Gender Equity

Women play critical roles leading our Firm, clients and communities. Gender equity is an integral part of the mission of our Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee, which has a Gender Subcommittee dedicated to examining issues, policies and practices that directly impact women attorneys at the Firm.

Kirkland’s Women’s Leadership Initiative (WLI) promotes the recruitment, retention and advancement of our women attorneys and aims to develop them into leaders within their practice groups, the Firm, the legal profession and the community. WLI sponsored 33 programs in 2020, including networking events, discussions, informational lunches and training sessions.

The Firm partners with organizations concerned with women’s initiatives, mentoring and leadership, and workplace equality, including:

• Black Women Lawyers’ Association (BWLA)
• Coalition of Women’s Initiatives in Law (CCWC)
• Corporate Counsel Women of Color
• Diversity & Flexibility Alliance
• Hastings Leadership Academy for Women/Center for WorkLife Law/Women’s Leadership Edge
• Leadership Council on Legal Diversity (LCLD)
• National Association of Women Lawyers (NAWL)
• National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR)
• Women in Law Empowerment Forum (WILEF)

We recognize that true gender equity requires programs that support employees in balancing their careers and personal lives. Our progressive benefits, services and programs include:

• No minimum billable hour requirement.
• Enhanced technological offerings that enable attorneys to work flexibly and seamlessly in or out of the office.
• Flexible/reduced-hour work schedules without sacrificing merit-based compensation or professional growth opportunities.
• Our paid leave benefits rank among the top in the industry, making Kirkland one of the top family-friendly firms.
• Full medical, dental and vision insurance for domestic partners.
• Access to our award-winning CareerLink and In-House Insider Experience career assistance services that support transitions at all stages of attorney careers and personal lives.
• Kirkland is proud to support attorneys who are balancing the demands of family and work.
• We also offer resources to support attorneys in making a smooth transition to and then back from leaves of absence, including a self-paced e-course designed to ease anxieties about the return-to-work process so that new parents can focus on spending time with their little ones.
• We offer working caretakers cost-effective access to in-home and center-based backup childcare and adult/elder care.
• Kirkland provides support to new mothers by providing nursing mothers’ rooms, prenatal breastfeeding classes and opportunities for private consultations with certified lactation consultants and childbirth educators. Additionally, for nursing mothers traveling for work within the U.S., Kirkland offers a program that supports shipping breast milk home safely.
• Kirkland’s Parenting Link program provides a forum for attorneys, their spouses and partners, and their clients to receive concise, practical information from parenting experts in an informal setting and to develop camaraderie with other parents with young children.