Another Biglaw Firm Expands Their Parental Leave With New Benefits

Fried Frank steps up their parental leave game.

onNovember 29, 2018 at 1:32 PMNovember 30, 2018 at 7:34 PM

The trend of Biglaw firms updating their parental leave policy to be gender neutral and more generous continues. Along those lines, Fried Frank recently announced exciting new changes to their leave policies.

Last year Fried Frank renamed their policy to reflect the gender-neutral nature of the program, as “maternity leave” as a term is rapidly becoming antiquated. Now, in order to better reflect the gender-neutral nature of the policy, the firm is also removing the primary caregiver requirement for participation, meaning all new parents — whether they are new parents via birth, adoption, or fostering of a child — are able to enjoy the same paid time off. They’ve also expanded the amount of time off to 12 weeks (it was previously 10 weeks for primary caregivers, five for everyone else) and the policy applies to all attorneys and business services professionals.

As part of the policy, and this was true in the previous iteration as well, birthing mothers are also eligible for disability leave in addition to their parental leave. Parents can split their leave in two blocks of time within the first 12 months, and any accrued time off can be used to supplement their leave.

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All of this is in addition to the firm’s existing benefits designed to assist their employees including a breast milk delivery service for breastfeeding employees traveling for work, back up childcare, nursing rooms in each office, reduced work schedules for associates who are new parents for up to six months, and access to a 24/7 wellness program. All of which help make the challenging balancing act of a new family member with life in Biglaw just a little bit easier.

Kudos to the firm on the expansion of their leave policy. Let’s hope more firms get on board with the trend.

headshot Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, and host of The Jabot podcast. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).