Overview
(July 17, 2019, Washington, DC) — Steptoe has been named to Working Mother magazine's 2019 list of the "Best Law Firms for Women." Now in its 12th year, the list recognizes US law firms that utilize best practices in recruiting, retaining, promoting and developing women lawyers. This marks Steptoe's sixth year on the list.
The full list highlights law firms that averaged 37 percent women among new equity partners, compared with only 27 percent five years ago. The recognized firms also offer extended parental-leave benefits and encourage more lawyers to work remotely and use flexible hours.
Women hold numerous leadership positions at Steptoe, including vice chair, general counsel, office managing partner, department head, executive committee, management committee and compensation committee, among others. Women lead more than half of Steptoe's offices and two of the firm's four departments: litigation and compliance, international trade and enforcement department.
Steptoe strives to differentiate itself from other law firms by not only delivering the highest-quality legal services to clients, but also by accomplishing that goal with a talented, creative, diverse, and engaged team of professionals. Along with providing formal and informal mentoring for women lawyers, the firm's Women's Forum sponsors activities to advance, recognize, and connect the firm's women lawyers and professionals.
In 2019, Steptoe was named to the Women in Law Empowerment Forum (WILEF) Gold Standard Certification list and earned a spot on the Yale Law Women "Top Ten Firms for Gender Equity" and "Top Ten Firms for Family Friendliness" lists.
Earlier this year, Steptoe launched its partnership with Momseze to expand its support for new and expectant parents. Momseze immediately connects parents to nurses, lactation consultants, and baby care experts. Steptoe was also among the first law firms to implement a partnership with Milk Stork, a program designed for working mothers who breastfeed and travel for business.
Several new family care benefits also took effect last year via the Bright Horizons program. They include high quality back-up child and adult/elder care, including access to regular caregivers; access to a free, self-serve and self-pay comprehensive database of nannies, babysitters, pet sitters, dog walkers; and tutoring and test prep services for school age children grades K-12.
The 2019 Working Mother Best Law Firms for Women application included more than 300 questions about attorney demographics at different levels, schedule flexibility, paid time off and parental leaves, and development and retention of women. Firms that appear on this year's Best Law Firms for Women list will be honored at the annual Working Mother gala awards luncheon on September 19 in Chicago.
About Steptoe
In more than 100 years of practice, Steptoe has earned an international reputation for vigorous representation of clients before governmental agencies, successful advocacy in litigation and arbitration, and creative and practical advice in structuring business transactions. Steptoe has more than 500 lawyers and other professional staff across offices in Beijing, Brussels, Chicago, London, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, and Washington. For more information, visit www.steptoe.com.