Gibbons Named One of Working Mother and Flex-Time Lawyers “50 Best Law Firms For Women”

Working Mother and Flex-Time Lawyers today named Gibbons one of the country’s “50 Best Law Firms for Women” for 2013. Gibbons is one of only seven law firms throughout the country to be included on this list every year it has been published since 2007.

Gibbons was honored for its excellence and innovation in offering flexibility and professional development programs designed to retain women attorneys and advance them into the leadership pipeline. The publication notes:

‘Mentoring Mondays’ find partners at this firm advising female attorneys on work life balance, building their business and other topics; intensive training lifts rising stars. Women occupy 60% of executive administration positions and head 33% of practice groups.

Among the key criteria earning Gibbons its stellar ranking are its family friendly policies, including, in particular, a part-time/flex-time schedule option and the most up-to-date technology for remote network access and easy accessibility to clients. Most importantly, attorneys are not penalized for utilizing a reduced hours or flexible schedule, which does not impede career development and promotion.

Patrick C. Dunican Jr., Chairman and Managing Director of Gibbons, is proud that Gibbons has been ahead of the curve in terms of the retention and advancement of women. “At a time when half of all graduating law students are women, it follows that women will be among the best and brightest future leaders of this profession. It makes perfect business sense to cultivate a workplace committed to hiring, retaining, and promoting these women attorneys.”

Carol Evans, president of Working Mother Media, says, “The Best 50 Law Firms for Women have created the ultimate benchmark in the profession … Last year, 69 percent of the Best Law Firms had one or more women in their top ten rainmakers; this year, the number has gone up to 78 percent, a testament to the firms’ management and those who are rising through the ranks.”

Deborah Epstein Henry, president of Flex-Time Lawyers LLC, states, “These Best Law Firms are implementing effective training programs to empower their women lawyers and also looking at their infrastructure to ensure that the means to effectuate viable work/life policies, groom leaders, award business development credit, and determine compensation and promotion are all being done equitably.”

The feature on Gibbons is available in the August/September issue of Working Mother, as well as on workingmother.com and flextimelawyers.com.

About the “Best 50 Law Firms for Women” Initiative
Working Mother and Flex-Time Lawyers founded the 50 Best Law Firms for Women initiative in 2007, to celebrate law firms that are most successful in retaining and promoting women lawyers and provide firms with benchmarking tools to enable them to improve the status of women in their firms in the future.

About the Gibbons Women’s Initiative
Through its groundbreaking, award-winning Women’s Initiative, Gibbons provides for the firm’s new and senior women attorneys, along with their women business colleagues and clients, platforms and policies that improve knowledge, foster teamwork, encourage leadership, embrace flexibility, and support networking and mentoring. The Initiative has grown into a highly respected organization, with more than 60 Gibbons women attorneys involved and more than 2,000 invited women participants to its many programs. Among numerous related honors over the years, Gibbons was among the 2009 winners of the prestigious, international Catalyst Award, which honors major corporations with leading women’s initiatives and programs, and in 2013 earned the Women in Law Empowerment Forum’s Gold Standard Certification for the third straight year.