Career Development
Schiff Hardin has a formal coaching and mentoring program for all associates.
Our Chair of Professional Personnel, along with the members of our Professional Personnel Committee and all of our practice group leaders, have the responsibility to review all associates' work and client assignments to ensure that each associate receives appropriate opportunities to develop his or her skills as an attorney at Schiff Hardin. The Professional Personnel Committee works closely with the Diversity Committee to make sure that minority lawyers are given access to mentoring opportunities. Schiff Hardin assigns a partner-mentor to every new associate, and provides additional support programs for minority and women lawyers within the firm.
Quality of Life Enhancements and Benefits
- In 1993, Schiff Hardin began offering health care benefits to same sex domestic partners.
- Recognizing the need that some of our lawyers have to balance demands outside the workplace, Schiff Hardin offers flexible, part-time arrangements to lawyers along with maternity and parental leave programs.
- We support a parenting group for attorneys to help working parents within the firm network with one another, share referrals and discuss parenting-related issues.
- Our leave of absence policy includes attorneys and staff who are the primary care giver for the adoption of a child.
- We have alternative partnership tracks that support attorneys who choose a reduced work-load commitment.
The Project for Attorney Retention
In 2007, Schiff Hardin became a Founding Member, with 23 of the nation's leading law firms, of the Project for Attorney Retention. This organization works to stem unwanted attrition among lawyers — a benefit for both legal employers and the lawyers themselves — by promoting work/life balance and the advancement of women in the legal profession.
For more information on the Project for Attorney Retention, visit their Web site at http://www.pardc.org/.
