Jacqueline Harounian on Work-Life Balance

Jacqueline Harounian, Esquire of Wisselman, Harounian & Associates, P.C. penned a great piece at The Glass Hammer. Her article, Raising the Bar: Balancing Professional and Personal Choices, includes some "inspirational anecdotes and advice related to the challenges of balancing professional and personal choices."

Do you hear that sound? It's the winds of change.

On the way to a recruiting dinner recently, I had the pleasure of driving with a sixth-year and an eighth-year (up for partner) associate.  Both are at the top of their game at my BigLaw firm.  Both are highly professional, competent, and competitive.  They are your typical careerists - the type that nobody ever questions their work ethic or dedication to the firm and its clients.  The conversation turned to children as one of their wives is due with their second child in December.  To my surprise, the conversation drifted to paternity leave and how both men had (or intended to) take advantage of the firm's four-week paid paternity leave policy.  There was no mention of what people would think or how the partners would judge them.  Instead, the conversation was all about how great the policy was and how crazy that would be not to take advantage of it.  The tone and direction of this conversation is something that I take for granted.  However, it is important to recognize that this is an indication of a major shift in law firm culture that has occurred likely in just the past handful of years.  And, I for one, am hopeful that it is an indication that balanced-life policies, the kind that lawyers actually take advantage of, are going to cross the gender lines in the near future.

There is an article on law.com called "Rare Birds" from September 1, 2008 and it discusses the fact that while more men are taking paternity leave, they are not yet pushing for the same reduced hours and extended leave options.  Men are, according to the article, "still pursuing the traditional breadwinner role, as opposed to breadwinner-plus".  However, there are plenty of indications that the current generation of law students may be more enlightened in this area.  Male law students, just like female law students, are concerned about the unlive-able demands of the billable hours at BigLaw and are just as concerned about work-life balance.

A Savvy Sacrifice?

The Feminist Legal Theory Blog, organized by Professor Lisa Pruitt at UC Davis School of Law, directed me to this article in the ABA Journal's online edition. The article, based in part on a recent Time magazine feature, characterizes Michelle Obama's career choices as "savvy sacrifices":

Working as an associate at a powerhouse international law firm based in Chicago, Michelle Obama had what many would have considered a dream job for a lawyer.

Alaska Governor Sarah Palin Named as McCain's Running Mate

[Ed. Note: Ms. JD will be featuring the biographies of some of the professional women who have figured prominently in this year's presidential election.  Some are Democrats, some are Republicans; some are lawyers, some are not; all have dealt with work-life balance issues throughout their careers.  Note that this series is not exhaustive - we encourage Ms. JD bloggers to post about other women who they feel belong in this series.] 

This past week, presumptive presidential nominee John McCain named Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his vice-presidential running mate for the 2008 election.  While not an attorney, Governor Palin provides a good example of how women can seek work-life balance in their lives.

Family Dinner: The Working Mother's Cross to Bear?

Slate.com's Emily Bazelon has an article detailing the results of a new study of IBM employees that observed a perception of lesser professional achievement among those working mothers who failed to regularly eat dinner with their families. The benefits of regular family meals for children are well-documented, but this is noteworthy as a study of the impact on parents.

The WSJ's Sue Shellenbarger notes that since married women spend more than three times more hours each week cooking meals and cleaning up afterward, compared with married men, regular family meals more likely are a source of more stress than comfort.

I've written about my feelings on family dinners before. Basically they are the focal point of my fondest childhood memories, but I have yet to work a full day and cook a full meal myself.

This latest study, published without recognition of domestic labor disparities, seems a little cruel to me. It's like, "Hey you, working mom. Feeling stressed about being able to balance your professional and personal commitments? Well the good news is thanks to social biases and psychological constructs, you can trick yourself into thinking things are better by taking on MORE work!"

Getting back into work after taking some time with your kids

I recently attended a symposium on work-life balance where the keynote speaker was Deborah Epstein Henry.  She was there to talk about her FACTS program.  In a portion of her talk, Debbie mentioned some current initiatives at Big Firms aimed at helping with the work-life balance concerns of women.  Most that she mentioned, I was aware of already because of blogs like Ms. JD.  Most were programs seemingly aimed at making the unbearable billable hours requirements more bearable or aimed at creating reduced-hour alternatives for lawyers.  However, she also mentioned that some firms are putting into place initiatives aimed at bringing back their "regrettable losses" -- i.e. attorneys that leave the firm that the firm wishes would have stayed and that may be in a position to come back at some point in the future.  One such program is the "Sidebar" initiative at Skadden and, frankly, I am not sure how I missed it. (JDBlissblog.com covered it last month here.)  You can find some information on it on Skadden's Women's Initiatives page here even though I think the program is not just for women.  According to the site:

Through Sidebar, attorneys in good standing may decide to leave the firm for any number of personal reasons for up to three years (more than the six-month maximum permitted under a leave of absence), with the expectation that they will return to the firm at the end of that period consistent with the needs of the firm and their department. The firm expects and encourages Sidebar participants to remain connected, for example, by attending certain firm-sponsored events and gatherings and continuing legal education programs.

