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1/26/2005
The Chicago Bar Association’s Alliance for Women announced today its Call to Action initiative, which sets five benchmarking goals for area firms who seek to measurably enhance leadership opportunities for women attorneys in Chicago. Jenner & Block is one of the original law firm signatories to the Call to Action’s goals promoting true gender diversity in the legal profession.
“Jenner & Block is proud to have taken a leadership role in the Alliance for Women’s Call to Action,” said Partner Susan C. Levy, Chair of Jenner & Block’s Women’s Forum, who was on hand to represent the Firm at the signing event. “The advancement of women in the legal profession has long been a priority for the Firm. For instance, most recently the Firm elected six women associates to the partnership in 2005.”
A recent study by the Alliance indicates that a large number of Chicago’s large law firms fall below the national average in regard to the percentage of female partners. And the city’s firms also lag behind other cities in terms of the number of women in leadership roles.
“There is clearly much room for improvement,” said Jenner & Block Partner E. Lynn Grayson, Co-Chair of the CBA’s Alliance for Women.
Ms. Grayson noted that law firms in New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco have signed similar pledges and that other studies have shown that organizations with a high percentage of women in its leadership ranks financially outperform organizations with low percentages.
According to Ms. Grayson, the Alliance will be contacting 250 of Chicago’s largest law firms seeking their pledge to the Call to Action.
The five goals, excerpted from the Alliance report, are:
- Each law firm signatory’s goal is to increase the percent of its women partners by 3 percentage points from its 2004 levels by December 31, 2007.
- Each law firm signatory’s goal is to have women represented on every firm committee in the same proportion as the number of women partners at the firm by December 31, 2007.
- Each law firm signatory’s goal is to increase the number of women practice group leaders at the firm by December 31, 2007.
- Each law firm signatory agrees to review its flexible hours policy and its use in order to ensure that alternative schedules are an equitable and viable option by December 31, 2007.
- Each law firm signatory agrees to materially improve any disparity in the rates in which men and women are retained, promoted, and laterally recruited at the firm by December 31, 2007.
Jenner & Block’s Women’s Forum is a Firm-sponsored initiative to foster opportunities for professional, social and personal growth for all of its women attorneys, to communicate the Firm’s commitment to the success of its women attorneys and to enhance the visibility and recognition of Jenner & Block's leadership in support of women in the legal profession.
For more information, please see the Alliance for Women’s Call to Action website at http://www.chicagobar.org/calltoaction.
Pictured, from left: Ms. Grayson, Ms. Levy and Jane DiRenzo Pigott, Co-Chair of the Alliance for Women.
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