No formal vacation means, well, no formal vacation

Recently, as I was contemplating taking a couple of days off work when the school year ends for my kids in June and I got to remembering when I first started as a biglaw associate. In a session on one of the first days, we met with junior associates who were supposed to answer all of our questions that we didn't want to ask in more formal sessions. Quickly the question came up about how to ask for vacation days and I remember the others that I was starting with being almost giddy about the fact that there wasn't any formal approval process and that we didn't need permission to take time off and even that it didn't seem like anyone was keeping track of it. I also remember being a little relieved that it didn't seem like vacation had to be something that one planned far in advance and didn't need to be coordinated with the entire office. Afterall, it seemed nice that you could take vacation whenever your work scheduled allowed. Ha!-- what a misnomer that whole idea is. See, the schedule of a junior associate in a national law firm, will never allow vacation. Instead, one has to force vacation into a riduculously busy work load and take it regardless of whether you have time to take it or not -- or not take it at all, an option that many see to go for.

Also, I have come to learn that the fact that vacation is very informal for attorneys means, exactly that -- it is informal. The truth is that vacation in general is a very loose concept. I've tried to take a grand total of 4 vacation days since the beginning of this calendar year and have actually only been able to take 1 vacation day where I didn't work, although I was not in the office for the other three.

I was reminded of this today when reading a post on The Glass Hammer.

Ms. JD Weekly Round-up: Week Ending February 29

Linda K. Lorimer Wins Sandra Day O'Connor Award

Lorimer receives award that recognizes women lawyers who have served with distinction as independent directors of public companies and advanced diversity in board positions.

Maternity Leaves Key to Retaining Women

Paid maternity leaves and a pool of lawyers capable of filling in during the leaves are among proposals advanced by a working group that has been looking at how to stem an exodus of female lawyers from the profession.

Skadden Announces 18 Weeks Maternity Leave

Skadden increases the number of paid maternity leave weeks to 18.

Women Lawyers' Preferred Firm Benefits

Survey compares women and men attorneys' preferred firm benefits, including reduced-hour tracks and on-site child care.

Nixon Peabody Women vs. Men Cook-Off

Attorneys at Nixon Peabody face off in a camaraderie-building cook-off .

What Women Lawyers Really Think of Each Other

Women lawyers weigh in on who they would rather work with - men or women?

Increasing Number of Women Lawyers Start Solo Practices

Rising numbers of women lawyers in Wisconsin claim their independence and start their own practices.

Nevada Attorney Among Nation's Top 20 Female Lawyers with Business Expertise

Christine Spadafor, CEO of St. Jude's Ranch, gets Bar Association honor.

Female Attorney Named as New ACLU Legal Director

Chara Fisher Jackson, ACLU's new legal director, is a 1997 graduate of William & Mary's Marshall-Wythe School of Law.

Mommy Wars: A problem of the privileged - okay. Imaginary...nope.

There was an article in the Washington Post last week that boldly asserts that the "Mommy Wars" are a figment of our imagination, a creation of the media that always likes to showcase a good cat fight. The article is very well researched and propounds an interesting stance on the so-called conflict between working moms and stay at home moms ("SAHM").

Women only attorney-client events

The blog "Above the Law" has this snarky post today about a woman only attorney-client event that centered around designer shoe shopping.

Okay, disclaimer #1: I love shoes. I'm addicted to designer shoes.

Mentoring & Judging

I got started thinking about mentoring during one of the panels at the Ms. JD conference this weekend. I can't help but wonder why I've always seemed to have a hard time finding a mentor and holding onto her. Whenever I've been somebody's mentor it didn't pan out as I'd imagined either. In fact, the most successful mentor/mentee relationships that I've ever had have been with men. However, I recognize that finding a woman mentor is extremely important and that, someday, being a productive mentor to another woman will also crucial.

Were You At Ms. JD's National Launch?

Ms. JD had its national launch at Yale Law School’s Legally Female Conference this Saturday, March 31. Were you there? If so, we would love to hear from you. Send us your thoughts, reactions, something that inspired you, or something you took issue with.

But have no fear: if you were not at Legally Female, we still want to hear from you. We will be posting videos of the conference, so check out the amazing women who came and shared their stories, advice, and experiences.

Two Articles of Interest

Two articles came out this week that I thought were pretty interesting.

The New York Times’ article, “Poor Behavior is Linked to Time in Day Care” sparks anger, guilt (note the title: “Am I Hurting My Child With Day Care?”), analysis, and snark.

Hi. I'm an addict.

Confession time: I’m an email addict. Seriously. I have five email addresses that I constantly check most days (it tends to die down a little between Friday afternoon and Sunday morning). I think I probably spend most of my “working time” composing and answering emails, particularly since I have gone far enough into my law school career to be somewhat indifferent to reading for class. By the end of the week, I’m so sick of emailing that I have even been able to overcome my long-standing, deeply-rooted aversion to the phone, and starting ringing people up.

Be Open to Change

By Deborah R. Schwarzer, Of Counsel, GCA Law Partners LLP I’m reluctantly realizing that I’m ancient. But with age comes history, experience and, with luck, perspective. When I attended the University of Chicago Law School in the early 80’s, women made up about 30% of the class. We weren’t pioneers; those in earlier classes served in that role. We weren’t all alike. And we didn’t have to wear those horrible blouses with the gigantic self-bows that women just a few years back had had to wear (I have incriminating pictures of my sister, also a J.D., in one of those). But we still weren’t the same as the guys, especially when it came to employment. I fled West, fearing that my gender would stand in my way (I had clerked in Cincinnati one summer and was appalled by attitudes there, particularly outside the legal community. I didn’t like being called “a lady lawyer.” I did not wish to be regarded as a novelty, like a talking dog).