Local
Study: Female partners in D.C. law firms take more part-time hours than male counterparts
By: Bill Myers
Examiner Staff Writer
December 24, 2008
Female partners in D.C. law firms are taking part-time hours at nearly three times the rate that men are, a new study has found.
There are nearly 6,000 partners in 131 big law firm offices in Washington, the nation’s second-largest law market. Less than 5 percent of the partners are part-timers, but women make up nearly three-quarters of the part-time ranks, according to a new study published by the National Association for Law Placement, a D.C.-based nonprofit group that examines hiring trends in the legal profession.
D.C.’s part-time figures are slightly below the national average, NALP found, but they are still higher than those of New York — the nation’s largest legal market. Less than 2 percent of New York partners are working part time and of those, about two-thirds are women, according to NALP’s findings, which were published last week.
Experts say that women often remain family caretakers even when they work full time. Part-time partnerships offer women equity in big firms plus more time to spend with their families. The push for part-time partnerships came from efforts to bring more women into big law firms.
The study suggests that law continues to lag behind other professions and industries in offering part-time work to its leaders. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, about 14 percent of all workers held part-time jobs in 2007, a figure which held steady for professionals in engineering, architecture and medicine.
Lawyers make their money on billable hours, which makes it hard to reward with partnership someone who is working part time. Part-time law partners barely existed until the 1990s, NALP’s data shows. The pressure to recruit women — who often have to be their family’s caretaker even while working full-time jobs — forced many firms to reconsider their rigid billable hours rules.
But not quickly: NALP found that barely one in 10 law firms nationally are offering part-time work as part of company policy. The rest of the part-timers have to ask their colleagues for special dispensation.
Toni Bush is a part-time partner at the Skadden, Arps’ Washington office. She said she opted for part-time employment to spend more time with her children.
Bush said the biggest pressures come from within.
“The hardest part of part time is having the self discipline to say, ‘No,’ or to give work to other lawyers,” she said.
There are nearly 6,000 partners in 131 big law firm offices in Washington, the nation’s second-largest law market. Less than 5 percent of the partners are part-timers, but women make up nearly three-quarters of the part-time ranks, according to a new study published by the National Association for Law Placement, a D.C.-based nonprofit group that examines hiring trends in the legal profession.
D.C.’s part-time figures are slightly below the national average, NALP found, but they are still higher than those of New York — the nation’s largest legal market. Less than 2 percent of New York partners are working part time and of those, about two-thirds are women, according to NALP’s findings, which were published last week.
Experts say that women often remain family caretakers even when they work full time. Part-time partnerships offer women equity in big firms plus more time to spend with their families. The push for part-time partnerships came from efforts to bring more women into big law firms.
The study suggests that law continues to lag behind other professions and industries in offering part-time work to its leaders. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, about 14 percent of all workers held part-time jobs in 2007, a figure which held steady for professionals in engineering, architecture and medicine.
Lawyers make their money on billable hours, which makes it hard to reward with partnership someone who is working part time. Part-time law partners barely existed until the 1990s, NALP’s data shows. The pressure to recruit women — who often have to be their family’s caretaker even while working full-time jobs — forced many firms to reconsider their rigid billable hours rules.
But not quickly: NALP found that barely one in 10 law firms nationally are offering part-time work as part of company policy. The rest of the part-timers have to ask their colleagues for special dispensation.
Toni Bush is a part-time partner at the Skadden, Arps’ Washington office. She said she opted for part-time employment to spend more time with her children.
Bush said the biggest pressures come from within.
“The hardest part of part time is having the self discipline to say, ‘No,’ or to give work to other lawyers,” she said.
