Honigman recognized as one of the country’s 50 Best Law Firms for Women

For the third consecutive time, Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn LLP (Honigman) is the only Michigan law firm to be named one of the Best Law Firms for Women by the National Association for Female Executives (NAFE), a division of Working Mother Media and Flex-Time Lawyers. Honigman earned this recognition in 2008, 2009 and again in 2011 (there was no list in 2010).

“Honigman is dedicated to adopting policies that allow our attorneys to succeed in all aspects of their lives and is pleased to be recognized as one of the Best Law Firms for Women,” said David Foltyn, the firm’s Chairman and CEO. “We have learned over the years that practices and programs that positively impact the success of one segment of our diverse population of attorneys, such as women attorneys, actually positively affect everyone at the firm,” said Foltyn. “Our constant goal is to attract and retain the best and brightest people, and progressive practices and programs help the firm do just that.”

Since it last received recognition as a Best Law Firm for Women, Honigman has added several important new policies.

• Honigman has always provided paid leave for women attorneys who have given birth, but now it also provides paid leave for fathers and adoptive parents.
• Late last year, the firm implemented a streamlined, uniform process for attorneys who wish to take advantage of an alternative work schedule, and the firm developed a monitoring system to help insure the success of attorneys who have chosen an alternative work schedule.
• Honigman recently published core competencies and benchmark goals for associate attorneys based on experience level and practice area. These objective measures form the basis of a new evaluation, development and feedback system, giving every attorney a clear path to success.
• The firm also hired a Director of Attorney Development and Recruitment to help provide the internal and external resources attorneys need to succeed.
• Honigman established five different Affinity Groups to help foster personal and professional collaboration between attorneys with similar interests.

“The 2011 Best Law Firms for Women are encouraging the retention and promotion of women, in addition to creating conducive work environments for all lawyers to thrive,” said Deborah Epstein Henry, Founder and President, Flex-Time Lawyers. “By offering leadership and business development opportunities for women, along with generous flexibility, parental leave and childcare programs, these firms are better poised to retain and promote the brightest legal minds, with the goal of reaching parity for women in the profession.”

Honigman and the 50 Best Law Firms for Women and their work/life and women-friendly policies will be featured in the fall 2011 issue of NAFE Magazine and are profiled at nafe.com, www.workingmother.com and http://www.flextimelawyers.com/best.asp. Winning firms will be honored in New York on September 21. Jennifer Zbytowski Belveal, a Partner in Honigman’s Litigation Department, Co-Chair of the White Collar Criminal Defense and Investigations Practice Group, the firm’s Associate General Counsel and Chair of its Pro Bono Committee will accept the honor on behalf of Honigman at the New York event. NAFE is a division of Working Mother Media, a division of Bonnier Corporation.

Methodology: The 2011 Best Law Firms for Women application was developed in a partnership between Working Mother Media and Flex-Time Lawyers LLC. Firms with at least 50 lawyers were eligible to apply and the application included detailed questions about the issues that are most important to the retention and promotion of female lawyers. Completed applications were collected online from November 12, 2010 to January 21, 2011. All data for the 2011 survey was collected from the full year of 2010. The 50 winning firms were selected based on their responses to an application measuring areas such as workforce profile, family-friendly benefits and policies, flexibility, leadership, compensation, advancement and retention of women.

About Working Mother Media

Working Mother magazine reaches 2.2 million readers and is the only national magazine for career-committed mothers; WorkingMother.com (www.workingmother.com) gives working mothers @home and @work advice, solutions, and ideas. This year marks the 26th anniversary of Working Mother’s signature research initiative, Working Mother 100 Best Companies, and the ninth year of the Best Companies for Multicultural Women. Working Mother Media, a division of Bonnier Corporation (www.bonnier.com), includes the National Association for Female Executives (NAFE, www.nafe.com), Diversity Best Practices (www.diversitybestpractices.com), and the Working Mother Research Institute. Working Mother Media’s mission is to serve as a champion of culture change.

About Bonnier Corporation

Bonnier Corp. (www.bonniercorp.com) is one of the largest consumer-publishing groups in America and is the leading media company serving passionate, highly engaged audiences, through 50 special-interest magazines and related multimedia projects and events. Bonnier Corp. is the U.S. division of the Bonnier Group (www.bonnier.com), a 200-year-old, family-owned media group based in Sweden with business operations in 25 countries.

About Flex-Time Lawyers LLC

Flex-Time Lawyers LLC® is a national consulting firm advising the legal profession on workplace restructure, talent management, work/life balance, and the retention and promotion of lawyers, with a focus on women. It hosts a membership organization with quarterly chapter meetings for legal employers and lawyers, offering networking opportunities, employer advice, support, career guidance, education and information sharing to effect change. Flex-Time Lawyers LLC is a resource to the press and legal community at large and also provides recruiting services. It has been covered extensively in the national and legal press, including The New York Times, NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams, National Public Radio, National Law Journal, and numerous others. For more information, please visit www.flextimelawyers.com.