On The Job: A Labor And Employment Rankings Round-Up

on-the-job-sign-300x203 Recently, Above the Law launched On The Job, our new site focused on labor and employment law. On the Job is anchored by three new columnists — Richard B. Cohen, Evan Gibbs, and Beth Robinson — all of whom are experienced employment lawyers. In addition to their expert commentary on substantive developments in labor and employment law, On The Job will also offer research, rankings, and other features focusing on the practice area. Today we are presenting a new feature: a round-up of findings from (primarily) the ATL Insider Survey, with a focus on labor and employment law.

The Insider Survey provides an outlet for law students and lawyers to share insight and opinions regarding their schools and employers. To date, more than 22,000 respondents have taken the Insider Survey, including hundreds of labor and employment attorneys. When we compare L&E associates with law firm associates generally, one trend leaps out: we find that L&E associates rate their satisfaction significantly lower than their peers for every category we measure. Perhaps it’s not surprising that employment specialists are the most critical of their own employers? In a more upbeat finding, we also see that L&E departments are outperforming law firms generally when it comes to gender diversity in their ranks.

The On The Job rankings round-up reveals which firms are rated the highest by their own attorneys on a range of “quality of life” subjects, including satisfaction with compensation, hours, firm morale, professional development, and firm culture. Finally, it shows the peer firms and practice groups that L&E practitioners consider to be under- and overrated.