Dewey & LeBoeuf

Biglaw Perk Watch: Dewey & LeBoeuf to 18 Weeks

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The latest major law firm to enhance its parental leave policy: Dewey & LeBoeuf. Remember the holiday party car controversy? All is forgiven. Eighteen weeks, plus Denim Day? You couldn’t ask for anything more.
Actually, maybe you can. From a male tipster at the firm:

D&L just went to 18 weeks for parental leave: 8 weeks of medical leave for a birth mother, 4 weeks of childcare leave, and an additional 6 weeks of primary caregiver leave. This means that birth mothers get 18 weeks, adoptive primary caregivers get 10 weeks, and a parent who is not the primary caregiver gets 4 weeks.

So beleaguered working dads still only get a month. Can I humbly suggest that the next big perk should be non-primary caregiver parents to 8 weeks? We still lose sleep and have to deal with, ah, a moody home environment…

Sure, that would be nice — but first things first. Don’t look a fringe-benefit horse in the mouth.
For a table listing the maternity leave policies of various large law firms, prepared by ATL survey guru Justin Bernold, click here. For a compilation of paternity leave policies, click here.
The Dewey & LeBoeuf cover email and memo, after the jump.


DEWEY & LEBOEUF LLP — PARENTAL LEAVE POLICY FOR U.S. BASED ASSOCIATES AND COUNSEL
Sent: Tuesday, March 25, 2008 12:07 PM
To: DL US Associates; DL US Counsel
Subject: Parental Leave Policy
The firm is pleased to announce a significant improvement to our parental leave policy for US-based associates and counsel. Birth-mother primary caregivers are now eligible for up to 18 weeks of paid leave and all other primary caregivers are now eligible for up to 10 weeks of paid leave. Secondary caregivers are eligible for 4 weeks of paid leave.
Paid parental leave is made up of medical leave, childcare leave and primary caregiver leave components. For example, the following would apply to eligible attorneys:
· a birth mother who is the primary caregiver will be eligible for a total of 18 weeks paid leave through a combination of 8 weeks medical leave, 4 weeks childcare leave and 6 weeks primary caregiver leave;
· a non-birth parent who is the primary caregiver will be eligible for a total of 10 weeks paid leave through a combination of 4 weeks childcare leave and 6 weeks primary caregiver leave; and
· an adoptive parent who is the primary caregiver will be eligible for a total of 10 weeks paid leave through a combination of 4 weeks childcare leave and 6 weeks primary caregiver leave.
This policy is effective immediately and will be extended to all eligible attorneys currently on parental leave from the firm. The complete policy is attached and will be included in the Attorney Handbook.

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