Work-Life Balance

We strive to support our lawyers not only in their professional development, but also in their efforts to balance the demands of their jobs with their outside interests and responsibilities. We believe that such a balance is crucial not only to the success of individual attorneys, but also to the overall success of our firm.

Recent efforts include:

• Alternative Work Schedules.  We have long had a part-time policy under which any lawyer can set up a work schedule that meets his or her needs. Currently, 50 of our lawyers are working on part-time schedules.  In recent years, a number of attorneys, including four women lawyers, have become partners while working part-time.
• Childcare.  We offer emergency back-up care to all lawyers in the New York, San Francisco, and Washington offices, providing in-home or center-based emergency back-up care for children as well as adults.
• Benefits.  Covington is a leader in the legal community in providing employment benefits to attorneys and professional staff. We have provided domestic partner health insurance benefits since 1994, when we became the first major Washington law firm to offer such benefits to our attorneys and professional staff. For both attorneys and professional staff, we provide primary caregivers with 18 weeks paid leave upon the birth or adoption of a child. Non-primary caregivers receive 12 weeks of paid leave within four months of the birth or adoption of a child. 
• Work-Life Balance Group.  We created a Work-Life Balance Group, providing a forum for women and men at the firm to discuss issues of interest to lawyers who are pursuing careers while raising children (such as child care, benefits, planning for college, and part-time schedules). The group holds informal lunches periodically and hosts outside speakers to provide advice and views on a variety of issues. There is also an email group that enables attorneys to exchange information about work-life related issues.