Hiscock & Barclay, LLP is the recipient of this year's Carol S. Knox Family Friendly Award from the Capital District Women's Bar Association (CDWBA). The award is given each year to a legal employer in the Capital District that demonstrates a strong commitment to family friendliness by maintaining policies and practices that assist its employees in achieving balance between their work and family commitments. This award will be presented to Hiscock & Barclay's Albany Diversity Partner Lawrence Zimmerman during the CDWBA's 33rd Installation Dinner on June 9, 2011 at the Franklin Plaza in Troy, NY.
The award is named in memory of Carol S. Knox, a longtime member of the CDWBA and devoted mother, who cared passionately about the need to improve family friendliness in the legal profession. Before her untimely death, Knox had spearheaded a project to survey legal employees in the Capital District about their family-friendly policies.
Hiscock & Barclay is a full-service, 200-attorney law firm, with offices in Albany, Syracuse, Rochester, Buffalo and New York City, as well as in Boston, Washington, D.C. and Toronto, providing comprehensive legal and business counsel to a diverse client base in 30 practice areas. The Firm is committed to providing a flexible work environment that allows each attorney and staff member to attain his/her greatest potential. The Firm offers alternative work arrangements; paid parental leave for new and adopting parents; enhanced FMLA of 16 weeks; domestic partner benefits; a robust Employee Assistance program; and discounted legal services for family members. Several Hiscock & Barclay attorneys, at all levels, work on a part-time basis to balance the demands of their family lives with their careers. The Firm's Diversity Committee offers monthly lunch-and-learn seminars to help attorneys and staff promote positive home and work environments. H&B's Women's Forum, committed to recruiting, promoting, mentoring and retaining women attorneys, hosts internal and client events throughout the year.
In addition to promoting family-friendly policies, Hiscock & Barclay is committed to public service through the Firm's pro bono program. Hiscock & Barclay recognizes that pro bono work provides meaningful opportunities for training and professional development of the Firm's lawyers while serving a segment of the population that has great needs. Last year Hiscock & Barclay won the New York State Bar Association's President's Pro Bono Service Award in the Large Law Firm category after donating thousands of hours to pro bono work through volunteer lawyer programs in cities throughout the State.
"Hiscock & Barclay, LLP has truly embraced the spirit of the Carol S. Knox Award, and we are thrilled to be able to honor the firm for its achievement in creating a family friendly work environment," says Cynthia Platt, Chair of the CDWBA's Awards Committee.
Founded in 1978, the CDWBA is a chapter of the Women's Bar Association of the State of New York. CDWBA's mission is to promote the advancement of women in the Capital Region who are involved in or affected by the legal system; to encourage the fair and impartial administration of justice; to provide public service and community education and to offer forums, which enable members to foster legal, business, and personal relationships. Among the organization's more than 300 members are private practitioners, judges, government attorneys, court officials, in-house counsel and law students. Visit the Web site at www.CDWBA.org.
Hiscock & Barclay, LLP, listed as a "Top 250 Firm" by The National Law Journal, is a full-service, 200-attorney law firm, with offices throughout the major cities of New York State, as well as in Boston, Washington, D.C. and Toronto, providing comprehensive legal and business counsel to a diverse client base in 30 practice areas.