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Why Associates Leave is Clear, But What Would Lure Them to Stay?

By Martha Neil

April 21, 2008, 5:41 pm CDT

Associates are leaving in ever-increasing numbers because of grueling hours, boring work and a poisonous law firm culture, experts say. But it isn’t as clear what can be done to lure many to stay on after their first four to five years in practice.

In 2000, not quite 60 percent of associates surveyed by NALP left their firms within about five years. By 2005, the Hildebrandt International Inc. legal consulting firm found that associate attrition in the first five years had risen to nearly 80 percent, according to the Maryland Daily Record, a legal and business publication.

“Every time an associate leaves, it can cost a firm up to $350,000 to hire and train someone new,” the Daily Record wrote.

However, there’s no consensus about exactly what law firms need to do to stop the associate outflow. Randi Lewis, the director of diversity and professional development at Miles & Stockbridge, says family-friendly scheduling and leave policies advocated by the firm’s women’s committee have boosted its retention of female associates. Contrary to the stereotype that women lawyers may have difficulty finding time to have children, Miles has female attorneys with two, three and even four children, she says.