NLJ Spotlights Akin Gump Female Partner Promotions, Reduced Workload Policy

For its article “At Some D.C. Firms, More Women Than Men Make Partner,” The National Law Journal focused, among other topics, on the role that flexible work schedule policies at law firms play in having more female partners.

The article reported that, of the five lawyers promoted to the partnership at Akin Gump’s Washington, D.C., office, four were women, three of whom had used the firm’s reduced workload program and were continuing to participate in it.

The article went on to note that firm chairperson Kim Koopersmith had herself started at the firm as a litigation partner on a four-day-a -week schedule.

Akin Gump’s Reduced Workload Policy, developed by Kim Koopersmith, was designed to allow firm lawyers to work reduced schedules in order to fulfill family care responsibilities or pursue activities designed to enhance their professional development. The policy specifically provides that lawyers working a reduced workload remain eligible for partnership and counsel promotion.  (Learn more here.)