Downturn Will Make Firms More Hospitable for Women, Partner Argues
A lawyer who spearheaded a project to retain female lawyers sees the economic downturn as an opportunity for law firms to change their business methods and become more hospitable for women.
Right now, law students are in a weaker bargaining position and partners are less likely to leave. And those are good things because they may produce needed change, argues Patricia Gillette, an employment partner at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, in an article for the Am Law Daily. “These changes, in the long run, will benefit women and will answer the cries of all Gen Y lawyers for a kindler and gentler law firm life.”
She says these changes may be afoot:
• Law firms will stop treating new associates like fungible commodities and will instead treat them as investments that need to be nurtured through the first difficult years.
• The billable hour will meet its demise in favor of billing methods that reward efficiency.
• Associates will be promoted based on competency, allowing lawyers to adjust their careers to accommodate what is happening in their lives.
Gillette founded the Opt-In Project with another lawyer in an effort to find out how to retain women lawyers.
