the larger, more traditional practices are more apt to resist change, said Gillette.

“Law firms don’t think like businesses and don’t understand that, as the business changes, you have to change your work structure,” she said. “We haven’t changed it for so many years.”

But some ideas will resonate if they go directly to the bottom line, said Gillette. For instance, the concept of hiring fewer people from law school and letting them proceed on different tracks “is a little more palatable,” she said.

“They can see this as a dollar-and-cents thing, rather than paying them a lot and losing them after three years,” said Gillette.

Not all businesses are this skittish, she said. The Opt-In Project kicked off with a roundtable discussion focused on professional services firms, considered to be pioneers in “the world of work-life balance,” that offer flexible arrangements, on-site child care and non-traditional career paths.

“Some businesses are amazed and enthusiastic and really receptive to the idea of trying new things, being entrepreneurial, blowing up traditional ideas,” she said. “They have been very supportive and helped us think outside the box, especially the accounting firms , Deloitte, Price Waterhouse, Ernst & Young.”

Don Rushing, a partner in the San Diego office of Morrison & Foerster, serves on a woman’s task force, part of a firm-wide diversity strategy committee.

“This is an issue for all firms, ours included , to make sure that your talented lawyers have opportunities to do well, to meet their goals and achieve,” he said.

Rushing, who doesn’t view billable hours as a gender issue, said that his firm has long offered alternative fee arrangements.

“Some clients are willing to explore those fee arrangements, and some prefer a straight hourly rate,” he said. “There is a whole host of ways you can come at that, and it’s only limited by the imagination of the attorney and client.”

Advanced technology, including PDAs and cell phones, has helped lawyers manage their time and serve clients better.

“You can’t escape, but, by golly, they get answers fast,” said Rushing. “Immediacy and speed are a measure of value.”

As for the brain drain , associates who leave firms during the crucial first three years , Rushing said “We have seen attrition at the midlevel , some natural, for both men and women. It’s a sorting-out period in a young lawyer’s career, when they make a decision about what they are going to do with the rest of their lives. For some people, the practice of law in a large firm is not their cup of tea. So, they go into government or public companies or pursue a smaller firm environment.”

But, for the others, said Rushing, “What we don’t want to happen is to have women who are adversely affected by the strains of competing demands for family care-giving, on the one hand, and the practice of law on the other.”

Morrison & Foerster offers flexible career options to its employees, said Rushing, but, “It’s not a one-size-fits-all approach. It provides flexibility based on an individual’s needs, and allows them to stay on a career path toward becoming a partner.”

He added that the skills needed to make partner do take time to develop. “The connections and networks that allow you to attract, retain and properly service clients, and to make good judgment calls for clients on complex legal matters,” Rushing said.

“No one is penalized for reduced hours,” he said. “But you might be slower meeting that learning curve, compared to those who don’t have the demands that you have raising a family.”


Buying In

Rushing’s firm also uses a version of the Opt-In system of “on-ramps,”and maintaining connections to lawyers temporarily separated from the practice. He cites the case of a talented senior associate in the San Diego office, who had a child and then followed her husband, a former Marine, out of state, where he intended to establish his career.

The firm still includes her in its various prorams, he said, while she intends to keep her skills honed with a possible teaching job wile on leave.

“We think that we will have this person come back and be a very successful partner,” said Rushing. “I’m not sure that there is any magic to that. It’s an exercise of common sense, in appreciation of the mutual interests of the parties.”

But it’s not always women who take a breather from their jobs. Edith Bauer, a member of the San Diego law office of Mintz Levin, has a lawyer husband, Christopher, who has opted out , at least temporarily , to care for their 1-year-old son.

“I am very fortunate,” she said. “A lot of my friends have had to cobble together child-care arrangements.”

In her own career, Bauer said that most of her female friends in conventional law firms have “opted into in-house positions,” either full time or part time, in situations where, generally speaking, the hours are not as demanding.

“But, I know of no one who has opted out altogether,” she said.

Nor has her husband, who is now retooling his skills, with eventual plans to pursue a career as a software engineer.

Bauer gives high points to her employer for offering a supportive environment that encourages women to opt in.

“They’ve been incredibly flexible with whatever I have to do,” said Bauer. “There are a lot of examples at Mintz of women who’ve done it , have careers and leadership in the firm, and who also have children.”

Bauer applauds the Opt-In Project for its goals.

