Winston & Strawn expands parental leave, eliminates 'primary' caregiver distinction
Expanding a parental leave program for associates and senior attorneys that was already generous, compared to other Chicago-based BigLaw firms, Winston & Strawn will now provide up to 20 weeks of paid leave, effective immediately.
The firm is also eliminating a “primary” versus “secondary” caregiver distinction that generally split along gender lines. The firm is also establishing a support program that includes confidential career coaching and a parental leave liaison, reports Crain’s Chicago Business (sub. req.).
The firm will adjust billable-hours targets as lawyers ramp down before taking leave and ramp up afterward.
Traditionally, some lawyers—and particularly men—have been reluctant to take permitted parental leave for fear that it will adversely affect their careers. But the new Winston policy will help alleviate that concern, at least one expert predicts.
“If parental leave applies equally to both genders, one gender is not unfairly penalized for having a child,” executive director Jennifer Waters of the National Association of Women Lawyers told Crain’s.
Under the firm’s former parental leave policy, primary caregivers could take up to 18 weeks of paid leave and secondary caregivers could take 10 weeks.
