PDF email

Leading By Example

Skadden hired its first woman attorney in 1959 and made its first woman partner in 1981. In 2009, 22 percent of the newly promoted partners were women. In our U.S. offices, 18 percent of the partnership is female, and more than 41 percent of associates are women. Women partners constitute a significant portion of all firm committees, and several are practice leaders. Our first New York office leader was a woman. We have worked hard to support our women attorneys, resulting in an equal retention rate for male and female associates over the past three years.

Support for Women Attorneys at the Firm

Mentoring

Each new associate is assigned a partner mentor and a counsel/associate liaison. The mentor's role is to assist with assimilation and integration into the firm, and may also include providing initial work assignments and tracking the associate's progress and development. The mentor groups participate in a range of social activities throughout the year.

Training sessions for women attorneys

On a periodic basis, we offer training sessions that focus on skills development, such as public speaking, coaching, and marketing and business development.

Catalyst Membership

Catalyst is a research and advisory organization that works with businesses and the professions to build inclusive environments and expand opportunities for women at work. The firm is a member of Catalyst, which allows us access to cutting-edge research and "best practices" in the area of women's advancement.

Work/Life Resources

Skadden recognizes the value of providing assistance with the challenges we all face in meeting our work and personal responsibilities. We recently introduced two new programs, Flexible Return from Maternity (FRM, pronounced "firm") and Sidebar. Our FRM program provides greater flexibility to women returning from maternity leave by allowing them to design their own return schedule – either reduced hours or a combination of office and home days – during a defined period of time, not to exceed one year. As a complement to the Firm's reduced-hours policy, which allows attorneys to work a reduced schedule on a long-term basis, FRM provides a gradual progression back to a regular schedule. Although the program is primarily designed to make it more feasible for women to return to work after the birth or adoption of a child, it may also be made available to men.

Through Sidebar, attorneys in good standing may decide to leave the firm for any number of personal reasons for up to three years (more than the six-month maximum permitted under a leave of absence), with the expectation that they will return to the firm at the end of that period consistent with the needs of the firm and their department. The firm expects and encourages Sidebar participants to remain connected, for example, by attending certain firm-sponsored events and gatherings and continuing legal education programs. 

The firm also offers the following: 

  • Parental leave

  • Reduced-hours program - Skadden is one of the first firms in NYC to hire reduced-hour attorneys.

  • Back-up childcare - Skadden offers both on-site back-up childcare through Bright Horizons and in-home care through Caregivers On Call.

  • Back-up eldercare - In-home emergency eldercare is available through Caregivers On Call.

  • Domestic partner health benefits

  • Mothers' room - In an effort to make the adjustment back to work easier for nursing mothers, the Firm has a specially designated private room for the use of nursing mothers.

  • LifeWorks - The firm's resource and referral program provides contacts, information and practical solutions for a multitude of personal issues, from finding a pet-sitter to coping with a family problem.

  • Work/Life Week - The firm recognizes National Work & Family Month each October by offering a series of seminars on a broad range of topics, including eldercare, parenting, stress management and finances.

Networking Events for Women

Since 1996, Skadden Series for Women lectures have been presented at the firm for senior women clients and their junior women colleagues; and Skadden women partners and associates. The speakers, all leaders in their field, have included:

  • Val Ackerman, first President of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA)

  • Lisa Belkin, New York Times, work/life columnist

  • Bonnie Dunbar, NASA astronaut

  • Nora Ephron, screenwriter and director, "Julia & Julia," "Bewitched," "You've Got Mail" and "Sleepless in Seattle"

  • Professor Carol Gilligan, author and educator in the field of psychology

  • Dr. Geeta Rao Gupta, President, International Center for Research on Women

  • Dr. Susan Love, President and Medical Director, Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation

  • Judith McHale, CEO, Discovery Communications

  • Mira Nair, award-winning filmmaker, "Monsoon Wedding," "Vanity Fair," "Mississippi Masala," and "The Namesake"

  • Kavita Ramdas, President and CEO, Global Fund for Women

  • Gov. Ann W. Richards, 45th Governor of Texas

  • Cokie Roberts, News Analyst for NPR; former Co-Anchor, ABC News, "This Week"

  • Dr. Ruth Simmons, President, Brown University; past President, Smith College

  • Lesley Stahl, CBS News Correspondent

  • Twyla Tharp, Tony and Emmy Award-winning choreographer

  • Wendy Wasserstein, playwright and our inaugural speaker

Since 1998, Skadden has held an annual retreat for women partners and senior-level women clients, at which issues relating to women professionals are addressed. Keynote addresses at this event have been given by such women as: Cherie Booth, Queen's Counsel, human rights advocate and wife of Prime Minister Tony Blair; Wei Christianson, Chief Executive for China, Morgan Stanley, and former Chairman of China for Citigroup Global Markets Asia Ltd.; Anne-Marie Slaughter, Dean, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University; Brenda Barnes, President and CEO, Sara Lee Corporation (former President/CEO, Pepsi-Cola); U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA); Margaret Carlson, Time magazine columnist; Geraldine Ferraro, former Congresswoman and Vice-Presidential candidate; Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson, President, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and former Chairman, Nuclear Regulatory Commission; Lt. Gen. Claudia Kennedy (Ret.); Dr. Donna Shalala, former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services; Faye Wattleton, President, Center for the Advancement of Women; and Judy Woodruff (CNN anchor).

