Working Mother – August 2019

Workingmother.com | August/September 2019 35

Quarles & Brady
Milwaukee, WI
Managing Partner
Kimberly Leach Johnson
Partners and Co-chairs,
Women’s Forum Jean K. Baker
and Marian LaLonde
Business-development and
leadership-training opportuni-
ties for women associates
include Quarles & Brady
University, a series of training
programs; QBU Junior, an
orientation program for entry-
level associates; and QBU
Mid-Level, for fourth-year
associates, focused on client
relationships, improving
communication, marketing,
supervision skills and
preparing for partnership.

Reed Smith Pittsburgh, PA
Global Managing Partner
Sandy Thomas
Global Chair, Women’s Initia-
tive Network Cristina Shea
The Ramp Up Program for law-
yers returning to work from long
absences, such as maternity or
disability leave, was launched,
providing 16 weeks of reduced
work-hour expectations with full
base salary or compensation.

Seyfarth Shaw Chicago, IL
Partner Peter Miller
Partner Ellen McLaughlin
Half of the newly appointed
national department chairs and
the newly elected executive
committee members are
women. Female partners hold
office-management leadership
positions in the firm’s largest
offices, including New York,
Los Angeles and Chicago.

Sheppard, Mullin,
Richter & Hampton
Los Angeles, CA
Managing Partner
Robert Beall
Partner Nancy Pritikin
The firm pilots business-
development mentoring
circles for women income
partners. The groups—all of
which are led by two equity
partners—meet regularly to

discuss business-development

strategy and encourage peer-

to-peer information sharing.

Shook, Hardy & Bacon

Kansas City, MO

Chair Madeleine McDonough

Partner and Chair, Women’s

Management Council

Jennifer Voss

The new Diversity Sponsor

Award highlights partners who

sponsor women and minori-

ties by providing opportunities

for growth, leadership,

advancement and visibility.

The award also encourages

other partners to increase

their sponsorship of women.

Sidley Austin HALL OF FAME

Chicago, IL

Chair, Executive Committee

Michael Schmidtberger

Co-chairs, Committee on

Retention and Promotion of

Women Laurin Blumenthal

Kleiman, Jennifer Hagle,

Angela Zambrano and

Kara McCall

The Management Committee

holds partners accountable for

fielding client teams inclusive

of women and multicultural

lawyers, and identifying client-

relationship successors. Partner

compensation can be impacted

by significant diversity and

inclusion contributions.

Squire Patton Boggs

Cleveland, OH

Chairman Mark Ruehlmann

Women’s Enterprise Co-chair

Aneca E. Lasley

Women hold 32 percent of

leadership positions, including

29 percent in practice-group

leadership, 16 percent in

industry-group leadership, and

13 percent in office leadership.

Steptoe & Johnson

Washington, D.C.

Chairman Philip West

Partner Amanda Varma

In 2018, the Women’s Forum

had three main areas of focus:

connecting women lawyers

and professionals through

networking events; providing

programming on professional

and business development to

develop and enhance skills; and

input to firm leadership on

actions to support women.

Stinson FIRST-TIMER

Kansas City, MO

Managing Partner

Mark Hinderks

Chief Diversity & Inclusion

Officer Ann Jenrette-Thomas

The women’s employee-

resource group hosts business

and professional-development

training on topics such as firm

economics and self-promotion.

One-third of participants in the

Collaboration Catalyst equity-

partner business-development

pilot program are women.

Waller Nashville, TN

Chairman Matthew Burnstein

Partner Elle McCulty

To reduce the influence of

implicit bias in entry-level

hiring, the firm narrowed

callback interviewers from

50 to 16 attorneys, provided

in-depth interview training,

graded writing samples on a

standard rubric, and gave

applicants a behavioral assess-

ment followed by standardized

questions about work-style

preferences and ability to work

on a team. After implementing

this program, the firm will have

six men and seven women

summer associates.

Wiley Rein

Washington, D.C.

Managing Partner

Peter Shields

Chair, Women’s Forum

Rachel Alexander

The managing partner

discusses strategies for

elevation with women partners

and adopts support systems

to help them advance. This

includes a review of the

partner’s staffing to ensure she

is able to increase her business.

WilmerHale

HALL OF FAME

Boston, MA and Washington, D.C.

Co-managing Partners

Susan Murley and

Robert Novick

Chief Legal Personnel and

Development Officer

Peggy Giunta

Of the cases tried to verdict

by the firm in 2018, women

partners chaired or played

major roles on 73 percent of

the trial teams. Female partners

also had lead roles on

60 percent of the 20 largest

investigatory matters.

Parental

leave

benefits,

as well as the

opportunity to take

leaves of absence and

return, are becoming

more significant.