Maternity leaves key to retain women lawyers

Via Law.com, comes an article entitled Maternity leaves key to retain women: report.  This one is once again from our Canadian friends across the border. 

While it seems like this conclusion would be fairly obvious to any member of the human species, apparently, judging from the results reported at Above the Law, as included in last week's round up, apparently BigLaw, home to the "best and "brightest" of the legal profession hasn't quite figured this out yet.  And, sadly, most other legal employers are in the same boat as BigLaw--clueless and unwilling to change.

From the article:

Paid maternity leaves and a pool of lawyers capable of filling in during the leaves are among proposals advanced by a working group that has been looking at how to stem an exodus of female lawyers from the profession.

Co-chaired by Law Society of Upper Canada (LSUC) benchers Laurie Pawlitza and Bonnie Warkentin, the 15-lawyer group advised the law society’s February Convocation that while women have been entering the profession in record numbers, they have also been leaving private practice “in droves"...

In a “consultation paper” submitted to Convocation, the working group made nine recommendations, one of which was that LSUC implement a three-year pilot project for firms with more than 25 lawyers and the two largest firms in each region “in which firms commit to adopting programs for the retention and advancement of women.”

The firms would be asked to make commitments in three main areas: providing maternity/parental leaves and flexible work arrangements; encouraging networking and business development, and “mentoring and appointing women in leadership roles.”

Noting that the pilot project would be the first of its kind in Canada, the working group predicted it would “lead the way for innovative systemic change in the legal profession"...

Specifically, the working group proposed development of an online Women’s Resource Centre, with tools and information focusing on issues related to women’s advancement, such as tips on practice management and building a professional profile; maintaining profitability while raising a family; model maternity and flexible arrangement policies and guidelines; networking opportunities; individual coaching opportunities for women, and information on effective mentoring for women, including how to seek out mentors.