Photo: Jason Doiy/ALM

Weil, Gotshal & Manges will now reimburse employees in the U.S. pursuing adoption and fertility treatments, bolstering its offering of so-called concierge services that have become increasingly common among Big Law firms.

Through a partnership with the fertility management firm WINFertility, both non-J.D. professionals and attorneys enrolled in Weil's health benefits plan can elect to do up to three in vitro fertilization cycles. On average, one IVF cycle costs $10,000 in the U.S.

Additionally, employees are being offered elective egg freezing with one free year of storage, a benefit specifically requested by several firm lawyers.

The firm will also reimburse its attorneys and staff looking to adopt or conceive through surrogacy up to $25,000 per event and offer a slew of adoption and surrogacy specialists. The average U.S. adoption costs around $40,000 and surrogacy, on average, costs between $75,000 to over $100,000.

From Weil's perspective, the benefits of the new policies are threefold. First, the firm said the new policies address firm diversity. These benefits were first discussed during the September 2018 conference for the firm's LGBTQ+ association, Weil Pride, as a way to ensure that the firm's benefit plan was inclusive to all attorneys and staff.

"These benefits are particularly important to LGBTQ+ attorneys who want to start a family," said Meredith Moore, Weil's director of diversity and inclusion.

The new policy on egg freezing was rolled out at the request of several Weil employees, the firm said, and has become an increasingly popular trend among female attorneys, allowing women to have children from their own eggs as late as age 56.

"People are waiting longer to start families, especially people who are working busy jobs," said Ellen Alexander, director of benefits at Weil. "They may not be ready but know they might be ready later."

Kirkland & Ellis and Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton reportedly offer egg-freezing reimbursements as well. Critics of the practice say it is a "band-aid" fix to the systemic obstacles that face women in Big Law.

Lastly, the firm hopes the benefits package will tip the scales in Weil's favor as it continues to compete with other firms in attracting and retaining diverse talent, a trend in part driven by the increasing demands of clients.

"I think in part this is about attracting diverse talent to make sure that this is the kind of firm that will support them in any way that they want to build their family in the future. It's also a retention tool to let them know that we support them throughout their lives," Moore said.

The new benefits come on top of a slate of other programs established at the firm late last year.

In November, Weil announced a partnership with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. MSK Direct, as the program is called, allows firm employees and their extended families to schedule appointments with a cancer specialist within an average of two business days. Obtaining an appointment at the prestigious cancer center would normally take months.

In September, the firm also opened up an on-site health clinic on the sixth floor of its New York office staffed with a full-time doctor, nurse and medical assistant. Milbank offers a similar health clinic at its New York offices in Hudson Yards. Latham & Watkins also opened a clinic in Los Angeles that serves employees in the firm's two downtown Los Angeles locations. It is planning to open a second clinic in New York this summer.

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