Ed. note: This article is part of Parental Leave & The Legal Profession, a special series for Above the Law that explores the realities of parental leave and return-to-work in law firms. From planning leave to reintegration, from the role of managers to the mental load of Biglaw parents, these articles bring research, clinical insight, and practical strategies to help lawyers and the firms that employ them navigate one of the most critical transitions of their careers.
Firms often treat parental leave and related benefits as individual accommodations rather than systemic leadership and talent tools with measurable consequences for retention, equity, and firm performance. In this article, we discuss the cultural context of parental leave in the legal profession and then explore the macro effects of how parental leave is handled, on both firms and the profession more broadly. We conclude with top tips for firms that want to establish or strengthen a supported leave process.
The Cultural Context
On average, firms provide terrific parental leave policies for lawyers in terms of time and pay relative to U.S. standards. But in our work as coaches and consultants, we find that cultural obstacles and inflexibility undermine support for working parents who utilize those benefits, with women navigating the landscape distinctly from men.
We hear consistent stories, such as:
- Jan, now a partner at a medium-sized firm, says no one acknowledged the transitions she went through during two periods of parental leave at a previous, large firm. “There was minimal discussion of my role on cases leading to leave and coming back after leave. I was isolated. As a result I decided I wouldn’t stay at that firm more than a few years.”
- Margaret remembers the piles of files on her desk upon her return from a short period of leave, with her managing partner leaving the office early to get to his son’s baseball games. “I had to prove my commitment; he didn’t.”
- Sal, a young partner, had to gear up to battle for a leave period after adopting a newborn. “I was the first person to use leave in this way.”
Our clients also tell stories about the stigma and assumptions made about their caregiving responsibilities and capacity for or engagement in work (“the caregiver bias”) and about pay and opportunities decreasing after they become parents (“the motherhood penalty”). Policies at law firms – more so than in peer professions – commonly ignore nontraditional gender roles, negatively impacting women who are breadwinners and men who want equal leave periods. When men don’t take leave, or are only granted minimal days or weeks off, widespread workplace equality is difficult to achieve.
Firm Impact: Retention, Recruitment, and Finances
While individual leave and parenting experiences are often seen as isolated hurdles with impact on the employee alone, they have repercussions across firms. After negative experiences, high performers leave firms shortly after leave or earlier than they would have otherwise. Indeed, poor morale, unfair compensation, and being passed over for promotion are top reasons that women change firms and positions within the law. For firms, that results in the high costs of turnover and loss of top talent.
Just think about the amounts spent on recruiting and training new lawyers and lateral hires at your firm. Analysts generally consider that replacement of highly educated workers costs 1.5 to 4 times their salary. While leave and other benefits require funding, in a recent study Vivvi and the Fifth Trimester estimated an $18 benefit for every $1 spent on support for employees with children.
In addition, there are negative effects on morale and firm-wide retention, with others who anticipate future parenting or caring responsibilities more likely to look elsewhere for a long-term professional home. And increasingly, we find that prospective employees review leave policies before joining firms, with benefits a key factor in their decision-making, making recruitment more challenging.
The Profession: Gender Disparities and the Leadership Pipeline
Research conducted by the ABA and other organizations identify profession-wide consequences of the negative stories, replicated over time and surprisingly consistent at firms of all sizes. Many studies connect the dots to gender inequality in the legal profession generally, with treatment of parental leave and early parenthood providing a partial explanation for disparities between men and women in representation, compensation, and promotion. Indeed, parental leave experiences directly intersect with leadership development: In a 2021 study, for example, 35 percent of participants reported their advancement to partnership was affected by taking leave. As a consequence of these and other findings that lawyers experience negative consequences for utilizing parental leave, firm managers should address the policy and practice of parental leave and related benefits in their leadership pipeline plans.
Additional topline findings from studies of the legal profession include:
- The disparities between men’s and women’s representation in advanced positions in the law persists and, although the gender pay gap has narrowed in the past few decades, it increases as women advance in careers. For example, entering associate classes were over 50 percent women in 2023, while women were just 29 percent of partners and 25 percent of equity partners at firms. Similarly, women were at near parity with men in terms of pay at associate levels, yet as partners they are compensated 44 percent lower than male partners.
- Targeted research conducted by the ABA into the legal careers of parents and caregivers found that parenthood has a negative impact on careers of both women and men, with severe consequences for women. In surveys and focus groups, women reported that taking leave was held against them, they were perceived as being less committed to careers, and they received fewer business development opportunities after becoming parents. Sixty-one percent of women received demeaning comments about being a working parent. The report found that negative experiences affected pay, promotion, retention, and the types of jobs that women choose within the profession.
A Supported Leave
So what can a firm do to support new parents? Previous articles in this series explore Parental Leave 101 for Managers and how to plan a leave without tanking a career. Highlights include:
- As mentioned above, incorporate the practice of leave and related parenting benefits into leadership development plans. Leave is an accepted part of a long-term professional career and presents professional development opportunities for the employee and team members.
- Top leadership will benefit from understanding the value of working parents within the firm and should reflect those insights in decisionmaking related to parental leave policies.
- Manager approach matters, creating a ripple effect across the firm. Ensure managers are informed, supportive, and intentional, focused on the long game. Along with the employees, they should develop strategic plans for offboarding and – crucially – re-onboarding on projects and cases so that the employee does not lose ground in their career before and after leave. Managers may need guidance on communicating directly about sometimes difficult topic areas.
- Empower parents to be engaged, communicative, and proactive in managing the process surrounding leave.
- Create a shared language and defined process across the organization while allowing for flexibility to adapt to individual circumstances.
For details on these elements and more, check out the other articles in this ATL series, providing in-depth guidance for lawyers and managing partners on navigating parental leave in the legal profession. And look out for February’s edition covering the mental load of working parenthood in Biglaw.
Marny Requa, JD is an academic, coach, and consultant with global experience and gender equity expertise. Dr. Anne Welsh is a clinical psychologist, executive coach, and consultant with a specialization in supporting working parents in law. Both are certified RETAIN Parental Leave Coaches, engaging a research-backed methodology to support and retain employees as they grow their families.
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