Biglaw, Pregnancy / Paternity

Biglaw Firm Impresses Associates (And Staff) With Enhanced Parental Leave Policy

Wow! Which firm just rolled out a fully paid, gender-neutral policy, with additional time off?

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One by one, Biglaw firms across the country have realized that in order to recruit and retain the best talent, they need to offer the best perks and policies for a progressive new generation of lawyers. That may be why yet another firm has decided to truly support its attorneys — and staff members — who are embarking upon the fantastic journey into parenthood.

Which firm is the latest to modernize its parental leave policies? That would be Shearman & Sterling, which recently announced that effective September 1, a new, gender-neutral leave policy would be implemented, ensuring that attorneys and staff members alike will receive additional time off following the birth, adoption, or fostering of their new child.

Female attorneys working in the firm’s U.S. offices used to receive 18 weeks of maternity leave, but now, primary caregivers in the U.S. will receive up to 20 weeks of paid leave. The firm will also be providing primary caregivers among the ranks of its staff up to 14 weeks of paid leave; previously, the firm offered up to six weeks of paid leave to its salaried staff members, and no leave time for its hourly staffers. For secondary caregivers, S&S is offering eight weeks of paid, gender-neutral “new child care leave”; in the past, the firm offered only four weeks of paid paternity leave.

Sherman & Sterling joins several other Biglaw firms (like Fried Frank, Orrick, and Winston & Strawn, for example) that have recently adopted enhanced, gender-neutral parental leave plans, and a handful of other firms (like Orrick, Lowenstein Sandler, and Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer) that treat their staff members somewhat equitably in terms of parental leave.

In a statement obtained by the Am Law Daily, senior partner Creighton Condon had this to say about the firm’s new policy: “Our enhanced parental leave policy allows us to further support our people at key stages of their life by increasing the length of paid leave and by providing greater support throughout. The next important step is to continue to enable our people to use this new policy to the fullest extent.”

We’ve often wondered whether associates will choose to take full advantage of the parental leave policies that are being offered by their firms, and it’s now clear that Biglaw firms really want them to, without fearing for their safety of their jobs upon their return to work. These benefits are being offered for a reason: these law firms want associates to feel that they can grow with the firm — not just professionally, but personally. Sherman & Sterling’s new policy strives help associates to do just that.

Congratulations to Shearman & Sterling for its willingness to assist new parents at the firm. With programs like these in place, it will be a lot easier for attorneys to successfully make the transformation from lawyer to parent and back again.

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Shearman & Sterling Gets On Board the Parental Leave Expansion Train [Am Law Daily]

Staci ZaretskyStaci Zaretsky has been an editor at Above the Law since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.

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