'It's more of a juggle than a balance': an attorney and mother shares tips for success

Jodi Rosenberg has been a practicing attorney for fifteen years and a mother for ten. Her account of the "juggling act" won Honorable Mention in the Ms. JD & PAR work/life balance essay contest. She shares war stories--like the time the school nurse demanded to speak with her in front of a judge--and winning stories, like this one:

"A week before I left for maternity leave, [a partner] approached me about my request to work part-time. He represented a large bank and I was one of a group of associates who worked on the bank’s matters. The bank’s general counsel, a single mother of four, had expressed to him that she liked my work and he told her about my interest in a reduced schedule. Together, they came up with a plan. If I spent all of my time working on the bank’s matters three days a week, the bank would be better serviced because it would be guaranteed the same associate on most of its matters instead of the usual assignment of the least busy associate. The bank even agreed to increase its share of work to our firm based on this plan, as the proposed arrangement demonstrated that the bank was progressive and supportive of part-time opportunities. It was a win-win solution on all levels."

Great idea, right? Follow the jump to read more. --Ed.

An Open Letter: 'Dear Baby Boom Law Firm Partner...'

Dear Baby Boomer Law Firm Partner,

You have paved the way for young women like me to make it in the legal profession. You sacrificed a lot to get to where you are today, and I completely respect your work ethic and drive. So it’s probably frustrating for you that this new generation of up-and-coming lawyers wants to work less and live more. We want to work and have kids; take maternity leave and vacations; go home in time for dinner; make plans on the weekends – and still be on partner track?! Why should we get all these benefits today when you had to make hard choices and sacrifices?

If this doesn’t seem fair to you, well, I agree.

[More after the jump]

Building a Better Legal Profession

Davida Brook and Andrew Bruck placed second with this entry in the Ms. JD & PAR essay contest about work/life balance. They write, "we are interpreted as a bunch of spoiled, resume-building, brats who want to get paid gazillions and flee the office for afternoon tee times. We are confused by this reaction, as we see our efforts as simply continuing the efforts begun by our parents decades ago. For example, just as the Boomers could not think of a single good reason why a Mother should not also be promoted to partner, we cannot think of a single good reason why a partner should not also be allowed to be a Father." --Ed.

Last summer, the organization we run, Building a Better Legal Profession, began collecting data about large law firms. We understood that there was plenty of publicly available data about these firms—data about billable hours, pro bono, and diversity—however, no one had organized and presented it in a way useful to law students. So we decided to do it ourselves.

As we crunched the numbers, we discovered surprising trends in the legal community—for example, not a single large law firm in Manhattan had more than thirty percent female partners. We figured the rest of the world would be eager to learn about our results. Like any enterprising twenty-somethings, we organized a press conference. The media response was remarkable, with stories appearing everywhere from the Financial Times Deutschland to Radio New Zealand. The blogosphere similarly erupted with stories.

But what fascinated us most were the comments readers left on the popular blog Above the Law. Many were positive, some were not...

[Continues after the jump]

Bridging the Gap on Work-Life Balance

Ms. JD & PAR essay contest winner Lori Johnson (1L, U. Mississippi) recounts the work/life revolution in her previous field, accounting. "Over time, the firm’s partners did recognize the importance of promoting work-life balance in the workplace. For years they had listened to clients complain about high turnover, which often resulted in client service teams comprised of entirely new faces each year. It is not hard to argue that clients are better served by continuity." --Ed.

“The problem with your generation is that you don’t have any work ethic.”

A single line from my favorite movie, Reality Bites, effectively sums up what baby-boomer managers perceive to be the problem with Millennial employees. While I agree that my generation’s work ethic is different, I do not believe that it is non-existent. I believe that the baby-boomer’s negative perception of my generation has more to do with differences in the way that we view our careers.

My baby-boomer parents, who know that I am a dedicated, driven person, could not help but scoff when I told them about the generous vacation package at my first job out of college. Three weeks of vacation for a recent college graduate seemed ludicrous to them. However, my parents were also unsympathetic when I called home to tell them that I had just completed an 80-hour workweek. My parents, like many baby-boomers, believed that a job was a job. You worked hard each week, collected a paycheck, and supported a family. Your job was not supposed to be fulfilling, and your employer certainly was not expected to accommodate your schedule or worry about your level of job satisfaction.

