Latest / The Diversity Career Podcast with Fexingo: Inclusion, Equity, and Underrepresented Professionals / How a Law Firm Retained Parents Through a Part-Time Partner Track
Transcript
- Lucas: So a question I hear all the time from law firm associates, especially parents: can you really make partner while working reduced hours? And for most firms, the answer has been no—until recently. Luna: Right, the partnership model is built on face time and billable hours. Reduce either and you're off the track. Lucas: Exactly. But one firm decided to test that assumption. It's a mid-sized firm based in Chicago—about 400 attorneys—and in 2023 they launched what they call a 'part-time partner track'. The idea is simple: attorneys who need reduced hours as parents or caregivers can still be considered for equity partnership, just with proportional billable requirements. Luna: Proportional meaning... if you work 80 percent of standard hours, you need 80 percent of the standard billable target? Lucas: That's exactly it. Standard target at this firm is 1,900 hours per year. So someone on the 80 percent track has a target of 1,520. They still get full credit for business development and client work. And here's the key: they remain on the same equity pool, not a separate non-equity tier. Luna: That's huge. A lot of firms have 'reduced hours' arrangements but they shunt you into a counsel or senior associate role. This keeps you in the partner pipeline. Lucas: Right, and that was the firm's explicit design. They'd seen a pattern—high-performing female associates, especially, would return from parental leave, request reduced hours, and within a year they'd leave for in-house roles or government. The firm did a stay interview analysis and found that the single biggest factor was the perception that partnership was closed to them. Luna: So it's not just about scheduling flexibility—it's about the career ceiling. Lucas: Exactly. And the firm decided to address the ceiling rather than just the schedule. They announced the policy internally in early 2023 and took a phased approach. First year, they allowed up to ten equity partners to be on the track. By 2025, they expanded it to all partner-track attorneys with at least two years of tenure. Luna: And what's been the uptake? Did people actually use it? Lucas: They had 14 attorneys opt in within the first six months. And after two years, the firm reported a 30 percent increase in partner-track retention among parents—that's a measurable shift. The managing partner told a legal publication that they'd lost zero attorneys from the program to other firms, which was unprecedented for their demographic. Luna: Zero attrition from that group is striking. But I wonder—did they face pushback from other partners who felt the reduced-hours track was unfair? Lucas: That's a great question, and the answer is yes. Some partners who didn't have caregiving responsibilities questioned whether part-time partners would carry their weight in business development or client management. So the firm did something smart: they created a transparent rubric. Each reduced-hours partner has a custom plan that outlines their expected contribution in three categories—billable work, business development, and internal leadership. And they review it annually. If the partner meets the plan, they're on the same promotion timeline. Luna: So it's not a separate fast track or slow track—it's a custom track with clear goals. Lucas: Exactly. And that transparency actually defused a lot of the resentment. Because the criteria are public within the firm, nobody feels like someone else is getting an invisible advantage. And the metrics are calibrated so that the work still gets done—the firm just values output over hours. Luna: Honestly, that's a model that could work in a lot of professional services—consulting, accounting, architecture. Anywhere the partnership model dominates. Lucas: I agree. And I think the broader lesson is that we tend to assume the partnership structure is fixed. But firms make these decisions. The billable hour itself is a choice. This firm chose to unbundle prestige from physical presence. Luna: If we're talking about choices and what makes a career decision manageable—I know it's a bit off the main thread, but this show is ad-free and listener-supported. If today's episode helped you think about how to navigate your own career or advocate for a policy like this, and you'd like to support the show, you can find us at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. That's a tiny thing that keeps us independent. Lucas: Yeah, it really does. And we appreciate that. So back to the law firm—one of the most interesting details to me is how they handle compensation. Luna: Because if you're working 80 percent of hours, do you take 80 percent of the equity distribution? Lucas: It's not quite that simple. The firm uses a modified lockstep system. Reduced-hours partners start at a lower share of the equity pool—prorated by their target—but they don't cap out. As they increase their hours or bring in clients, their share can grow. The firm says that in practice, several part-time partners have already exceeded the compensation of some full-time peers because of strong client origination. Luna: So the system rewards value creation, not just time. That's a mindset shift. Lucas: It is. And it's worth noting that this hasn't been a panacea. The firm still has a gender gap in its equity partnership—about 28 percent women, which is slightly above the national average for law firms, but not where they want to be. However, they've seen a 15 percent increase in female attorneys on the partner track since the program started. Luna: So it's moving the needle. And I think one reason it works is because it's not just a policy on paper—they actually changed the culture around when people are expected to be in the office. Lucas: Right. They didn't just say 'you can work reduced hours.' They said 'we will judge you based on the results you produce, not the hours you sit in a chair.' That requires managers to actually evaluate output, which is harder than counting hours. But they trained partners on how to do it. Luna: How did that training work? Lucas: The firm brought in a consultant who specialized in competency-based evaluation. They created a framework with four dimensions: legal skill, client relationship management, business development, and team leadership. Each dimension has specific observable behaviors. So instead of saying 'John is a good lawyer,' partners have to point to examples—like 'John led a cross-border deal with five million in revenue and mentored two junior associates.' Luna: That's a lot more objective. And it also helps full-time partners because it clarifies what's actually valued. Lucas: Exactly. The managing partner said several full-time partners actually improved their performance after the training because they understood the criteria better. So the transparency helped everyone. Luna: I want to ask about sustainability. Two years in, are there signs that the program is self-reinforcing? Or could it fade? Lucas: The biggest risk is that as the economy tightens, firms might revert to old habits. But this firm tied the program to its diversity scorecard—reporting annually to the board. That creates accountability. And they've gotten positive press, which helps with recruiting. Lateral hires have cited the program as a reason they joined. Luna: So it's become a competitive advantage. Lucas: Absolutely. And that's the kind of structural change that lasts—when it's not just a feel-good policy but a business driver. This firm now has a retention rate among parents that's 25 percentage points higher than the industry average. That's a huge savings in recruitment and training costs. Luna: It's also just a more humane way to run a law firm. You don't have to choose between your kids and your career. Lucas: And that's the core insight, I think. Inclusion isn't always about new pipelines or special programs. Sometimes it's about redesigning the default career path so that it doesn't exclude people who have caregiving responsibilities. And that benefits everyone. Luna: Right. Because when the path works for parents, it usually works better for everyone. Lucas: That's it. So next time you hear someone say partnership and reduced hours don't mix, you can point to this firm and say—actually, they do. You just have to be intentional about the design.