Biglaw Firm Offers Revolutionary Program For Working Mothers
This program is the the first of its kind among all Biglaw firms. Wow!
Many Biglaw firms out there now offer up to 22 weeks of paid parental leave, and that’s a wonder in and of itself. Some Biglaw firms are now even offering gender-neutral parental leave programs. But what happens when female attorneys return from parental leave?
Managing a successful career at a prestigious law firm and a successful family life can be quite the task, and only some firms have risen to the occasion to make this easier for lawyers who are new mothers. In fact, until this week, not a single Biglaw firm had come up with a solution for working mothers who were on business trips and needed to ship breast milk home.
This all changes thanks to Latham & Watkins’s new breast milk-shipping program, which is the first of its kind among all Biglaw firms. Even Latham thinks breast is best.
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Associate Hayley Gladstone, who serves as global co-chair of the firm’s parent lawyers group, came up with the idea, and the firm ran with it. Here’s how the program works:
When a nursing-mom lawyer travels for work, Latham sends a special shipping unit to her hotel. It includes a Styrofoam box that chills down after pressing a button. There are also plastic breast milk storage bags, labels, a marker and packing tape. Once the chilling unit is packed, it goes in a FedEx box for shipping.
The service, launched this week, is a welcomed solution, said [Julia] Thompson, [who’s had three children since joining the firm in 2009 and] explained that it’s difficult taking milk through airport security because sometimes, agents open and test the milk. Thompson said she explored shipping her milk using dry ice, but she didn’t want to risk feeding her baby milk that wasn’t frozen or refrigerated properly.
“This is something you don’t want to leave to chance,” she said.
Latham & Watkins will offer this important service to all nursing mothers — both attorneys and staff members — who need to travel on firm-related business.
Congratulations to Latham on going forward with this program that will surely benefit its attorneys and their families. Which Biglaw firm will be the next to step up and make life a little easier for female associates and staff who are working mothers?
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Got (Breast) Milk? Latham Will Ship It [Law.com]
Staci Zaretsky is an editor at Above the Law. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments. Follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.
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