Via GoFaxer blog I learned of an interesting article from BusinessWeek regarding a law firm that is described as "flexible".
The article described the practices of a law firm that "only" required 1800 billable hours per year. The good news was that that firm allowed lawyers to work from home and it appeared that face time wasn't of paramount importance.
While I applaud the firm for its relatively high female partnership rate and its attempt to change with the times, I'm not entirely convinced that billing requirements at this firm allow for time to do anything else but work. It's a step in the right direction--but a baby step.
Once legal employers recognize that their employees will have long careers--spanning 30-40 years--and will have the varying abilities to to devote themselves to work that at different times throughout their careers. Illness, an ailing parent or child, an ailing spouse, or family demands may prevent them from giving their all at certain stages of their career. But, these same employees will more than make up for the "lapse" down the road.
Another annoying aspect of this article is the assumption that the only place for those "with ambition" is BigLaw. How ridiculous.
Finally, the "incentive" offered by this firm--a percentage of business brought in--sounds better on paper than it is in practice. It's not all it's cut out to be.
From the article
Law is a notoriously demanding profession for those with ambition. To become a partner, associates typically have to charge clients for at least 2,000 hours of work a year, though that minimum can rise to 2,400 hours at top-tier outfits—or 46 billable hours each and every week of the year. The burden falls especially hard on mothers who have got kids to tend to and households to manage. Little wonder that while half of all law school grads are women, only 17.2% of partners are, according to the Project for Attorney Retention at the University of California Hastings College of Law in San Francisco.
Beermann Swerdlove lies on the outer slope of this bell curve. Fully half of the Chicago firm's 30 attorneys are women, including eight of its 19 partners...To put its philosophy into practice the firm requires associates to bill a relatively modest minimum of 1,800 hours a year. Attorneys may work on a flexible schedule or from home as long as the work gets done and the client is happy. There is a tradeoff: Starting salaries for associates are about half of the big firms' $150,000 or so, and partners rarely make the $1 million or more that a partner might earn at a much larger firm...To make up for some of that pay gap, the firm, now based in the Loop, gives associates a percentage of new business they bring in, an arrangement unheard of at many partnerships.
