Up to PAR

We are very excited to announce that PAR’s new book, Flex Success: The Lawyer’s Guide to Balanced Hours by PAR founders Cynthia Calvert and Joan Williams, is now available. Here is an excerpt from the press release:

Working part-time no longer means a dead-end career. A new book by the Project for Attorney Retention, FLEX SUCCESS: THE LAWYER’S GUIDE TO BALANCED HOURS, shows how strategic career moves and careful avoidance of obstacles can propel reduced-hours lawyers to the top of the legal profession.

Drawing on lessons learned from a decade of research and work with successful part-time lawyers, the book provides step-by-step directions for proactively managing a part-time career toward advancement and financial rewards. The book’s authors, PAR founders Cynthia Thomas Calvert and Joan C. Williams, discuss planning and negotiating a reduced-hours schedule, making the schedule work, overcoming hidden bias against reduced-hours lawyers, and positioning one’s career for advancement. Real-life stories from successful balanced hours lawyers and practical wisdom from some of the country’s foremost experts on work/life balance in the legal profession illustrate the authors’ points throughout.

“This book helps not just lawyers, but also their firms and their clients,” said PAR Executive Director Manar Morales. “PAR’s research has shown that balanced hours, which are nonstigmatized reduced hours that emphasize client service and allow attorney advancement, retain talented lawyers. As more balanced hours lawyers become successful partners, the legal profession will benefit.”

The book is available on Amazon. It is a sequel to PAR’s book for law firms about how to implement a nonstigmatized reduced-hours program, Solving The Part-Time Puzzle: The Law Firm’s Guide To Balanced Hours (NALP 2004).

PAR is planning to hold a series of Flex Success events to discuss how balanced hours lawyers can advance professionally. Check PAR’s website for more information, or contact PAR to discuss scheduling an event for your firm, bar association, or other group.