Biglaw Parental Leave Forum

[Anonymous User]

Does anyone have experience with the general rules surrounding parental leave in biglaw? For instance, is it full paid leave at most firms? If you take it, do you have to work "x" amount of time when you come back to avoid having to pay it back or something? Is it generally frowned upon to take the full time (my firm gives up to 10 weeks I believe)? At a NYC V10 fwiw.

[Anonymous User]

Does anyone have experience with the general rules surrounding parental leave in biglaw? For instance, is it full paid leave at most firms? If you take it, do you have to work "x" amount of time when you come back to avoid having to pay it back or something? Is it generally frowned upon to take the full time (my firm gives up to 10 weeks I believe)? At a NYC V10 fwiw.

The two firms I've been at were fully paid, and no stipulations that I know of. I think you just get prorated bonus though.

In my experience, there are still connotations around men taking longer parental leave periods, to the extent that's applicable to you. I think the few women in our group that have taken parental leave have taken the full amount of leave available, or close to it.

[Anonymous User]

At my firm, fathers can take 10 weeks during the first year. I took 8 up front and the remaining two later. Most people take all of it, though depends on seniority level, with some partners only taking a few weeks. The male associates/partners who have taken most/full leave haven't suffered any negative consequences I'm aware of. Female associates have taken much longer, up to six months in some cases.

No obligation to repay.

[Anonymous User]

Anon for obvious reasons: At K&E, at least in the group I was in, the expectation was that men would not take the full allotted time and in some extreme cases, I saw some male associates/NSPs only take a week or two (and even then, they were replying to emails during that time). Knew of another mid-level associate who communicated he was going to take the full time and someone higher up in the group not so subtly told him that anything over 4 weeks would hurt his career.

[Anonymous User]

Anon since sensitive info. My V30 firm offers 4 months leave to either parent, and though the firm publicly supports fathers taking the full leave there seems to be a definite negative effect on fathers that do take it (e.g., getting passed over for partner, more likely to get counselled out, etc.).

I think that despite the positive lip service the bias is still (unfairly) there against fathers that take longer leaves, and absent a strong track record at your firm showing fathers aren't punished for taking their full leave you need to think carefully about how you want to proceed.

[eastcoast_iub]

Anon for obvious reasons: At K&E, at least in the group I was in, the expectation was that men would not take the full allotted time and in some extreme cases, I saw some male associates/NSPs only take a week or two (and even then, they were replying to emails during that time). Knew of another mid-level associate who communicated he was going to take the full time and someone higher up in the group not so subtly told him that anything over 4 weeks would hurt his career.

Counterpoint from K&E: Know several male mid-levels and seniors who have taken the full 10 weeks with no pushback (for instance, they were promoted to NSP afterward and there were no indications they did not maintain a good reputation). Maybe if you are hardcore gunning for shares it could be an issue just b/c of the lost experience. Agree that it is more typical for NSPs to only take a few weeks.

[Anonymous User]

At my V10, it is 10 weeks for fathers, not sure for mothers. No need to repay.

Full pay, including bonus. If you take more than 7 weeks, you have 3 months to “ramp up” when you get back (ie bill at 75%) without any effect on your bonus.

[Anonymous User]

Anon for obvious reasons: At K&E, at least in the group I was in, the expectation was that men would not take the full allotted time and in some extreme cases, I saw some male associates/NSPs only take a week or two (and even then, they were replying to emails during that time). Knew of another mid-level associate who communicated he was going to take the full time and someone higher up in the group not so subtly told him that anything over 4 weeks would hurt his career.

Counterpoint from K&E: Know several male mid-levels and seniors who have taken the full 10 weeks with no pushback (for instance, they were promoted to NSP afterward and there were no indications they did not maintain a good reputation). Maybe if you are hardcore gunning for shares it could be an issue just b/c of the lost experience. Agree that it is more typical for NSPs to only take a few weeks.

Also at K&E and can confirm this with others and personally (at least in my group).

[Anonymous User]

Most firms offer 10-18 weeks of fully paid leave to men as well. I took 12 (the max at my firm), had a prorated hours requirement of like 1500 hours, and received a bonus around 75% of market--overall a great deal. It's not like a clerkship bonus; you can quit the day you return from leave and the firm can't do anything about it.

In my experience a lot of men still only take 4-6 weeks. Partners won't directly punish you for taking longer but there might be unavoidable consequences like being removed from major matters. Unless you really want to be a partner I would strongly recommend taking the full amount of time and worrying about the consequences later.

[Anonymous User]

If there's a partner you can ask off the record, try that.

A mid-level gunning for partner at my old firm (V50) partner asked a senior partner in their group and was told that "anything beyond 2 weeks would be considered a vacation." For junior associates, like years 1-4, it probably matters less.

[Anonymous User]

Is it a common requirement that you are only eligible after being at the firm for a year? For example, could you take the full leave in your eighth or ninth month at the firm?

[Anonymous User]

At V50 firm. Male. Took 4 weeks off. Was responding to short emails the whole time (like 1-2 hrs a day, really not bad at all) and did substantive work that 4th week.
Firm gives a long paid leave. I was encouraged to take as long as I needed, but my team/client would have been screwed if I didn't come back when I did.

[Anonymous User]

Man who was at a V20 firm when I took parental leave as a mid-level. I took the full 12 weeks all at once and didn't turn on my work phone/computer once the entire time. Anyone that took parental leave just had to hit a prorated hours requirement in order to receive the full bonus amount for their class year. I never experienced any kind of negative or weird treatment for taking the full amount of leave (at least not to my face).

[Anonymous User]

Male midlevel at a V30. My wife and I are expecting and I'm trying to figure out how much time to take. My firm gives 18 weeks (women can combine with short term disability and something else to get it up to 26 weeks). I'm leaning towards 12-14 weeks as that seems to be the norm. I'm worried about the prorated bonus but with the savings on daycare for those months it probably evens out

[Anonymous User]

V30 midlevel, male, about to go on leave for 14 weeks (12 paternity + 2 of vacation-as-leave). It's all paid, hours requirement is prorated to account for the leave, and bonus is full if I hit my prorated hours target (which I did a few weeks ago.) It may be practice group specific, but the tone set in my group is that men and women alike are encouraged to take the full time with no negative career impact whatsoever. I would genuinely be shocked if anyone gave me a hard time for taking the full time available, and then I would just not work with that person. When people talk about lifestyle firms, I think this is what they mean. Everyone in biglaw gets shit on in terms of workload, but at least you can have humane people around you who respect legitimate boundaries like having a kid.