Infobit: Since 1985, law schools have been graduating classes of new lawyers that are 40% or more female. Yet in 1996, only 14.2% of law firm partners were women, and in 2005, only 17.2% were women. (Note: this figure is for all partners; the number of equity partners is lower.) Source: Catalyst. At this rate of increase, women should make up half of law firm partners by the year 2115.

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Natalie Hiott-Levine is the Assistant Director of the Project for Attorney Retention.

Ms. Hiott-Levine is an adjunct professor in the Business Law and Accountancy Department of St. Peter's College in New Jersey. Prior to joining PAR’s staff in 2005, Ms. Hiott-Levine spent the better part of ten years litigating complex commercial matters in both federal and state courts. After receiving her JD from New York University School of Law in 1995, she became an associate at Wilentz, Goldman & Spitzer, P.C., in Woodbridge, New Jersey. At Wilentz, she first practiced as a school board attorney, and later in the areas of commercial litigation and employment discrimination. In 1997, she joined the New York office of Mayer Brown LLP (then Mayer Brown & Platt) as a third year attorney and practiced complex commercial litigation there for eight years, first full-time and later on a reduced schedule. While at Mayer Brown, Ms. Hiott-Levine represented accounting and consulting firms, pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers, engineering and construction companies, commercial and industrial property owners, hotels, banks, a health insurer, and a foreign government in various civil matters, including suits involving allegations of breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, professional malpractice, fraud, misrepresentation, negligence, product liability, patent infringement, environmental contamination, and antitrust violations.

Over the years, Ms. Hiott-Levine has been very active in numerous women’s and diversity initiatives and organizations. Between 2004 and 2006, she co-chaired the programming subcommittee of the New York State Bar Association’s Committee on Women in the Law and chaired two of the Committee’s annual programs: “The Value of Diversity: Creating a Win-Win Environment for Women and Minority Attorneys AND Their Employers,” (2005) and “Family Responsibilities: Legal Issues & Trends, Rights & Remedies” (2007). During that period she also served on the executive board of NYU's Black, Latino, Asian Pacific American Law Alumni Association as a class representative and co-chair of its Membership and Outreach Committee. Since 2005, Ms. Hiott-Levine has also been a member of the New York County Lawyers’ Association Women’s Rights Committee, and co-chaired its “Women in the Law: Strategies for Success” programming series in 2006-2007. Since 2006 she has also served as Co-Director of Best Practices on the New Jersey Women Lawyers Association’s Board of Trustees.

Ms. Hiott-Levine co-authored two published essays: “A New Path to Excellence: Balanced Hours 101,” which appears as a chapter in Raising the Bar: Real World Solutions for a Troubled Profession (ABA 2007) (co-author Cynthia Thomas Calvert, PAR's Co-Director); and “Women in the Legal Profession: The Quest to Overcome Barriers to Advancement Continues,” which appeared as an article in Commerce Magazine (Summer 2006) (co-author Kirsten Scheurer Branigan). She is married and lives in New Jersey with her husband and three sons.