SERAMOUNT ANNOUNCES THE 2021 BEST LAW FIRMS FOR WOMEN
Law Firms Increased Women Representation During Pandemic
June 22, 2021 (New York, NY)—Seramount (formerly Working Mother Media) revealed the Best Law Firms for Women today, recognizing firms that utilize best practices in recruiting, retaining, promoting and developing women lawyers. Fifty firms earned a spot on this year’s list.
“We know that women have left the workplace in droves since the onset of COVID-19,” said Subha V. Barry, CEO of Seramount. “But the fact that representation of women equity partners, and women lawyers overall, has increased during this turbulent time just shows how supportive our Best Law Firms for Women are to parents and caregivers. They stepped up and offered increased flexibility and new benefit programs to help this critical talent pool balance both work and homelife.”
The full list, available here, highlights law firms that averaged 25 percent women among equity partners, compared with 23 percent last year, and women represented 40 percent of all lawyers overall (up from 39 percent in 2020). Of all female equity partners, 16 percent were multicultural, and multicultural women represented 27 percent of overall women lawyers (up from 26 percent).
A few key parental-leave, work-life and career-advancement initiatives taking place at firms featured on the list:
- One-hundred percent of firms let new parents come back to work at reduced hours.
- The average number of paid parental leave offered is 13 weeks, the same as the previous year.
- Eighty-six percent of firms offer subsidized in-home backup childcare.
- Seventy-two percent of the firms on the list have formal sponsorship, and 74 percent have formal succession planning.
- Seventy percent tie partner compensation to women’s advancement.
About the Methodology
Seramount’s 2021 Best Law Firms for Women application includes more than 300 questions about attorney demographics at different levels, schedule flexibility, paid time off and parental leaves, and development and retention of women. This year, in light of COVID-19, several questions were added about the success of working from home for lawyers.
About Seramount
Seramount is a strategic professional-services firm dedicated to advancing diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace. Over four decades, partnering with some of the most iconic companies in the world, we’ve built a deep, data-driven understanding of the employee experience, which lays the groundwork for everything we do. Our comprehensive DEI toolkit includes actionable research and insights, membership, strategic guidance and consulting, and inspiring events, meeting each client’s needs no matter where they are on their journey, and guiding them along an ever-changing landscape. Seramount has empowered more than 450 organizations to realize the business benefits of diversity, equity and inclusion. Learn more at seramount.com.