Can Law Firms Offer the Same Flexibility as Accounting Firms?

Co-Author Rita Foley found this article from the American Bar Association Journal and had this response:

“I have been researching sabbaticals for the past three years and there are lots of examples of law firms, from small to over 900 partners who offer formal sabbatical programs.  Sherman & Sterling, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, and Foster Pepper, just to name a few.

For all those lawyers who say ‘I could never take a sabbatical, my client wouldn’t allow it’, one partner from Cleary Gottlieb told me that sabbaticals actually help neutralize the ego factor: ‘It’s not healthy for the firm if a client gets too dependent on just one person.’  They have proven that there are ways to serve that client well while the person is out for a couple of months.”

For more on sabbaticals, please visit our Events page.