This is not intended to be a plug for Skadden but more of a head's up to other law firms.  I think this is genius.

Ms. JD Summer Book Series: Flux, by: Peggy Orenstein

Flux: Women on Sex, Work, Love, Kids, & Life in a Half-Changed World 

One of the great discussions that women today have, not only on the Ms. JD forum, but also among friends, at work and with their families is how they are going to "have it all."  And, perhaps more importantly, what "having it all" means for them. 

In 'Flux', Peggy Orenstein explores these questions and more, through a narrative based on a compilation of conversations she has had with over two hundred women, at varying stages of life.  Ranging in age from twenty-five to forty-five, these women have shared with Orenstein their personal opinions, struggles, and triumphs concerning such varying topics as, well, sex, work, love, kids and life.

Ms. JD Reader, be advised, this book is not exclusively about women lawyers.  This, however, can be a refreshing quality.  Not that one gets tired of hearing about women lawyers - this is posted on Ms. JD, after all.  Rather, it is somehow comforting to know that women in diverse professions are facing the same issues.

Seeking A Just Balance: Law Students Weigh In On Work and Family

A Better Balance: The Work & Family Legal Center is publishing a study, Seeking A Just Balance: Law Students Weigh In On Work and Family.  The study is a survey of NYU law students and their expectations around work/life balance.  Generation-Y lawyers – American men and women born between 1978 and 1998 – are extremely worried about these issues and are willing to trade money for time.  

The demand for work/life balance is greater among both men and women than in the past.  Family life is a high priority for today’s young attorneys, and they do not want to make the same sacrifices for their careers as their parents did.  It’s not about the money anymore, but about the big picture in their lives.

The study found that as firms have competed for talent over the last ten years, salaries have increased exponentially.  The result of that is an increased expectation of availability and billable hour requirements.  They offer “lifestyle perks” designed to keep people at work instead of flexible time that would allow workers to be with their families.  Up-and-coming lawyers would rather trade money for more personal time, and will leave for a pay-cut if the result is less time at work.  Many respondents commented on how the private sector works attorneys to death, and that if they are required to put in 80 hour work weeks or stay until others leave so that there is face time, they will leave the firm.

This is not a new trend, but represents a shift in cultural values in Generation Y.

Don't Forget the Summer

As I typed a client letter today at work, I realized for the first time that it is the middle of June already! As I have sat at my desk for the past month, the warm haze of summer has set in, but I have only seen it out of the corner of my eye as the sun shines in to my office window. Granted, I am working full-time at an amazing legal services agency, and I have been taking classes at school part-time so that I have less of a load during my last school year, but I realized that I have been unable to engage in any of the frivolous activities of summer thus far! I have yet to don a bathing suit, or even a pair of shorts. My always fair skin has yet to need a substantial dose of sunscreen. This is not good.

I am sure that we sometimes feel as if we are more busy this summer than during the school year. Despite complaining all year long about the stresses of the classroom, it almost seems safe now--to hide behind my laptop screen and relax in the safety of being one student among eighty others. Now, I am one of eight clerks and there is nowhere to hide if I botch a memo or write a bad letter. I almost miss the hours set aside for studying, where I had the ability to stop for ten minutes and check Perez Hilton in between 150 pages of casebook reading. Now, I fight myself for 8 hours a day to try and bill six hours! I quickly scan assignments over dinner before my evening class. THIS is summer vacation?

And the worst of it is that my kids are having a BALL! And they should. They're kids and it's summer. They go to the pool, the zoo, our science center. But they are doing all of this with the nanny and my heart is full of jealousy when I get home and kiss their greasy faces that have been slathered with sunscreen for a day of fun without me. I love my job and enjoy the work that I do, but I can't help thinking about what kind of memories my kids will have of childhood. Will I be a part of that, or will it just be thoughts of their time with our nanny?