Working Mothers What makes a law firm “family friendly”? We get some insights from Arnold & Porter in Washington, DC., the only law firm on the Working Mother magazine’s “100 Best Companies for Working Mothers”. Benefits include 12 weeks of paid maternity leave (six weeks paid leave for fathers and co-parents), an on-site firm-run day care center, free backup childcare for children of attorneys and staff, and a stipend and paid leave for adoption. Coolest benefit: lactation rooms – private rooms with lactation machines and refrigerators for nursing mothers.
Non-qualified Pension Plans A recent survey shows that more than one third of large law firms still maintain unfunded, non-qualified pension plans for their partners. Many firms have successfully capped their liability for benefits but some face a massive off-balance sheet liability as baby boomers draw closer to retirement.
Marketing Directors Begin Getting “Traction” Law firms have traditionally been revolving doors for Chief Marketing Officers. The relatively short tenure for directors has, in part, been caused by demand in a hot market with the largest firms seeking qualified people with law firm experience, and, in part, by frustrated incumbents who have not received the promised levels of authority. With more experience, both Marketing Directors and large law firms are coming to grips with appropriate duties and responsibility. Longer tenures seem to be bringing more rational and consistent salaries to
the market.
Corporate Associate Salaries Remain Flat With the resurgence of the transactional practice and the shortage of trained mid-level corporate associates, some law firm recruiting partners envisioned a cira 2000 salary war for laterals. But higher associate salaries show no sign of occurring in the near future. The view of many firms seems to be that there has been so little transactional work over the past couple of years that even experienced associates have so little training that it does not justify a premium over associates who have no deal experience.
