A year ago, Nancy Vollertsen, 60, an employment partner at Lindquist & Vennum, would never have expected so many male attorneys to take advantage of family leave.

But with the economic downturn leaving some of the firm’s practice areas unusually quiet, a noticeable number of male attorneys at the firm have seized on this moment to attend more to family needs. (For instance, in a move that would’ve been virtually unheard last year, an associate in Nancy’s practice group is now enjoying two months off for the birth of his first child.) Going forward, Nancy says she believes this more balanced work/life mindset is certain to last, even as the economy improves: “It’s powerful when you see others starting to use [the benefit],” she says. “It becomes part of the lifestyle and culture of the firm.” 

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Lindquist & Vennum isn’t the only firm aiming to flex its way through tough times. Experts says as the economy has provoked heated debate about compensation, the billable hour and the traditional seven-year track to partnership, it has also pushed firms to consider work/life policies that lawyer moms have long sought—telecommuting, flexible hours, family leave, contract arrangements and reduced-hour schedules—as a way to save money and retain talent over the long haul. “There is such opportunity now to put everything on the table,” says Lauren Stiller Rikleen, executive director of the Bowditch Institute for Women’s Success and author of Ending the Gauntlet: Removing Barriers to Women’s Success in the Law and the mother of two. “We could make huge inroads in the greater use of flexible and reduced-hour programs as firms consider them as a way of getting through this economic crisis.”

Already, progressive firms like Working Mother and Flex-Time Lawyers’ 50 Best Law Firms for Women are setting the standard for supporting women: For example, nearly all offer reduced-hour schedules to lawyers, while 62 percent offer full-time telecommuting and 42 percent have written flexible-schedule policies for lawyers regularly working full-time unconventional hours. “Challenges like this present the industry with an opportunity to be far more creative than we have been. We are getting suggestions emailed from all over the practice areas,” says Liz Price, professional personnel partner at Alston & Bird, a winning law firm, and mother of Daniel, age 9. Notes Liz, “We invest all our time and money in our people and need to take a long-term view.”

At this point, however, while some firms have made tremendous strides, others have not been nearly as effective, says Joan C. Williams, co-director of the Project for Attorney Retention, an initiative of the Center for WorkLife Law at UC Hastings College of the Law, in San Francisco. Far too many firms are still only talking about, rather than making real changes to their work/life policies. Firms need to realize, she says, that the time for change is now: “When the economy picks up, firms that have used this time in a proactive way to rethink work-life policies will be in a better economic position than those hunkered down, relying on old solutions.”

From reduced hours to flexible work arrangements to contracting, here are some of the key work/life strategies our winning firms are using to survive and thrive during the downturn:

The Case of the Reducing Hours

At Minneapolis-based general practice firm Lindquist & Vennum, the message is unequivocal: If you want more flexibility, now’s the time—no strings attached. The firm has even lowered its threshold for benefits, allowing attorneys to reduce hours to a 60 percent schedule and still retain full healthcare. 

The move isn’t purely altruistic: By offering more flexible work arrangements, the firm is able to contain costs in slow practice areas and still retain top talent. “We are seeking every alternative to layoffs,” explains Nancy Vollertsen, 59, who chairs the firm’s employment law practice. “We’re being as flexible as we can and we believe it will pay off for us when the business comes back.” 

To minimize layoffs, some firms are asking attorneys to work reduced-hour schedules. For example, in some practice groups at New York-based Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, attorneys have temporarily switched to 90 percent schedules to preserve jobs. And at Chicago-based Chapman and Cutler, partners are saving billable tasks for associates as way to save jobs as well. (Partners instead are focusing on strategic initiatives like research and client development, explains Melanie Gnazzo, 50, mother of Robert, 15 and Ryan, 11, and full-time equity partner in the firm’s structured finance group. “We view this downturn as temporary and are going into investment mode,” she says.) 

While impressive, these three Best Law Firms remain in the considerable minority when it comes to acknowledging the use of such options. That’s because too many attorneys still fear the impact a voluntary downshift might have on their career, even temporarily, while too many firms worry that publicizing reduced-hour schedules will make their business appear troubled. American Bar Association president Tommy Wells, who has discussed the topic with firms nationally, says, however, that such views are a mistake. Reduced hours “is a better model” for a downturn than layoffs, he argues. “It spreads the pain more broadly and it preserves talent and the culture of the law firm.” 

Reduced hours can also help preserve a firm’s coffers as well, something of particular interest during this recession: Researchers at the UC Hastings Project for Attorney Retention estimate, for example, that in a six-lawyer practice group, a firm could save roughly $30,000 by having each attorney reduce their hours 20 percent, versus laying one off. It’s a tidy sum, considering that PAR’s calculation doesn’t factor in disruptive costs related to a termination—including gaps in client service, loss of institutional knowledge, loss of training investment and damage to employee morale, or even the cost of re-hiring and training a new associate, which PAR has conservatively estimated at $300,000 to $500,000 per associate, when business improves. 

Deborah Epstein Henry, founder and president of Flex-Time Lawyers, which consults on work-life and women’s issues, has taken the reduced-hour concept a step farther by advocating that firms “reset” their billable hour system by instituting multiple target-hour tracks, ranging from 1,200 to 2,000 hours annually and making commensurate adjustments in salary. (These different target billable-hour commitments could be adjusted during different periods of the attorneys’ careers based on business and personal needs.) It’s a move that Henry says mirrors the current billing patterns at firms, given the declining demand for legal services, adding that it could help save jobs and bring salaries in line with market conditions while avoiding a traditionally stigmatized “part time” role. 

