Working Mother magazine, the authoritative source for career mothers, and Flex-Time Lawyers LLC, a national consulting firm advising attorneys and legal employers on work-life balance and the retention and advancement of women, today announced the list of the 2007 Working Mother & Flex-Time Lawyers Best Law Firms for Women. The winning firms are notable for their work/life and women-friendly policies -- including flex-time, child care and women-focused mentoring, leadership and networking programs -- as they set new standards to retain and promote top female legal talent.

In a profession often distinguished by cut-throat competition, 100-hour work weeks, and few women in top partnership positions, the 2007 Working Mother & Flex-Time Lawyers Best Law Firms for Women firms are redefining standards of success and creating workplaces that encourage the retention and promotion of women. For more than twenty years, women have comprised 40-50% of law school graduates and forward-thinking firms are recognizing that in order to retain and promote the best talent, they need to ensure women lawyers' success.

"Forget the old stereotypes of law firms as inhospitable to women," said Suzanne Riss, Editor in Chief, Working Mother magazine. "As Working Mother examined the practices of many of the nation's law firms, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that a number have been quietly changing their policies in recent years to reflect changes that are afoot in society as a whole. The 2007 Working Mother & Flex-Time Lawyers Best Law Firms for Women are making women's issues a priority, and the success of their policies will hopefully become reflected in the number of women, from associates all the way up to partners."

"We are delighted to celebrate the firms that have begun to make strides with respect to women. Competition is the ultimate instrument of change and my goal in partnering with Working Mother to create this list is to make work/life balance and women's issues a basis of competition among law firms, as historically has been the case for salary or pro-bono," said Deborah Epstein Henry, Founder and President, Flex-Time Lawyers LLC.

Added Henry, "The other key component to making change is information and participating law firms are now positioned to acquire the national benchmarking data they need to improve the status of women in the profession and raise the bar on what makes a best law firm for women."

THE 2007 WORKING MOTHER & FLEX-TIME LAWYERS BEST LAW FIRMS FOR WOMEN

  Alston & Bird, Atlanta, GA
  Armstrong Teasdale, St. Louis, MO
  Arnold & Porter, Washington, DC
  Baker & Daniels, Indianapolis, IN
  Baker & McKenzie, Chicago, IL
  Bingham McCutchen, Boston, MA
  Blackwell Sanders, Kansas City, MO
  Bryan Cave, St. Louis, MO
  Chapman and Cutler, Chicago, IL
  Covington & Burling, Washington, DC
  Cravath, Swaine & Moore, New York, NY
  Debevoise & Plimpton, New York, NY
  Dickstein Shapiro, Washington, DC
  DLA Piper US, New York, NY
  Dorsey & Whitney, Minneapolis, MN
  Duane Morris, Philadelphia, PA
  Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott, Pittsburgh, PA
  Farella Braun + Martel, San Francisco, CA
  Foley & Lardner, Milwaukee, WI
  Folger Levin & Kahn, San Francisco, CA
  Gibbons P.C., Newark, NJ
  Heller Ehrman, San Francisco, CA
  Hogan & Hartson, Washington, DC
  Holland & Knight, New York, NY
  Howrey, Washington, DC
  Hunton & Williams, Richmond, VA
  Ice Miller, Indianapolis, IN
  Katten Muchin Rosenman, Chicago, IL
  King & Spalding, Atlanta, GA
  Kirkland & Ellis, Chicago, IL
  Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Preston Gates Ellis, Pittsburgh, PA
  Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel, New York, NY
  Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, Los Angeles, CA
  Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw, Chicago, IL
  McDermott Will & Emery, Chicago, IL
  McGuireWoods, Richmond, VA
  Miller & Chevalier Chartered, Washington, DC
  Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky and Popeo, Boston, MA
  Morrison & Foerster, San Francisco, CA
  Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, New York, NY
  Patton Boggs, Washington, DC
  Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, New York, NY
  Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, New York, NY
  Reed Smith, Pittsburgh, PA
  Sidley Austin, Chicago, IL
  Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, New York, NY
  Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal, Chicago, IL
  White & Case, New York, NY
  WilmerHale, Washington, DC
  Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice, Winston-Salem, NC

The complete information about the 2007 Working Mother & Flex-Time Lawyers Best Law Firms for Women-including profiles of the winning firms-appears in the August/September issue of Working Mother, available on newsstands August 14, 2007 and at http://www.workingmother.com/ and http://www.flextimelawyers.com/ .