Lawline Awarded #9 Best Company to Work for Women

Lawline was recently awarded # 9 out of the top 20 best companies to work for women by the Data Bird Business Journal’s 2019 Best Companies For Women list in the category of companies with fewer than 4000 employees.  The ranking is based on what Lawline’s employees reported in an anonymous Employee Survey with respect to the obstacles they face, which diversity interventions are used at the workplace, and which they find most effective for women. In addition, Data Bird asked female respondents to rate Lawline on factors such as discrimination, parental leave, and pay equity.

In the past five years, Lawline has implemented many measures in order to attract and retain top female talent, and the results have shown a notable increase in the number of female employees overall and in the management team. Specifically, in 2014, women made up only 31% of Lawline’s total workforce and 34% of the management team,  where in 2019, women are now 62% of both Lawline’s workforce and the management team.

One of these measures was a concerted effort to promote more female team members. For example, in 2018, three women were promoted to executive leadership positions:  Sigalle Barness, Esq., as Chief Operating Officer, Meredith Cohen, MBA, as Director of Customer Experience, and Shaun Salmon, Esq., as Director of Content. In addition, Angelica Cesario, Esq.  was promoted to the Lead Program Attorney position. At the time of the promotions, Lawline’s CEO David Schurman stated, “Lawline is proud to continue growing three of its talented employees. We believe not only in investing in our own, but in the power of women in the legal industry. We’re excited to bring fresh perspectives to the table as we continue to focus on the legal market.” To read more about this, see the 2018 article Lawline Welcomes COO and Two New Executive-Level Directors.

Another recent initiative to attract and retain female employees was the implementation of Lawline’s first ever Parental Leave Policy.  Pursuant to this Policy, all eligible employees are entitled to 12 weeks of leave, including 6 weeks fully paid. In addition, Lawline instituted a Work From Home policy, which provides Wednesdays as an official remote day, and managers have the discretion to  allow their team members to work additional days from home as feasible. Some team members now work from home up to 3 days per week. Finally, Lawline has added or expanded upon the following policies to improve its overall employee experience including: 1) 401k match; 2) profit share for all; 3) subsidized gym membership; 4) providing up to 21 vacation, 8 sick and 9 holiday days; 5) catered lunches every Thursday; and 6) healthy snacks throughout the day.

While the Lawline team is very proud to be recognized for this high honor, we know this is not the end but rather the beginning of our continued work to become a more diverse workforce.