Millennials do not share their parents’ view of work. We do not believe that a job is just a job. We expect a career that leaves us fulfilled and gives us a sense of pride in the work we do. Therefore, I do not believe that our work ethic is inferior to that of our parents. We simply have different views and expectations of work, and as the baby-boomers begin to retire, employers are left with a younger generation of employees with a new set of job expectations. This means that employers must begin to consider the needs and desires of a new breed of employee, or run the risk of losing top talent.

Prior to returning to school to pursue a career in law, I spent four years working for a large multi-national public accounting firm.

[Continues after the jump]

Congratulations to the winners of the Ms. JD & PAR essay contest!

Ms. JD and the Project for Attorney Retention received fifty-four passionate, well-written arguments for better work/life balance in the legal profession. Our organizations co-sponsored the contest to generate dialogue between Baby Boomer partners and Millennials. Essentially, we asked entrants to explain why lawyers who place a premium on work/life balance are not slackers. Ms. JD awarded $1,000 to the winning essayist as judged by PAR attorneys.

Lori Johnson, a 1L at the University of Mississippi, won first prize with her essay, Bridging the Gap on Work-Life Balance. Johnson previously studied accounting and finance at Texas A&M, then spent four years as a CPA for Ernst & Young.

 

Davida Brook (1L) and Andrew Bruck (3L) of Stanford Law School co-authored the second place essay, describing their work with the group Building a Better Legal Profession.

 

 

Sabrina Ursaner, a 1L at NYU, won third place with an open letter that begins, "Dear Baby Boomer Law Firm Partner..."

 

Jodi Rosenberg, of Greenbaum, Rowe, Smith & Davis LLP in New Jersey, earned Honorable Mention reflecting on fifteen years juggling as an attorney and mother of three. Rosenberg received her JD from Boston University in 1993. She also serves as an officer of The Valerie Fund, an organization that assists children with cancer.

 

The contest entries were inspiring and thought-provoking. We look forward to sharing them with you in coming days. Congratulations to all who entered!

Ms. JD and Project on Att'y Retention are sponsoring a $1,000 essay contest on work/life balance

Ms. JD and The Project for Attorney Retention are sponsoring a $1,000 essay contest to answer the question, how do we close the gap between Baby Boomers and Millennials on work/life balance? The maximum length is 1500 words--so that's potentially, like, a dollar a word. (Seriously, I've read emails longer than that.) We hope you'll weigh in, whether you're a Baby Boomer, a Millennial, or somewhere in between. (Go Gen X! --That's my generation.) The entries will be judged by a panel of distinguished attorneys: Joan C. Williams, Cynthia Thomas Calvert, Linda Bray Chanow, Manar Morales, Natalie Hiott-Levine, and Linda Marks.

Here's the contest question:

Ms. JD and the Project for Attorney Retention promote work/life balance in the legal profession. When recent law school graduates push for more part time, flex time, or balanced hours, they are sometimes dismissed as "slackers." The message is: if you don't want to put in the work, pick another profession.

What would you say to a baby boomer law firm partner who thinks young lawyers are lazy and don't understand what the profession is all about? What would you say to a senior colleague who says she had to put in the work, so why shouldn't you? In short: what's your rationale for work/life balance reform in the legal profession?

You might contrast the work styles, lifestyles, or priorities of recent graduates with preceding generations of lawyers; compare the practice of law with other professions; assess the economics of work/life imbalances; or share persuasive personal experiences. Or, feel free to get creative and write us an argument unlike any of the examples we just mentioned.

Please limit your response to a maximum of 1500 words. No minimum word count is required.

The deadline is not for a while--essays are due February 29th. So if you or somebody you know might be interested, the short 'n easy contest application is posted at ms-jd.org/essaycontest.

Or you can just click here to email the essay contest announcement to colleagues, your school's listserv or financial aid office.

Hope to hear from you at ms-jd.org/essaycontest by February 29th!