Most large law firms make part-time schedules available to their experienced attorneys, but just 4.7% of associates and 2.8% of partners were working part-time in 2006. Moreover, most lawyers working part-time are women — women represented 72% of partners working part-time and 89% of associates working part-time. These are among the findings of the most recent analyses of the NALP Directory of Legal Employers, the annual compendium of employer information published by NALP. The 2006-2007 Directory comprises listings from primarily large law firms and includes part-time use information from almost 1,500 individual law offices and firms and over 132,000 lawyers.

In 2006, nearly all offices, 96%, allowed part-time schedules, either as an affirmative policy or on a case-by-case basis, but as has been the case since NALP first compiled this information in 1994, very few lawyers are working on a part-time basis, just 5% overall. Associates are more likely to be working part-time (4.7%) than partners (2.8%), but other lawyers, such as of counsel and staff attorneys, show the highest rate of part-time work, over 16%. Because of expanded data collection, NALP is able to track for the first time the use of part-time schedules by men and women, for partners, associates, and other lawyers. This expanded information reveals that women partners are more likely to be working part-time than are women associates, with 11.4% of women partners working part-time and 9.5% of women associates working part-time. Just about 1% of men, either partners or associates, work part-time. (See Table 1.)

The three largest markets, Chicago, New York City, and Washington, DC, account for one-third of the lawyers reflected in the Directory, and show a sharp dichotomy. Part-time partners are more than twice as common in Chicago and Washington, DC (3.6% and 4%, respectively) than in New York City (1.4%), as are women partners working part-time, about 15% versus 7%. A similar contrast, though not as dramatic, is true of associates. In Chicago and Washington, DC, about 5.3% of associates work part-time, compared with 4.2% in New York City, and about 11% of women associates work part-time in Chicago and Washington, DC, compared with 8.4% in New York City.

Looking at all cities, the presence of part-time partners varies even more. (See Table 2.) For example, part-time partners are most common in Baltimore, Grand Rapids, Milwaukee, Raleigh/Durham, San Francisco, and Seattle, with 5-6% of partners working part-time. Part-time women partners were most common in these same cities, along with Charlotte, Denver, Hartford, Salt Lake City, and Washington, DC. But in a number of cities fewer than 1% of partners are working part-time, and in eight cities no male partners were reported as working part-time.

Cities also vary with respect to part-time associates. (See Table 3.) In Birmingham and New Orleans, just 1% of associates, none of them men, worked part-time. Other cities in which no male associates were reported as working part-time include Austin, Columbus, Denver, Ft. Lauderdale/W. Palm Beach, Miami, and Nashville. In Baltimore, Hartford, Raleigh/Durham, and Richmond, 7-9% of associates worked part-time. These same cities also report the highest percentage of women associates working part-time, 16-18%.

Six states, or portions of states, not covered by the cities above, had sufficient information for a parallel analysis. Following the national patterns, all had higher percentages of part-time associates than part-time partners. The percentage of partners working part-time was highest in the portions of California outside of the cities (3.6%); the percentage of women partners working part-time was highest in New York state outside of New York City (12.0%). These two areas also had the highest percentage of part-time associates (5.4% and 6.1%, respectively), and of women associates working part-time (11% and 13.4%, respectively).

Entry-level lawyers in search of part-time schedules found their options more limited. Nationally, 56% of offices that offered a part-time option precluded entry-level associates from using that arrangement, and just 7% had an affirmative part-time policy that made the option available to all attorneys. Nonetheless, an entry-level lawyer’s chances of finding part-time work were somewhat higher in Boston, Cincinnati, Hartford, and Salt Lake City. The cities least likely to offer a part-time option to entry-level attorneys were Detroit and New Orleans.

Part-Time Lawyer Ratios Differ from the Workforce at Large

Interestingly, the dearth of part-time lawyers at law firms distinguishes private law firm practice from both the U.S. workforce as a whole and from more defined segments of the workforce. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), just over 14% of employed individuals during 2005 usually worked part-time, as did a similar percentage of those employed in professional specialties (e.g., engineers, architects, physicians). These rates contrast markedly with the 5.0% rate among lawyers at major law firms.

Table 1. Part-time Work at Law Firms in 2006 — Summary by Lawyer Type

Includes counsel/of counsel, staff attorneys, and senior attorneys.
Source: NALP 2006-2007 Directory of Legal Employers.

Table 2. Part-Time Lawyers — Partners at Law Firms — 2006

Source: 2006-2007 NALP Directory of Legal Employers. For law firms that repeated firmwide demographic information for each office listing avoid double counting. The number of offices from which use is calculated is shown in the last column. Some city information includes one or more offices in adjacent suburbs. Orange County includes offices in Costa Mesa The San Jose area includes offices in Cupertino View Jose and Sunnyvale. The Northern New Jersey/Newark area includes offices in Newark Park Bridgewater offices in Falls Church figures exclude cities reported separately.

Table 3. Part-Time Lawyers — Associates at Law Firms — 2006

Source: 2006-2007 NALP Directory of Legal Employers. For law firms that repeated firmwide demographic information for each office listing, use information was retained for just one office to avoid double counting. The number of offices from which use is calculated is shown in the last column. Some city information includes one or more offices in adjacent suburbs. Orange County includes offices in Costa Mesa, Irvine, and Newport Beach. The San Jose area includes offices in Cupertino, Menlo Park, Mountain View, Palo Alto and E. Palo Alto, Redwood Shores/Redwood City, San Jose, and Sunnyvale. The Northern New Jersey/Newark area includes offices in Newark, Livingston, Rochelle Park, Roseland, West Orange, Florham Park, Hackensack, Morristown, Parsippany, Short Hills, Westfield, Bridgewater, Somerset, and Woodbridge. Northern Virginia includes offices in Falls Church, McLean, Reston, Vienna, and Alexandria. State figures exclude cities reported separately.

Table 4. Availability and Use of Part-Time Schedules at Law Firms — 2006

* Percentages are based on all offices and reflect availability either as an affirmative policy or on a case-by-case basis.

** Percentages are based on offices which make part-time work available.

Source: 2006-2007 NALP Directory of Legal Employers. For law firms that repeated firmwide demographic information for each office listing, use information was retained for just one office to avoid double counting. The number of offices from which use is calculated is shown in the last column. However, availability figures are based on all offices, a total of 1,614. Some city information includes one or more offices in adjacent suburbs. Orange County includes offices in Costa Mesa, Irvine, and Newport Beach. The San Jose area includes offices in Cupertino, Menlo Park, Mountain View, Palo Alto and E. Palo Alto, Redwood Shores/Redwood City, San Jose, and Sunnyvale. The Northern New Jersey/Newark area includes offices in Newark, Livingston, Rochelle Park, Roseland, West Orange, Florham Park, Hackensack, Morristown, Parsippany, Short Hills, Westfield, Bridgewater, Somerset, and Woodbridge. Northern Virginia includes offices in Falls Church, McLean, Reston, Vienna, and Alexandria. State figures exclude cities reported separately.

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