Jenner & Block LLP Named One Of Working Mother & Flex-Time Lawyers "50 Best Law Firms for Women" For Leadership In Promoting, Retaining Talent

NEW YORK, Nov. 13, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Working Mother today named Jenner & Block as one of the 2012 Working Mother and Flex-Time Lawyers "50 Best Law Firms for Women", awarded for their family-friendly policies and business development initiatives that are retaining women and advancing them into the leadership pipeline. The companies are featured in the December/January issue of the magazine, and on workingmother.com and flextime lawyers.com.

Here is a full list of the 2012 Working Mother and Flex-Time Lawyers 50 Best Law Firms for Women, which includes the percentage of female equity and non-equity partners and the percentage of each firm's lawyers who work reduced hours. Working Mother and Flex-Time Lawyers founded the 50 Best Law Firms initiative for Women in 2007 to celebrate the law firms that are most successful in retaining and promoting women lawyers. The goal is also to give law firms the benchmarking tools to enable them to improve the status of women in their firms in the future.

Carol Evans, president of Working Mother Media, says, "Nearly one third of women lawyers are leaving the legal workforce independent of maternity leave. The Working Mother and Flex-Time Lawyers 50 Best Law Firms for Women have led the way in creating new models for the rest of their profession in promoting women and developing more generous work life policies. These firms deserve recognition for working to improve women's advancement and to equalize their compensation and access to business development."

Deborah Epstein Henry, president of Flex-Time Lawyers LLC, states, "These firms understand that their efforts towards women need to expand to not only focus on work life issues but also on women gaining access to sponsors as well as business development and leadership opportunities.  We hope these firms will lead the charge to further improve the status of women in the profession by creating structural change within the law firm model as well as empowering women to take the individual action steps they need to make sustainable change."

"We are extremely proud to once again be listed in Working Mother's 'Top 50 Law Firms for Women,'" said Jenner & Block Managing Partner Susan C. Levy.  "We have a strong commitment to diversity and inclusion, and a long history of hiring and promoting women attorneys.  As a firm, we have many women in leadership positions including a woman Managing Partner, women practice group leaders and women on the firm's management and policy committees.  We also have an active Women's Forum affinity group that helps lead our efforts.  Our women attorneys have achieved many 'firsts' in the legal profession, including the first woman to head the Litigation Section of the American Bar Association and the first woman to be inducted as an Illinois Fellow into the prestigious American College of Trial Lawyers.  It is great to have Working Mother recognize our efforts."

About Jenner & Block

Jenner & Block (www.jenner.com) is a national law firm with approximately 450 attorneys and offices in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York and Washington, DC.  Founded in 1914, Jenner & Block is known for its prominent and successful litigation practice and experience handling sophisticated and high-profile corporate transactions.  Firm clients include Fortune 100 companies, large privately held corporations, financial services institutions, emerging companies, venture capital and private equity investors. 

About Flex-Time Lawyers

Flex-Time Lawyers LLC is an international consulting firm founded by Deborah Epstein Henry in the late 1990s, providing advisory, training and speaking services to employers and professionals on work life balance, retaining and promoting women and new models of legal practice. It provides speaking services at law firms, in-house legal departments, professional service firms, corporations, non-profits, bar associations, law schools, national conferences, events, and retreats.  Flex-Time Lawyers also hosts a membership organization with a chapter in New York, offering quarterly events on timely issues with prominent speakers.  Membership also provides resources, networking opportunities and education about legal industry norms.  For more information, please visit http://www.flextimelawyers.com.

About Working Mother Media

Working Mother Media, a division of Bonnier Corporation (bonnier.com), publishes Working Mother magazine and its companion website, workingmother.com, and the Working Mother Research Institute. The National Association for Female Executives (nafe.com) and Diversity Best Practices (diversitybestpractices.com) are also units within WMM. Working Mother Media'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; Workingmother.com gives working mothers @home and @work advice, solutions and ideas. This year marks the 27th anniversary of the magazine's signature research initiative, the Working Mother 100 Best Companies, and the 10th year of the Best Companies for Multicultural Women. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Pinterest.

SOURCE Jenner & Block