When Claire Latham, 4, saws away on her tiny cello or Kate, 7, plays through Lightly Row on the piano, mom Laura Latham, 41, an employment law partner at Pillsbury, is right there, learning alongside them. Such flexibility means that both Laura and Pillsbury are getting good deals in a bad economy: Pillsbury gets a seasoned partner who is paid by the hour, works from home and seamlessly serves clients, and Laura gets to enjoy, as she puts it, “the whimsy of childhood”—as in when your preschooler begs to learn cello. 

“Pillsbury has been supportive of me at all stages of my career—as a fast-track associate and now as a working mother who wants to continue her practice and spend time with her children,” she says, adding she’ll likely return to a more traditional schedule when her daughters are older. 

It’s no wonder Pillsbury is supportive. Experts say Laura and her peers are likely to be a key resource in helping firms manage costs during the downturn and recover when the economy rebounds. At Alston & Bird, for instance, its Special Resources Group is staffed by many lawyer moms who want flexible, project-based work. They’re paid by the hour, representing “a considerable value” to the firm, says Mary Gill, 54, securities litigation partner and mother of son Cory, 21, and twin daughters Sydney and Kendall, 15. 

On-ramping lawyers are another potentially deep labor pool as lawyer moms who once left the profession ready themselves to return to work. “It’s cost-efficient to stay in touch,” says Linda Ottinger Headley, 58, a labor and employment law partner with San Francisco-based Littler Mendelson and mother of four. With returning lawyer moms, she says, “you’ve got a proven commodity and you won’t have a big investment getting them back up to speed.” 

Since coming on board as a reduced-hour contract lawyer with Littler Mendelson, Kate McCormick, 44, has developed a valuable specialty: covering clients’ maternity leaves. She’s even subbed for one client twice. Called secunding, the practice can be used to cover clients’ personnel gaps or to staff up for a big project. The secunded attorney learns the client’s business intimately while the firm strengthens the client relationship and looks like a hero for allowing the client to avoid recruiting time or the cost of a permanent hire.

Because the client typically pays the firm a fee or picks up the lawyer’s salary directly, seconding makes particular sense for firms looking to trim labor costs without severing relationships. “We have had clients that have had to downsize their legal departments,” observes Liz Price of Alston & Bird. “We’ve found secunding a good way to serve them and allocate our resources well.” 

Kate, mother of Champ, 10, and Mychal, 7, calls the process invigorating. “In-house work is very fast-paced and you have to make decisions more quickly,” she says. “The great part is you see more of the direct results of your advice and the difference you are making.”

Possibly the biggest change the economic turmoil could bring is a break from billable hours—a move that couldn’t come too soon for some lawyer moms. “This economy will drive the death of the billable hour,” predicts Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe employment law partner Patricia Gillette, 57, mother of Andrew, 27, and Ryan, 23. Patricia says her international firm is currently exploring and implementing alternative billing models, which she believes will open up greater flexibility in how work is assigned, completed and priced. “The billable hour makes no sense and clients can sense the inefficiency,” she says.

Indeed, clients are also pushing for change: A powerful legal organization which lobbies on behalf of in-house attorneys, the Association of Corporate Counsel, is pushing hard for alternatives to the billable hour, an entrenched standard that’s pushed many working mothers out of the profession with its steep requirements, which often lead to 80 and 100-hour work weeks. 

Chapman and Cutler’s Melanie Gnazzo, 50, who ran her own firm for 10 years because it gave her more freedom while raising her sons, ages 15 and 10, also senses a move towards more relationship-driven pricing schemes. “Law firms are starting to move away from hours-based billing, or at least looking into it,” she says. “Here, we already use alternative fee arrangements (like budgets and flat pricing) for 35 percent of transactional matters, and it’s on the rise.. As someone who ran her own business, I totally agree with that.”

This spring, faced with the tough prospect of layoffs, Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman decided to do something innovative: For each attorney whose position was eliminated, the firm pledged $60,000 to fund a year-long position at a non-profit organization. About a quarter of attorneys affected raised their hands to try it, and 16 percent went on to accept positions.

“No one wants to lay off very talented attorneys,” says Tania P. Shah, director of corporate social responsibility, who oversees the program for the New York-based firm. “We saw non-profits losing funding at the same time as demand skyrocketed for their services. We saw a fit because we’ve long viewed pro bono [work] as a way to grow a skill set while contributing to the community.

Even firms not facing layoffs are thinking in new ways about pro bono. Minneapolis-based Lindquist & Vennum, for example, has begun offering free continuing education seminars for attorneys at two local non-profits, which allows these professionals to obtain required credits for licensing without dipping into overstretched budgets.

Pro bono is a wise investment, argues Esther Lardent, president and ceo of the Pro Bono Institute, based in Washington, DC. A strong pro bono portfolio is a competitive advantage in recruiting and in winning new business. Plus, pro bono work can be a valuable shortcut for career development. Attorneys get hands-on experience running discoveries, negotiations or even trials, skills that would take years to acquire in a large firm setting. 

Then there’s the fact that pro bono work can be healing in difficult times. “Pro bono reminds us something about who we are as a profession,” Lardent notes. “That we do serve and we do have the skills and tools to make people’s life better.”