German leader Hengeler Mueller embraces flexi-working for all partners
Slaughter and May’s German best friend Hengeler Mueller is set to roll out a more flexible part-time working scheme that will allow both male and female equity partners to reduce their working hours.
The firm, which has three female equity partners out of a total of 86, has previously only allowed female partners to cut their hours by 50 per cent for a period of three years per child.
According to German legal website Juve, the firm has opened the scheme up to men and removed these restrictions, but 50 per cent is said to be the maximum that a partner can practically take off.
The idea is that partners will put the hours in during deals and take time off in quieter periods.
Partners voted for the proposals at the firm’s latest partner conference in a hotel on Petersberg, a mountain adjacent to Bonn.
Co-managing partner Daniela Favoccia, recruitment partner Viola Sailer-Coceani and tax partner Stefanie Beinert are the only female equity partners at the corporate powerhouse.
