Most Working Part Time Continue to be Women
The National Association of Law Placement (NALP) released the following press release surveying part time employment in the legal profession:
Most large law firms have made part-time schedules available to their experienced lawyers for many
years, but overall the number of lawyers working part-time continues to be very small, and in fact the
number edged down in 2011 for the first time since NALP began compiling these figures in 1994. In
2011, just 6.2% of lawyers were working part-time, compared with 6.4% in 2010, and most of them,
over 70%, were women. This reflects the fact that women are much more likely to be working part-time
than men. Among women lawyers overall, 13.4% work part-time; among female partners, 11.8% are
working part-time; and among women associates the figure was 10.0%. This contrasts with a rate of just
2.7% among all male lawyers. These are among the findings of the most recent analyses of the NALP, the annual compendium of employer information published by NALP.
Directory of Legal Employers
The 2011-2012 Directory comprises listings from primarily large law firms and includes part-time use
information for 1,269 individual law offices and firms and for more than 125,000 lawyers.
The lack of part-time lawyers at law firms distinguishes private law firm practice from both the U.S.
workforce as a whole and from more defined segments of the workforce. According to the Bureau of
Labor Statistics (BLS), not quite 13.6 % of employed individuals during 2010 usually worked part-time,
as did a similar percentage (13.2%) of those employed in professional specialties (e.g., engineers, architects,
physicians). These rates contrast markedly with the 6.2% rate among lawyers at major law firms.
However, it is worth noting that the decrease in the percentage of lawyers in large firms working
part-time parallels a decline among those in professional specialties as a whole. The annual average of
13.2% for 2010 compares with 13.6% in 2009.
In 2011, nearly all law firm offices, 98%, allowed part-time schedules, either as an affirmative policy or
on a case-by-case basis, but as has been the case since NALP first compiled this information in 1994,
very few lawyers are working on a part-time basis, even though the percentage of offices allowing
part-time schedules has increased from 86% over that time period. In 1994, just 2.4% of partners and
associates were working part-time. By 2011, the number of lawyers working part-time stood at 6.2%,
after reaching 6.4% in 2010. Likewise, although associates continue to be more likely to be working
part-time than partners, part-time work among associates has increased only incrementally, from 4.0%
in 1994 to 5.3% in 2010 and then edging down to 5.1% in 2011. The growth rate of part-time work
among partners has been greater, rising from 1.2% in 1994 to 3.6% in 2010 and 3.5% in 2011. Other
lawyers, such as of counsel and staff attorneys, show the highest rate of part-time work, almost 21%,
compared with about 17% in 2006, the first year with comparable information. In 2011, nearly all associates
working part-time (89.1%) were women; among partners working part-time, 65.8% were women.
(See Table 1.) It is worth noting that, while the distribution of part-time associates among men and
women has changed little over the six years that NALP has compiled this information, the distribution
of part-time partners among men and women has shifted more notably: In 2006 almost 72% of part-time
partners were women. In 2011 that figure was about 66%. In 2010 that figure had dropped to 64%.
NALP's most recent data also reveal that part-time use varies a great deal by geographic location. The
three largest markets - Chicago, New York City, and Washington, DC - account for just over
one-third of the lawyers reflected in the Directory and show a sharp dichotomy with respect to part-time
lawyers. Part-time partners are at least twice as common in both Chicago and Washington, DC - at
3.8% and 4.4%, respectively - than in New York City (1.9%) - as are women partners working
part-time (about 15% in Chicago and Washington, DC, versus 6.5% in New York City). Part-time associates
are also more common in Chicago (4.9%) and Washington, DC (6.1%) compared with New York
City (3.4%). The percentage of women associates working part-time in Chicago and Washington, DC is
10-11%, compared with 7.0% in New York City.
Looking at all cities, the presence of part-time partners varies even more. (See Table 2.) For example,
part-time partners are most common in Portland, OR, Seattle, and San Francisco, with about 8% of partners
in those cities working part-time. Women part-time partners are most common in Seattle and San
Francisco as well, along with Baltimore. But in a number of cities, fewer than 2% of partners are working
part-time, and in half a dozen cities no male partners at all were reported as working part-time.
Cities also vary with respect to part-time associates, from about 2.4% in Kansas City and Las Vegas to
more than 9% in Portland and Denver. (See Table 3.) No male associates were reported as working
part-time in nine cities, including Birmingham and Columbus. The highest percentages of women associates
working part-time were reported in Northern Virginia (18.3%), Ft. Lauderdale/West Palm Beach
(17.9%), and Baltimore (17.3%).
Six states, or portions of states not covered by the cities above, had sufficient information for a parallel
analysis. Following the national patterns, all had higher percentages of part-time associates than
part-time partners. The percentage of partners working part-time was highest in Kentucky at 4.1%, as
was the percentage of women partners working part-time, at 12.3%. Connecticut, in an analysis that
excludes Hartford, had the highest percentage of part-time associates at 8.3%, and the highest percentage
of women associates working part-time at 13.9%.
Entry-level lawyers in search of part-time schedules found their options more limited. Nationally, almost
half of offices that offered a part-time option precluded entry-level associates from using that arrangement,
and just over 15% had an affirmative part-time policy that made the option available to all lawyers.
Nonetheless, an entry-level lawyer's chances of finding part-time work were somewhat higher in
Cincinnati, Columbus, Boston, Denver, Hartford, Minneapolis, and Northern Virginia. The cities least
likely to offer a part-time option to entry-level lawyers were Birmingham, Houston, Ft. Lauderdale/West
Palm Beach, and Orlando.
Review the NALP Survey to see complete statistics about part time work in law firms during 2011. The tables on page three of the NALP Survey discuss all levels, from partners to associates and other attorneys.
Source:
NALP Survey