Goodwin has once again been recognized as a Best Law Firm for Women by Seramount (formerly Working Mother Media), marking the eleventh time the firm has appeared on the annual list. This year Seramount honored those firms utilizing best practices in recruiting, retaining, promoting and developing women lawyers, particularly in light of the challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Goodwin actively supports women lawyers across the firm through a number of efforts, including its firm-sponsored Women@Goodwin initiative, which maximizes networking and career opportunities for women and fosters critical dialogue about gender diversity. The goals of Women@Goodwin are complemented by a best-in-class Flex(ability)@Goodwin program, which offers gender-neutral and need-blind opportunities for lawyers to work remotely and adopt reduced or alternative hours arrangements.
The firm has also taken steps to address inequities and barriers to advancement faced by women of color in the legal profession. This includes establishing the Black Anti-Racism Task Force, Black Organization for Leadership and Development (BOLD) and the Women of Color initiative.
The 2021 Best Law Firms for Women highlights law firms that averaged 25 percent women among equity partners, compared with 23 percent last year, and had women representing 40 percent of all lawyers overall (up from 39 percent in 2020). Multicultural women represented 16 percent of female equity partners and 27 percent of overall women lawyers (up from 26 percent in 2020).
Seramount’s nomination process included more than 300 questions about lawyer demographics at different levels, schedule flexibility, paid time off and parental leaves, and development and retention of women. In light of COVID-19, several questions were added about the impact of the pandemic and accommodations for remote work.