The Women’s Initiative Network of Reed Smith (“WINRS”) is a growing global community of lawyers that operates as a “Virtual Practice Group” dedicated to further enhancing our workplace to more effectively develop, reward, engage, and attract women lawyers. The primary objective of WINRS is to help our women develop to their fullest potential, and position them appropriately for advancement and success. In the legal profession, women comprise, on national average (U.S.), only 17.3 percent of partners. The good news is that this percentage is up from 15.6 percent in 2000. The even better news is that Reed Smith is significantly higher than the national average. Our female partners currently comprise 20 percent of the partnership. However, we think we can even surpass that.
Reed Smith’s 554 female attorneys account for 20 percent of all partners, 41 percent of all counsel, and 54 percent of all associates, and our Executive Committee includes four female partners.
Our WINRS Working Groups are actively engaged in building a platform for success by focusing on the following elements and constituencies:
Business Development
- Pipeliners (Senior Associates - our pipeline for Partnership)
- Training
- Mentoring
- Recruiting
- Work/Life Balance
We are accomplishing our mission through education, training, mentoring and networking opportunities. On any given day, around the globe and around the clock, you are likely to find a multitude of WINRS programs taking place: in our offices, in our clients’ offices, with our PartneRS, and in our communities