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New Career Paths for Lawyers

By Ida O. Abbott
May 31, 2007

Many lawyers today seek unconventional career paths. Instead of career ladders that envision uninterrupted, full-time, upward movement toward partnership, lawyers now think in terms of career lattices that include lateral moves, flexible work schedules, and occasional periods away from practice altogether. This highly mobile 'free agent' lawyer population creates a dilemma for law firms. Firms need a stable group of lawyers to serve their clients and become the firm's future partners and leaders. Rather than risk losing lawyers, many firms are trying inventive approaches to create more flexible career paths. Here are five current trends.

1) Making Flexible Work Arrangements Fair and Effective. Almost all American law firms have policies allowing associates to work on flexible schedules, but very few lawyers take advantage of those policies. Most lawyers believe that working less than full time is a career killer. In too many firms, flextime lawyers are unfairly perceived as uncommitted to their work. They are given uninteresting or insignificant assignments, expected to work longer hours than agreed upon for reduced pay, and written off as not partnership material. Rather than put up with such work conditions, many flextime lawyers quit.

Firms are beginning to recognize that marginalizing or mistreating flextime lawyers results in a loss of highly capable, experienced talent. To make their policies more equitable and effective, many firms designate individuals responsible for ensuring that flextime associates receive appropriate work and that both the lawyer and the firm abide by the terms of a written agreement spelling out the flextime arrangement. To ensure that its reduced hours policy operates productively, Fenwick & West LLP, for example, has presented a series of workshops designed to prevent bias and discriminatory treatment against flextime lawyers and to demonstrate techniques for leading and working in teams with lawyers on diverse schedules.

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