Each summer, cocktail parties, informal lunches and presentations for women attorneys are held. There is also a "mothers" lunch once a month, at which women partners and associates who are also mothers gather to discuss various topics of interest, ranging from how to locate appropriate childcare to tips on successfully managing a reduced-hours schedule.

Women Attorneys' Community Involvement

Our women attorneys are involved with numerous organizations, reflecting their varied concerns and interests.

  • Access Community Health Network
  • AIDS Pastoral Care Network
  • American Bar Association President's Committee on Diversity
  • Bipartisan U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom
  • Black Women Lawyers Association of LA Foundation
  • Chicago Area Foundation for Legal Services
  • Chicago Foundation for Women
  • CityLife
  • Columbia Law School - Board of Visitors Delaware Bar Foundation
  • Delaware Special Olympics
  • Disability Law Center
  • Diversity Committee of the ABA Tax Section
  • Episcopal Charities and Community Services
  • Episcopal Lawyers Volunteer Network
  • Evanston I Have a Dream Project
  • Georgetown University Law Center Corporate Council Institute
  • Global Partnership for Afghanistan
  • Goddard Riverside community Center - a settlement house on the Upper West Side Heartland Alliance for Human Needs & Human Rights
  • Hispanic National Bar Association
  • Lawyers Alliance
  • Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles
  • Legal Aid Society (Chicago)
  • Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago
  • Legal Information for Families Today (L.I.F.T.)
  • Legal Momentum
  • Literature For All of US
  • Metropolitan Family Services
  • National Down Syndrome Society
  • National Women's Law Center
  • New York Women's Foundation
  • National Council for Research on Women
  • New York Women's Foundation
  • Pro Bono Committee of the ABA Tax Section
  • Sakhi for South Asian Women
  • Second Circuit Task Force for Racial, Ethnic and Gender Fairness
  • Women's Bar Association of Illinois
  • Women's Bar Association of the State of New York

Women Attorneys' Honors/Recognition

Skadden's women attorneys are frequently recognized for their commitment to community outreach.

  • Commitment to Justice Award for Outstanding Law Firm by inMotion, Inc. (which provides free legal services to low-income women and children on legal matters such as domestic violence, uncontested divorce, orders of protection and child support/custody)

  • "Award for Excellence in Pro Bono Advocacy" from Sanctuary for Families' Center for Battered Women's Legal Services

  • The Margaret Brent Women Lawyers of Achievement Award from the American Bar Association

  • The John L. McCloy Memorial Award from the Fund for Modern Courts

  • The Law and Society Award from the New York Lawyers for the Public Interest

  • The New York University Law Alumni Award for outstanding achievement in the legal profession

  • The George A. Katz Torch of Learning Award

  • The Milton S. Gould Award for Outstanding Appellate Advocacy

  • The Louis D. Brandeis Award by the American Jewish Congress

  • An award from Touro Law School for achieving the highest standards of professional excellence

  • Selection by The National Law Journal as one of the 100 most outstanding members of the legal profession

  • Profile in The National Law Journal as one of the three outstanding lawyers of the year

  • Named by Fortune as one of the 50 most powerful women in American business (1998)

  • Named by Crain’s New York Business as one of the 25 most influential women in business

  • "Glasscutter" Award from ABA's Section of Business Law for working to advance opportunities for women in the profession

  • Named a 2006 Rockefeller Fellow by the Partnership for New York City.

  • Leadership Award from Women's Bar Association of Illinois
     
  • Women of Achievement Award from Anti-Defamation League

  • Michael Savage Human Spirit Award

  • The Paul R. Dean Award (by Georgetown Univ. Law Center for exceptional contributions to the legal profession, the community and the Law Center)

  • Award for "Exemplary Pro Bono Service" by the Clinical Legal Association for her representation of CLEA as amicus in the Univ. of Michigan Law School diversity admissions case

  • 2005 award from Legal Aid Society in recognition of outstanding pro bono services

  • 2007 Vanguard Award from a consortium of Illinois and minority bar associations for efforts to make the legal profession more accessible to minorities and the underprivileged