NEW YORK (Business Wire EON/PRWEB ) August 12, 2008 -- Davis Polk & Wardwell was today named a “2008 Best Law Firm for Women” by Working Mother magazine and Flex-Time Lawyers LLC. The annual honor recognizes law firms whose policies take into account the issues that are most important to the retention and promotion of female lawyers.

2008 Best Law Firm for Women

Today nearly half of law school graduates are women. Law firms need to make a fundamental shift in their policies by instituting female- and family-friendly benefits as Davis Polk has done

We hope that by recognizing Davis Polk, who has already moved the needle, a paradigm shift will follow.

We hope other law firms will take notice of Davis Polk's commitment to change, and competition will drive more creative ways to enhance work/life balance and improve the status of women in the profession

We are very pleased to be recognized for our successful efforts in creating a workplace that accommodates the needs of women and families

As a firm, we continually strive to identify and establish practices that enable all of our lawyers to balance their careers with family responsibilities and other personal interests. As a result, Davis Polk offers wide-ranging flexibility in career paths and work arrangements, while maintaining the unsurpassed level of service and excellence that we have always committed to our clients.

Davis Polk was selected based on its initiatives in a number of areas, including family-friendly benefits, flexibility, leadership, compensation, and advancement and retention of women.

“Today nearly half of law school graduates are women. Law firms need to make a fundamental shift in their policies by instituting female- and family-friendly benefits as Davis Polk has done,” said Carol Evans, CEO, Working Mother Media. “We hope that by recognizing Davis Polk, who has already moved the needle, a paradigm shift will follow.”

“We hope other law firms will take notice of Davis Polk’s commitment to change, and competition will drive more creative ways to enhance work/life balance and improve the status of women in the profession,” said Deborah Epstein Henry, Founder and President, Flex-Time Lawyers LLC. Flex-Time Lawyers is a national consulting firm advising attorneys and legal employers on work/life balance.

Davis Polk is a long-time leader among major US firms in hiring and promoting women. In 1971, Davis Polk became one of the first Wall Street firms to elect a woman partner. Today, it is recognized as one of the most female-friendly firms in The Am Law 100, and its women lawyers lead numerous practice groups and committees throughout the firm.

Davis Polk was one of the first large firms to establish part-time and flextime policies for all lawyers. The policies are structured to meet the ever-changing needs of individual lawyers and the departments in which they work. At any given time, dozens of Davis Polk lawyers, including partners, are working on a reduced or flextime schedule at the firm.

“We are very pleased to be recognized for our successful efforts in creating a workplace that accommodates the needs of women and families,” said Davis Polk partner Carey Dunne, a member of the firm’s management committee. “As a firm, we continually strive to identify and establish practices that enable all of our lawyers to balance their careers with family responsibilities and other personal interests. As a result, Davis Polk offers wide-ranging flexibility in career paths and work arrangements, while maintaining the unsurpassed level of service and excellence that we have always committed to our clients.”

Davis Polk’s workplace initiatives are developed in conjunction with DPWomen, one of six affinity groups geared toward enhancing the firm’s culture. DPWomen meets regularly to discuss the interests and concerns that women have at the firm and within the legal profession in general, including such topics as work/life balance, mentoring and career development. DPWomen recently hosted a panel discussion on flextime working arrangements, which was sponsored by the National Association of Woman Lawyers (NAWL).

To be eligible for consideration by Working Mother magazine and Flex-Time Lawyers LLC, firms with at least 50 lawyers had to answer detailed questions regarding workplace benefits and professional development policies. Davis Polk is profiled in the August/September 2008 issue of Working Mother and at www.workingmother.com.

About Davis Polk & Wardwell. Davis Polk & Wardwell is a global law firm based in New York City. For nearly 160 years, its lawyers have advised industry-leading companies and global financial institutions on their most challenging legal and business matters. Davis Polk ranks among the world’s preeminent law firms across the entire range of its practice, which spans such areas as capital markets, mergers and acquisitions, credit, litigation, private equity, tax, investment management, insolvency and restructuring, executive compensation, intellectual property, real estate and trusts and estates. The firm has approximately 700 lawyers in offices in New York, Menlo Park, CA, Washington, DC, London, Paris, Frankfurt, Madrid, Hong Kong, Beijing and Tokyo. More information regarding women’s initiatives at Davis Polk can be found at: http://www.dpw.com/careers/women.htm

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