Morrison & Foerster has boosted its maternity and paternity leave packages for employees in its London office.

Previously, the firm offered 13 weeks maternity leave at full pay and 13 weeks at half pay. The full-pay offering has been doubled to 26 weeks, with Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) for the remaining 13 weeks of leave.

Meanwhile, paternity leave has been tripled from two weeks at full pay, the UK statutory requirement, to six weeks. 

There are no clawback provisions for either maternity or paternity packages. 

Europe managing partner Paul Friedman said: “We strongly believe that offering competitive family policies is the right thing to do for our people as they go through this transition in their lives. In addition to these recent enhancements, we also have a number of other related benefits, including reduced working hours prior to maternity leave as well as coaching to support women through the transition to and from maternity leave to help ensure their career development remains on track.”

Earlier this year, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton upped its maternity leave provisions by 50 per cent in a radical overhaul of its benefits package in London. All employees in the City will receive a market-topping 30 weeks of full pay, whereas lawyers and support staff previously received 20 weeks paid leave.

Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft also increased its maternity pay for London employees this year, extending paid leave to 26 weeks.

My career story: “I was pregnant at the same time I went up for partnership”