Maslon Edelman Borman & Brand LLP, a commercial law firm based in Minneapolis, has received the first SAGE Best Practices Award from the MSBA's Women in the Legal Profession Committee. The award was presented during the MSBA Bar Leader Conference, which was held on Friday, September 23. The award recognizes Maslon—in its role as a legal employer—for its work toward eliminating gender bias in the workplace.

Through its SAGE—Self-Audit for Gender Equity—project, the Women in the Legal Profession Committee developed six “best practices” for the hiring, retention, and promotion of women in the legal profession that address equal access, workday issues, governance, evaluation/promotion, retention, and compensation.

Since the SAGE Best Practices were launched in 2003, 25 legal employers have committed to their implementation in the workplace and were eligible to apply for the SAGE Best Practices Award.

"Based on its continued commitment and demonstrable efforts to embrace a gender-neutral legal work environment, Maslon was selected as the first recipient of the award," said committee chair Susan McKay.

In 1997, the MSBA Board of Governors assigned the Task Force on Women in the Legal Profession to look at the lives of women in the legal profession and to act as the catalyst for change in areas needing improvement. The plan created by the task force called for a series of benchmark surveys of legal employers over five years and an award program to recognize employers that make significant progress toward ensuring the full participation of women in the legal profession. The task force gathered data on hiring, retention, promotion rates, opportunities for career advancement, participation in management, compensation criteria, and policies regarding gender-based discrimination, sexual harassment, and work and family life. Data was collected from private legal employers for five years and for three years from public legal employers.

Based on the survey data, the Women in the Legal Profession Committee developed its “best practices."

Maslon Edelman Borman & Brand adopted the SAGE Best Practices in December 2003 and informs potential employees about its commitment to the practices. In the area of equal access, the firm assigns a training partner to new associates to serve as mentors to work with associates. In 2004, the firm began using a Client Team initiative that enables all new associates to work with clients and experience diversity in the types of cases they work on, access to clients and work with partners. In addition to traditional sporting activities, the firm sponsors gender-neutral activities such as theater attendance, cooking classes, book clubs, and other activities to provide diverse marketing opportunities tailored to the interests of their clients.

Attorneys and staff at Maslon Edelman Borman & Brand have access to family leave, short-term disability, job sharing, and alternative work arrangements. Use of these flexible work options by both men and women is encouraged and the firm has the technical support available to allow the staff to effectively use alternative work arrangements while still being able to advance in their career.

Women lead or are represented on all of the firm's internal and practice teams and the chair of the firm's three-person Governance Committee is a woman who has pursued her career on an alternative work schedule. Attorneys receive promotions based on their professional development, commitment to clients, and value to the firm regardless of gender. Mentoring and pro bono work are valued and considered as positive attributes. Maslon hires attorneys it believes will fit into its gender-neutral culture and, in order to retain the attorneys they have selected, the firm embraces the philosophy of career development through equal access to work and career growth through training and mentoring. Maslon considers many factors in establishing compensation for attorneys, including service to the firm and clients, business development, client satisfaction, service on committees and training and mentoring younger attorneys.

A copy of the Best Practices, information about the SAGE surveys and details on how your employer can commit to the Best Practices is available here.