SAN FRANCISCO, October 26, 2009: Today the Project for Attorney Retention (PAR), a national organization dedicated to advancing women lawyers and improving work-life balance for all lawyers, announced the recipients of its 2009 PAR Flex Success Award. This is the only award to recognize the crucial role clients play in making workplace flexibility a reality for lawyers in law firms. The PAR Flex Success Award is an outgrowth of PAR’s Diversity and Flexibility Connection, an initiative in which general counsel and law firm leaders have explored the connection between work-life strategies and diversity objectives. “Last month PAR released a ground-breaking study showing that many part-time partners are highly successful,” said Joan C. Williams, co-director of PAR. “PAR’s Connection brought to light the crucial role clients play in that success.  We are excited and honored to be the first organization to recognize this vital contribution.” PAR honors two lawyer-client pairs with its 2009 PAR Flex Success Award.  The first is Virginia A. Seitz, a partner at Sidley Austin LLP and her client Michael Weiner, General Counsel of The Major League Baseball Players Association. Virginia has balanced significant child care responsibilities with her role as one of the leading appellate lawyers in the United States. Ms. Seitz’s client, General Counsel Michael Weiner, made clear during her transition to a reduced schedule his commitment to continuing to work with her. The resulting professional relationship has only grown stronger over time.   The second pair of award winners is Deborah Kelly, a partner at Dickstein Shapiro LLP and her client Anahaita Kotval, Managing Director and General Counsel of RBS Securities, Inc.  Following time off for the birth of triplets, Ms. Kelly proposed something virtually unheard of at the time: a move to a reduced schedule while staying on partnership track. What followed was a remarkable 18 years at Dickstein Shapiro LLP where she built and continues to lead a thriving Employment Practice with more than 15 attorneys. Anahaita Kotval, the current Managing Director and General Counsel of RBS Securities, has successfully worked with Ms. Kelly over many years.   PAR also awarded two Honorable Mentions. One went to Susan H. Mac Cormac, a partner at Morrison & Foerster LLP and her client, Brodie Stephens, Esq., who previously served as General Counsel at EDAW and is now General Counsel at Perkins + Will.  The other Honorable Mention went to Michelle M. Bufano, a partner at Gibbons P.C. and Mary-Alice Barrett, Senior Counsel–Litigation at Hoffmann-La Roche Inc.   “One key characteristic of these highly successful relationships is the part-time partners’ responsiveness to their clients,” said Cynthia Calvert, PAR’s co-director and one of the study’s authors. “PAR’s part-time partner study, for which we interviewed over one hundred attorneys, showed that successful part-time partners—like all successful partners—are highly responsive when their clients need them.”   The award will be presented at a luncheon on October 29 during PAR’s Diversity & Flexibility Connection Conference in Washington, D.C. (details at www.pardc.org/ConnectionConf).   PAR is headquartered at UC Hastings College of the Law.  Its co-directors are Joan C. Williams, distinguished professor of law at Hastings, and Cynthia Thomas Calvert, a former law firm litigation partner.  For more information, visit PAR’s website at www.pardc.org. # # #