Typical work weeks of sixty hours or more are driving attorneys out of law firms. Parents, people with elder care responsibilities, and young attorneys with interests outside of firm life are fleeing firms in search of jobs that will enable them to balance better their professional and personal lives. It costs firms between $200,000 and $500,000 to replace each attorney, so every time five attorneys leave a firm, at least a million dollars go with them.

Clients are becoming increasingly dissatisfied with attorney turnover. They invest significant time and money into educating their outside counsel and developing relationships with them, and are seeking to protect that investment by hiring law firms with low attrition rates. Corporate clients often have good work/life programs and want to hire law firms with similar philosophies.

Attrition is particularly detrimental to law firms today. The number of new lawyers is expected to decrease over the next few years, and the competition for legal talent from investment banks and accounting firms is on the rise. The recruiting outlook is complicated by the fact that the majority of new law graduates will soon be women, and the fact that more women than men leave law firms.

PAR recently issued a report of its year-long study of Washington law firms, Balanced Hours: Effective Part-Time Policies for Washington Law Firms. The report states that a major cause of attrition at law firms is attorneys' desire to have balanced lives and the perception that law firms cannot provide the desired balance. Studies show that attorneys -- both men and women -- want to work fewer hours, and when they find firms where they can reduce their hours without committing career suicide, they stay with their firms.

Part-time work at most law firms is highly stigmatized, however, says the report. As a result, few attorneys seek balance through reduced hours. Part-time attorneys in Washington report that their work assignments have suffered and their partnership chances withered. Moreover, few firms honor part-time schedules and part-time attorneys often find themselves working full-time hours for part-time pay.

This failure of current part-time programs is particularly harmful to women because most women will become mothers and labor statistics show that fewer than 10% of mothers work more than 50 hours per week -- meaning that as law firm work is currently structured with its long work weeks, women attorneys still have to choose between their careers and their families. The fact that 85% of law firm partners are men even though an ample supply of women have been in the pipeline for decades, is strong evidence of the disproportionate impact on women.

Recent figures show that male attorneys are feeling as much work/life conflict as female attorneys, and 70% of young male attorneys would be willing to trade money for fewer hours -- but most are not willing to sacrifice their careers for the trade-off. The result is high attrition as men and women look for balance.

PAR's report sets forth an action plan for stemming attrition. First, it provides an easy six-part test that law firms can use to determine if they have an effective balanced hours policy that will reduce attrition or merely a shelf product. The test includes measuring how many attorneys work reduced hours, whether attorneys on reduced hours schedules consistently work more than their contracted hours, and how many attorneys working reduced hours have been promoted to partner.

Second, the report describes the key ingredients of an effective policy, and provides a model policy. At a minimum, an effective policy should follow the Principle of Proportionality: proportional pay, benefits, work assignments and promotion. An effective policy should also be available to all, not just mothers, and should allow schedules that are flexibly-tailored to meet attorneys' individual needs.

Third, the report recommends an implementation plan based on best practices already in use at law firms and accounting firms across the country. Keys to successful implementation include leadership from the top, training, and the appointment of a Balanced Hours Coordinator. Finally, the report responds to common myths about balanced hours work at law firms.

The full report and appendices are available at PAR's website, www.pardc.org.

PAR, an initiative of the Gender, Work and Family Project of American University Washington College of Law, is funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and supported by the Women's Bar Association of the District of Columbia. Its Advisory Committee includes past and present presidents of the District of Columbia Bar, leading members of Washington legal community, and experts on work-life issues. The co-directors of PAR are Joan Williams and Cynthia Thomas Calvert. More information is available at the PAR web site, www.pardc.org.

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