White & Case is rolling out a radical flexible working programme across its offices in a move that will allow its
London lawyers to request whatever working hours they choose.
The scheme was officially launched in London last week (1 March) after the office’s executive committee approved proposals late last year.
Lawyers and staff at the firm will now be able to suggest their ideal working arrangements to partners in their department. These include working part-time, on a project-by-project basis, working from home and taking on non-standard hours.
The London flexible working scheme is open to all employees, including support staff and associates, and is intended to let staff work flexibly without harming long-term career prospects, including for partnership.
Finance partner Rachel Hatfield has been leading the initiative in London, which is an extension of a scheme introduced to the firm’s US lawyers in September last year. Each employee’s arrangements will be trialled over three months and, if successful, will then be extended through a rolling arrangement.
London employment partner Oliver Brettle told Legal Week: “It is important to ensure we have access to the widest possible pool of people and to do that we are willing to have people working flexibly.”
Earlier this year Simmons & Simmons launched a 12-month pilot of a flexible working scheme which could be launched fully in the London office from 2008.
Talkback: Can law firms make flexi-time work? Click here to have your say.
