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While part-time work has been a viable option for many workers attempting to balance work and family lives, it has not, generally or traditionally, been available to most law partners. In fact, historically, working part-time in the law has been seen as professional suicide. However, a new study just released by The Project for Attorney Retention, Reduced Hours, Full Success: Part-Time Partners in U.S. Law Firms, demonstrates that there is evidence that providing part-time partners options to employees can be a “win-win” for employees and firms. More specifically, this report shows that law firms can successfully implement reduced-hour programs and that part-time lawyers and their law firms will prosper because of these programs.

The premise of the report is that part-time partners are “key to the law firms’ long-term financial health” and that providing part-time partnership options affords firms the opportunity to attract and retain excellent lawyers from a larger pool of applicants, including groups that value work-life balance (e.g., mothers and Generation Yers). This report also asserts that providing part-time partnership options helps firms “save recruiting costs by hiring fewer new lawyers, retain a diverse group of lawyers, reduce attrition costs, attract new clients, and increase the satisfaction of current clients.”

Some of the key findings of the report include the following:

1. Part-time partners rarely work set schedules and their schedules are mainly driven by client needs (with many such partners regularly working more than 40 hours a week);
2. Reduced hours programs attracted and retained many partners, and in fact, many lawyers were drawn to their firms because of the possibility of reduced hours;
3. Client service is not compromised by part-time schedules, and in many cases, clients are unaware of the part-time schedule due to the responsiveness and availability of the partners;
4. Many part-time partners are financially successful at their firms, and that, in fact, part-time lawyers generate significant revenue both from their own billable hours and from the origination of new business;
5. Most part-time partners (60%) from the study reported they did not feel stigmatized because of their part-time status.

In addition to its main findings, the report also includes “Best Practices Recommendations for Law Firms,” which provides specific steps firms can take to invest in their part-time partners and thus their firm’s bottom line. Moreover, this new report includes “Recommendations for a Successful Part-Time Partnership,” drawn directly from respondents’ experiences and written for attorneys who are hoping to be successful part-time partners.

• Part-Time Work , Publications , Research , Workplace