PAR Consultants Available to Assist Firms

Many law firms are interested in implementing programs to improve their recruiting and retention through the use of balanced hours and other initiatives. PAR can help, through highly qualified consultants located across the country. Consultants can help firms identify specific areas that would benefit from some retooling, work with key people in the firm to create an action plan, and assist in the implementation and evaluation of the plan.

Why use a consultant? Simple: time, expertise, and cost effectiveness. Few attorneys have the time to research what initiatives other firms and organizations are undertaking, delve into the causes of high attrition, or learn and implement the most effective methods of creating change in their firms. It is far quicker and less expensive to have a third party do the legwork for you.

Our consultants have a wide range of expertise, including issues related to the advancement and retention of women attorneys, work/life integration, business development for associates, and leadership training. Here are some of the ways our consultants have already helped law firms:

• Provided partners with an overview of the generational, gender, and economic issues involved in work/life integration
• Discovered, using a variety of methods, the real reasons associates were leaving a firm -- including the reasons the associates were reluctant to state
• Trained attorneys working reduced hours and their supervisors on how to make reduced schedules work
• Coached partners on how to recognize hidden biases in interactions with female and minority attorneys and how to neutralize those biases
• Counseled managing partners on communicating consistent support for initiatives
• Assisted firms with calculating the economic impact of unwanted attrition and of reduced schedules

What can our consultants do to help you? For more information, please contact PAR Co-director Cynthia Calvert (CynthiaCalvert at pardc dot org).