ATLANTA (March 6, 2008) – LawFuel.com – The Georgia Association for Women Lawyers (“GAWL”) released its report entitled, IT’S ABOUT TIME II: Examining Flexible Work Arrangements from the Attorney’s and the Firm’s Perspectives–A Study of Part-time Policies in Georgia Law Firms.

The report, which analyzes the ubiquitous challenge of work-life balance facing attorneys, concludes that flexible work arrangements are crucial to recruit and retain women lawyers, and mitigate financial risk for employers. For such arrangements to work, both law firms and lawyers must understand the perils of maintaining the status quo, as well as the benefits of implementing flexible employment policies. It’s About Time II presents fair and practical solutions for lawyers and law firms seeking to implement alternative work arrangements.

Due to accelerating attrition rates among women lawyers, law firms currently face challenges associated with employee diversity, increasing firm costs and client relationships. Women represent nearly one-half of U.S. law school graduates, but only 17% of partners in law firms. Such loss of female associates may interrupt client-firm relationships, negatively impact fees, and increase firm operating expenses. A law firm will spend an estimated $280,000 to $500,000 to replace a second year associate. While the costs alone are staggering, maintaining a diverse workforce is important for law firms wishing to promote themselves and benefit from a heterogeneous work environment. These factors highlight the business imperative for employers to implement retention policies and procedures.

In the Study, more than 60% of female attorneys leaving law firms cited the desire for a different schedule or professional dissatisfaction as their reason. GAWL’s survey results from 84 Georgia law firms show that lawyers’ attitudes about part-time and flexible work schedules have progressed. Over 93% of all respondents look favorably on employers that allow part-time or flexible work arrangements while 86% of women attorneys are interested in part time or flexible work arrangements.

While perceptions are shifting as attrition increases, employers have been slow to adapt. Both men and women lawyers believe working part-time or on a flexible schedule is career limiting; this dichotomy may be explained by firms’ underwhelming strides to implement policies supporting flexible work arrangements. More than half of the firms surveyed have never employed a part-time attorney. Greater than 60% of law firms have no formal written part-time policy.

The It’s About Time II study is available at www.gawl.org. Contact Alicia Grahn Jones at 404-815-6164 for additional information.

About GAWL

GAWL, established in 1928, has over 1,000 members. GAWL strives to advance the welfare and development of women lawyers and support their interests.

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Paris (March 5th, 2008) – LawFuel.com – Law Firm News – Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker LLP, a leading international law firm, announced today that a four lawyer team comprised of Partners Pascal Cuche and Marc Lordonnois, and associates, Karine Debaecker and Mounir Letayf, has joined the Paris office. The team specializes in public law and infrastructure project transactions with a particular emphasis on Public Private Partnerships (PPP).

“The burgeoning PPP sector in France and Europe requires lawyers with a great depth of infrastructure finance expertise,” said John Hawkins, chair of Paul Hastings Global Projects Group. “We continue to make strategic acquisitions of leading practitioners to our projects practice in the U.S., Asia and Europe.”

“We are delighted that one of Paris’s leading PPP teams is joining us in Paris. Not only will this strengthen and greatly enhance our domestic French PPP practice but in addition it will immediately boost our cross-border PPP practice, particularly in Central and Eastern Europe but also in the U.S. and Asia where French contractors are becoming increasingly more active. The acquisition of this team continues the significant growth of Paul Hastings project finance practice in Europe and reaffirms Paul Hastings position as one of Europe’s leading project finance practices,” said Jonathan Simpson, Partner and Head of the European Projects practice.

Pascal Cuche, Marc Lordonnois and Karine Debaecker advise sponsors, contractors, lenders, investment funds and public authorities on a range of complex international and domestic utilities, accommodation, infrastructure and acquisition projects. Mounir Letayf has extensive experience in acquisition finance, especially private equity transactions, advising both lenders and private equity funds, as well as in project finance.

About Paul Hastings Global Projects Group: The Paul Hastings Global Projects Group is internationally recognized for the breadth and depth of its project finance and development capabilities. With more than 25 years of experience, Paul Hastings has one of the most experienced teams of project finance and development lawyers in the world. In the last few years, the Global Projects Group has represented clients in more than $50 billion of project transactions globally.

Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker LLP, founded in 1951, is a leading international law firm with over 1,200 attorneys in 18 offices. The firm serves a diverse client base including many of the leading global financial institutions and Fortune 500 companies and offers deep capabilities in capital markets, finance and restructuring, intellectual property, international arbitration and dispute resolution, investment management, labor and employment, mergers and acquisitions, private equity, product liability, project finance, real estate, securities litigation and tax advisory services. For additional information, please visit our website at www.paulhastings.com.