Contact:
For Godfrey & Kahn, S.C.:
Emily Friedrich, Public Relations Specialist
414.287.9485 or efriedrich@gklaw.com
For NAFE/Working Mother Media:
Leah Goodman, The Rosen Group
212.255.8478 or leah@rosengrouppr.com
For Flex-Time Lawyers:
Deborah Epstein Henry, Esq., Founder & President
610.658.0836 or dehenry@flextimelawyers.com
MILWAUKEE (Sept. 13, 2011)— Today’s legal leaders are supporting female lawyers with work-life balance and women-friendly policies, offering new standards that retain and promote top female legal talent in a male-driven field. With that, the National Association for Female Executives (NAFE) and Flex-Time Lawyers today announce Godfrey & Kahn, S.C. as a NAFE and Flex-Time Lawyers Best Law Firm for Women. NAFE is a division of Working Mother Media. This is the first time that Godfrey & Kahn has been named a Best Law Firm for Women.
“Godfrey & Kahn offers an array of best practices and comprehensive benefits that meet the demands of today’s families,” said Jennifer Owens, Director of the Working Mother Research Institute. “We are proud to welcome them to the NAFE Best Law Firms list.”
The 2011 Best Law Firms for Women application was developed in a partnership between Working Mother Media and Flex-Time Lawyers LLC. Firms with at least 50 lawyers were eligible to apply and the application included detailed questions about the issues that are most important to the retention and promotion of female lawyers. Completed applications were collected online from Nov. 12, 2010 to Jan. 21, 2011. All data for the 2011 survey was collected from the full year of 2010. The 50 winning firms were selected based on their responses to an application measuring areas such as workforce profile, family-friendly benefits and policies, flexibility, leadership, compensation, advancement and retention of women.
“Our research team has seen an increase in the number of female partners working at the Best Law Firms within the past five years, with women as 19 percent of equity partners, compared to the national average of 15 percent,” said Dr. Betty Spence, President, NAFE. “We applaud how the 2011 Best Law Firms for Women are making it possible for women to succeed by offering programs and policies that support their needs.”
The 2011 NAFE & Flex-Time Lawyers Best Law Firms for Women are continuing to redefine the standards of success, with written reduced hour policies at 100 percent of the winning firms and 78 percent who are offering full-time telecommuting. The Best Law Firms for Women have increased support for programs that encourage networking, training and mentoring.
“As a firm, we are very proud of our culture and pride ourselves on being innovative and creative when it comes to meeting the needs of our lawyers and administrative staff,” said Nic Wahl, Managing Partner of Godfrey & Kahn, S.C. “We are honored to receive such a prestigious, national recognition as a result of our efforts.”
“The 2011 Best Law Firms for Women are encouraging the retention and promotion of women, in addition to creating conducive work environments for all lawyers to thrive,” said Deborah Epstein Henry, Founder and President, Flex-Time Lawyers. “By offering leadership and business development opportunities for women, along with generous flexibility, parental leave and childcare programs, these firms are better poised to retain and promote the brightest legal minds, with the goal of reaching parity for women in the profession.”
Godfrey & Kahn, S.C., the 50 Best Law Firms for Women and their work/life and women-friendly policies will be featured in the fall 2011 issue of NAFE magazine and are profiled at nafe.com, http://www.workingmother.com and http://www.flextimelawyers.com. Winning firms will be honored in New York on Sept. 21. NAFE is a division of Working Mother Media, a division of Bonnier Corporation.
About Godfrey & Kahn, S.C.
With more than 180 lawyers, Godfrey & Kahn, S.C. is one of Wisconsin’s leading business law firms. Founded in 1957, Godfrey & Kahn maintains offices in Milwaukee, Madison, Appleton, Green Bay and Waukesha, Wis.; and Washington, DC. For more information, please visit the firm’s web site at http://www.gklaw.com.
About Working Mother Media
Working Mother magazine reaches 2.2 million readers and is the only national magazine for career-committed mothers; WorkingMother.com (http://www.workingmother.com) gives working mothers @home and @work advice, solutions, and ideas. This year marks the 26th anniversary of Working Mother’s signature research initiative, Working Mother 100 Best Companies, and the ninth year of the Best Companies for Multicultural Women. Working Mother Media, a division of Bonnier Corporation (http://www.bonnier.com), includes the National Association for Female Executives (NAFE, http://www.nafe.com), Diversity Best Practices (http://www.diversitybestpractices.com), and the Working Mother Research Institute. Working Mother Media’s mission is to serve as a champion of culture change.
About Bonnier Corporation Bonnier Corp. (http://www.bonniercorp.com) is one of the largest consumer-publishing groups in America and is the leading media company serving passionate, highly engaged audiences, through 50 special-interest magazines and related multimedia projects and events. Bonnier Corp. is the U.S. division of the Bonnier Group (http://www.bonnier.com), a 200-year-old, family-owned media group based in Sweden with business operations in 25 countries.
About Flex-Time Lawyers LLC
Flex-Time Lawyers LLC® is a national consulting firm advising the legal profession on workplace restructure, talent management, work/life balance, and the retention and promotion of lawyers, with a focus on women. It hosts a membership organization with quarterly chapter meetings for legal employers and lawyers, offering networking opportunities, employer advice, support, career guidance, education and information sharing to effect change. Flex-Time Lawyers LLC is a resource to the press and legal community at large and also provides recruiting services. It has been covered extensively in the national and legal press, including The New York Times, NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams, National Public Radio, National Law Journal, and numerous others. For more information, please visit http://www.flextimelawyers.com.
