​Working Mother Names Quarles & Brady One of the 2017 “Best Law Firms For Women”

MILWAUKEE, Wis. — Quarles & Brady LLP was today named by Working Mother magazine as one of the 2017 “Best Law Firms for Women,” in recognition of using best practices in retaining and promoting women lawyers. The annual list recognizes 50 U.S. law firms for their policies in the advancement of women and for the implementation of work-life balance initiatives.

The full list of the 2017 Working Mother Best Law Firms for Women is posted here with highlights on representation of women and women of color in key leadership roles, and usage and promotion rates for reduced-hour lawyers, among other key points. For the first time, Working Mother worked in collaboration with the ABA Journal as a knowledge partner.

Here are highlights from the 2017 Working Mother Best Law Firms for Women data:

• Over the last 10 years, the percentage of female equity partners has increased to 20% from 16% and female non-equity partners has grown to 30% from 22% at the Best Law Firms. This year, the Best Law Firms employ more female equity partners (20%) than the national average (18%).* Source: National Association of Women Lawyers.
• Among their Top 10 rainmakers, 83% of the top firms have at least one woman.
• Since last year, the number of paid weeks of maternity leave offered at the Best Law Firms increased one week to an average of 16 weeks. Yet the average number of weeks of maternity leave taken by lawyer moms stayed the same, at 14. An average of 8 weeks of paid paternity leave was offered with an average of 4 weeks taken.
• A majority (53%) of all lawyers at the top firms report working remotely, the most popular flex option among both male and female lawyers at every level, which is offered by all of the winning firms.

Kimberly Leach Johnson, Quarles & Brady's Firm Chair, states, "We are proud of the key role that our women attorneys play in the success of our clients and in the business of running our firm, and we are pleased to be recognized by Working Mother for our firm's policies and initiatives in retaining and promoting women attorneys."

Subha V. Barry, senior vice president & managing director, Working Mother Media, says, “This is the tenth year Working Mother has recognized the Best Law Firms for Women which heralds U.S. law firms that create and use best practices in retaining and promoting women lawyers. We are proud to illuminate the accomplishments of the firms leading the way in helping women advance and achieve a more balanced work life.”

“The ABA Journal is delighted to be part of the Best Law Firms for Women project that explores in depth what’s really working at law firms to fill the diversity gap and ensure women are getting the support and resources they need to advance,” says Molly McDonough, editor & publisher, The ABA Journal. The ABA Journal’s companion feature will appear in October.

Meredith Bodgas, editor-in-chief of Working Mother, says, “The Best Law Firms for Women are not only setting the standard for the modern-day law firm in supporting flexible work arrangements and offering generous paid leave but also ensuring that lawyers who take advantage of these programs are not excluded from the partnership track.”

About the Methodology
Law firms completed an extensive application in the areas of workforce profile, flexibility and development and retention of women. Best Law Firms were selected from a pool of self-selected applicant firms with 50 or more lawyers in the U.S. Statistics reported are aggregated from data provided by the firms collected from the full year of 2016.

About Working Mother Media
Working Mother Media (WMM), a division of Bonnier Corporation (bonnier.com), publishes Working Mother magazine and its companion website, workingmother.com. The Working Mother Research Institute (workingmother.com/wmri), the National Association for Female Executives (nafe.com) and Diversity Best Practices (diversitybestpractices.com) are also units within WMM. WMM’s mission is to serve as a champion of culture change. Working Mother magazine reaches more than 2 million readers and is the only national magazine for career-committed mothers. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Pinterest.