“It’s an excellent idea to look at how the business of law firms work, and try to make sure that women can continue to stay in, be promoted and flourish in a law firm environment.”


Think Pink

But, Bauer adds, “What really needs to happen to change the workplace and meet a changing work force is not only opting in, but the need to buy in , from men and women, and the management of the firms.”

In July, Heller Ehrman LLP was named one of America’s “Top Companies for Women” by PINK, a national magazine focused on women’s professional growth, and KPMG, the audit, tax and advisory firm.

PINK is an acronym for power, pipeline, pay and people , all considered measures for a successful career.

Heller Ehrman has a number of policies already in place, including mentoring, bonus programs, and flex hours, among others. But Margaret M. Mann, a shareholder in its (the firm’s) San Diego office, said that change will take time.

“The fact that there is interest in balance, and that men have benefited from the changes and are playing a more active role with their children, is a powerful factor,” she said. “I’m not sure that everything will change in the next five years, but there will be some change. It’s not just in the legal industry, but in the business world in America at large. The mindset in our culture is slowly changing.”

Mann also is the firm’s national hiring chair, responsible for developing and implementing policy for recruiting associates.

“It’s a rare interview when I don’t speak to a young associate, most often women, but some men, who talk about the flexibility of work, and life balance,” she said. “In my own life, having that balance has made me a more satisfied person. I think I am a better mother by virtue of being a lawyer, and a better lawyer by being a mother. You have to have management skills. It’s all about negotiation.”

The mother of two college-aged sons, Mann’s personal credo has been, “You can have it all, but you can’t have it all at once.”

As a role model herself, Mann offers this advice to novices: Not everything works for everyone; be true to yourself and decide what is best for you and your family; and outsource what you don’t need to do yourself.

“I went part-time for a short period, and there is nothing wrong with that,” she said. “You get to be constructive and productive as you can be in different parts of life, and that makes you the person that you are.”

But, the challenge is to overcome the perceived stigma that comes with these alternative working arrangements, said Weinreb.

“I’d like to see less stigma for people who are working part-time, or on flexible schedules or job sharing,” she said. “They get a really bad rap, because some people think that they’re not committed or working as hard. As long as there is a stigma, people won’t want to take advantage of this.”

While Weinreb didn’t opt to take a part-time position herself, she and her husband, Bradley, an attorney with the State Attorney General’s Office, are able to spend a few days a week , court dates permitting , working at home.

“This helps out with the children,” she said.

The Lawyers Club , with a roster of male and female lawyers, judges and law students , has as its mission the advancement of women “in the law and in society.” Earlier this year, the club launched its own Balance Campaign to explore employment policies that would promote the hiring, advancement and retention of women in San Diego’s legal community.


What’s Next?

The next step in the process will be to reach out to bar associations and law firm management groups , “those who make decisions about how law firms function,” said Gillette.

How many of these suggestions are likely to fly?

“I don’t think anything in there is Utopian,” said Mann. “Maybe some of these aspects are going to take longer to become standard, and slower to become a patchwork quilt kind of policy.”

But, she added, there has been progress. Mann remembers a time when lawyers, who needed to attend their child’s ballgame or ballet recital, would excuse it away as a “client meeting.”

“Now you can say proudly that you are going to your kid’s game, or recital or ballet,” she said. “People now, from clients, on up and down the hierarchy, are aware of this and supportive , that family is something that is valued. These changes will make society a better place for everyone.”

Krista Harris Cheatham, an associate in the San Diego office of Heller Ehrman, tries to put change in perspective.

“An integrated workforce, with African-Americans, Hispanics and Indians, was a Utopian idea 50 years ago,” she said. “Of course, we can do it. It’s a matter of economic factors making it viable.”

While some law firms might not be in “enough pain” now to make the necessary changes to keep their talent, “We are getting to a tipping point, so firms will start taking measures to retain them,” said Cheatham. “I feel fairly confident that it will come within my career.”

But it all comes back to the bottom line.

“I don’t want people to give up and think that it’s hopeless,” said Weinreb, who is featured in the newly released book, “It’s Harder in Heels: Essays by Women Lawyers Achieving Work-Life Balance,” by Jacquelyn Slotkin and Samantha Slotkin Goodman.

“It will be slow, but it’s a fast moving train,” said Weinreb. “Law firms and public agencies need to get on that train, or they will lose very talented people if they don’t.”


Sidebar: Opt-In Project Offers Number of Solutions for Retaining Legal Talent

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