Leading Advocates for Work/Life Balance and Women Pair to Honor the

Nation's Most Progressive Law Firms

    NEW YORK, Aug. 14 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Working Mother magazine,
 the authoritative source for career mothers, and Flex-Time Lawyers LLC, a
 national consulting firm advising attorneys and legal employers on
 work-life balance and the retention and advancement of women, today
 announced the list of the 2007 Working Mother & Flex-Time Lawyers Best Law
 Firms for Women. The winning firms are notable for their work/life and
 women-friendly policies -- including flex-time, child care and
 women-focused mentoring, leadership and networking programs -- as they set
 new standards to retain and promote top female legal talent.
     In a profession often distinguished by cut-throat competition, 100-hour
 work weeks, and few women in top partnership positions, the 2007 Working
 Mother & Flex-Time Lawyers Best Law Firms for Women firms are redefining
 standards of success and creating workplaces that encourage the retention
 and promotion of women. For more than twenty years, women have comprised
 40-50% of law school graduates and forward-thinking firms are recognizing
 that in order to retain and promote the best talent, they need to ensure
 women lawyers' success.
     "Forget the old stereotypes of law firms as inhospitable to women,"
 said Suzanne Riss, Editor in Chief, Working Mother magazine. "As Working
 Mother examined the practices of many of the nation's law firms, I was
 pleasantly surprised to discover that a number have been quietly changing
 their policies in recent years to reflect changes that are afoot in society
 as a whole. The 2007 Working Mother & Flex-Time Lawyers Best Law Firms for
 Women are making women's issues a priority, and the success of their
 policies will hopefully become reflected in the number of women, from
 associates all the way up to partners."
     "We are delighted to celebrate the firms that have begun to make
 strides with respect to women. Competition is the ultimate instrument of
 change and my goal in partnering with Working Mother to create this list is
 to make work/life balance and women's issues a basis of competition among
 law firms, as historically has been the case for salary or pro-bono," said
 Deborah Epstein Henry, Founder and President, Flex-Time Lawyers LLC.
     Added Henry, "The other key component to making change is information
 and participating law firms are now positioned to acquire the national
 benchmarking data they need to improve the status of women in the
 profession and raise the bar on what makes a best law firm for women."
     THE 2007 WORKING MOTHER & FLEX-TIME LAWYERS
 BEST LAW FIRMS FOR WOMEN
 
     Alston & Bird, Atlanta, GA
     Armstrong Teasdale, St. Louis, MO
     Arnold & Porter, Washington, DC
     Baker & Daniels, Indianapolis, IN
     Baker & McKenzie, Chicago, IL
     Bingham McCutchen, Boston, MA
     Blackwell Sanders, Kansas City, MO
     Bryan Cave, St. Louis, MO
     Chapman and Cutler, Chicago, IL
     Covington & Burling, Washington, DC
     Cravath, Swaine & Moore, New York, NY
     Debevoise & Plimpton, New York, NY
     Dickstein Shapiro, Washington, DC
     DLA Piper US, New York, NY
     Dorsey & Whitney, Minneapolis, MN
     Duane Morris, Philadelphia, PA
     Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott, Pittsburgh, PA
     Farella Braun + Martel, San Francisco, CA
     Foley & Lardner, Milwaukee, WI
     Folger Levin & Kahn, San Francisco, CA
     Gibbons P.C., Newark, NJ
     Heller Ehrman, San Francisco, CA
     Hogan & Hartson, Washington, DC
     Holland & Knight, New York, NY
     Howrey, Washington, DC
     Hunton & Williams, Richmond, VA
     Ice Miller, Indianapolis, IN
     Katten Muchin Rosenman, Chicago, IL
     King & Spalding, Atlanta, GA
     Kirkland & Ellis, Chicago, IL
     Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Preston Gates Ellis, Pittsburgh, PA
     Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel, New York, NY
     Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, Los Angeles, CA
     Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw, Chicago, IL
     McDermott Will & Emery, Chicago, IL
     McGuireWoods, Richmond, VA
     Miller & Chevalier Chartered, Washington, DC
     Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky and Popeo, Boston, MA
     Morrison & Foerster, San Francisco, CA
     Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, New York, NY
     Patton Boggs, Washington, DC
     Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, New York, NY
     Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, New York, NY
     Reed Smith, Pittsburgh, PA
     Sidley Austin, Chicago, IL
     Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, New York, NY
     Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal, Chicago, IL
     White & Case, New York, NY
     WilmerHale, Washington, DC
     Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice, Winston-Salem, NC
     The complete information about the 2007 Working Mother & Flex-Time
 Lawyers Best Law Firms for Women-including profiles of the winning
 firms-appears in the August/September issue of Working Mother, available on
 newsstands August 14, 2007 and at http://www.workingmother.com and
 http://www.flextimelawyers.com.
     Methodology
     The 2007 Best Law Firms for Women application was developed in a
 partnership between Working Mother & Flex-Time Lawyers LLC. The application
 included detailed questions about the issues that are most important to the
 retention and promotion of women lawyers. The 50 winning firms were
 selected based on their responses to an application measuring six areas of
 importance: workforce profile, benefits and compensation, parental leave,
 child care, flexibility, and retention and advancement of women.
     About Working Mother
     Founded in 1979, Working Mother magazine reaches nearly 3 million
 readers and is the only national magazine for career mothers. Its 21-year
 signature initiative, Working Mother 100 Best Companies, is the most
 important benchmark for work/life practices in corporate America. The
 publication also releases the annual list of the Best Companies for
 Multicultural Women in the June issue. Working Mother is published by
 Working Mother Media (WMM), which also owns the National Association for
 Female Executives (NAFE), NAFE Magazine, the annual 100 Best Companies
 WorkLife Congress, as well as the Best Companies for Multicultural Women
 Conference and regional Town Halls. In 2006, WMM acquired Diversity Best
 Practices and the Business Women's Network, making Working Mother Media the
 largest media company in the country focused on diversity and the
 advancement of women. For more information, please visit
 http://www.workingmother.com.
     About Flex-Time Lawyers LLC
     Flex-Time Lawyers LLC(R) is a national consulting firm advising
 lawyers, law firms, bar associations, law schools and corporations on
 work/life balance, business development, women's initiatives, re-entry of
 comeback professionals and the retention and promotion of women. It hosts a
 membership organization with chapters in New York and Philadelphia,
 offering networking opportunities, support, career guidance, education and
 information sharing to effect change. Flex-Time Lawyers LLC is a resource
 to the press and legal community at large on work/life balance and women's
 issues and also provides recruiting services. It has been covered
 extensively in the national and legal press, including The New York Times,
 NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams, National Public Radio, The Boston
 Globe, The Los Angeles Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, National Law
 Journal, New York Law Journal, and numerous others. For more information,
 please visit http://www.flextimelawyers.com.
 
 

SOURCE Flex-Time Lawyers LLC and Working Mother