July 25, 2006
Partner Income Will Depend on Women Lawyers
Following my post The Work/Life Balance Issue Continues to Damage the Legal Profession, Denise Howell of Bag and Baggage reminded me that accommodations extended to those with child care responsibilities should not be limited to just mothers:
“I know plenty of two-income families who have decided to have the father assume primary child care responsibilities due to pure economics — mom makes more. There could be a host of other reasons (dad gets primary custody in divorce proceedings, etc.) why this discussion cuts across the genders. I think it would be shortsighted (and possibly actionable) for a firm to treat the issue otherwise.”
I agree with Denise that any solution should include fathers who assume the primary child care responsibilities. However, from the perspective of a business enterprise, the main issue is how to provide an environment that makes a legal career friendlier for women attorneys who now represent at least 50 percent of legal graduates entering the workforce.
With women accounting for 50% of the new lawyers, the primary child care issue is clearly important and getting more important so it is time to invest in exploring new ideas and investigating best practices. Yesterday I ordered the book by Lauren Stiller Rikleen that addresses the issues of Women legal professionals. Her book is titled Ending the Gauntlet: Removing Barriers to Women’s Success in the Law.
Partner incomes will increasingly depend on the talent of women in your firm. Thus for more partner income it is time to figure out not only how to attract women associates but how to hold on to those women as career members of the firm.
Morepartnerincome.com is sponsored by Juris, Inc. For information about Juris® products and services for increasing law firm performance and partner income, go to www.Juris.com.
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Filed under HR by Tom Collins