The Biglaw trend of generously expanding parental leave, and ensuring it is gender neutral, is continuing. Munger, Tolles & Olson recently announced an expanded leave program, effective August 1, for all attorneys.
The new benefit provides parents with 18 weeks of paid parental leave. That leave make be taken consecutively or they can split it up into two chunks of time, allowing them to take some time at the arrival of the child and then later, perhaps when their partner’s parental leave ends. Birthing mothers may also take six to eight weeks of paid disability leave, meaning, at the high end, a new parent can have up to 26 weeks of paid leave.
The expanded leave program is Munger Tolles’s latest effort to create a truly family-friendly firm. They offer on-site, subsidized childcare — and have since 2010. Additionally, the firm provides subsidized back-up childcare, up to 20 days per year for each child.
While the expanded benefits for new parents are certainly nice, there’s been a lot of talk recently about whether it’s smart for your career to use the benefits. The good news is that associates don’t have to wonder if taking leave will permanently damage their career prospects, because Munger Tolles has plenty of positive examples in their partnership. Indeed, this year’s partnership class includes three attorneys — Rose Leda Ehler, Laura K. Lin, and Kuruvilla J. Olasa — who took leave in the year leading up to making partner.
Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, and host of The Jabot podcast. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).