Part I in Series: A Junior Associate's Networking Plan

This is the first part of a multi-part series where I will lay out my creatively-titled "Junior Associate Networking Plan" for your information, criticism and suggestions. I am writing this series because I have found the task of figuring out what a junior associate can and should be doing to build her professional network to be a little daunting and that is perhaps because there is no way to know how much effort one should put into it or where one should dedicate that effort.  I do not claim to have the right answers or be implementing the perfect plan.  Instead, I hope to share my plan with Ms. JD readers with explanations and pros & cons and then hear from others on what they are doing and/or what I should be doing.

A little background to set the stage for this series.  As you may know from my earlier posts, I am a junior associate in the corporate department of a large national law firm, where I have my sights set on making partner some day.  I have little "free time" on my hands.  I am a little compulsive about making the most of the time that I do have.  Some may say that I am overly goal-oriented and/or too ambitious.

National Association for Women Lawyers Report: Actions for Advancing Women Into Law Firm Leadership

On July 16, 2008, the National Association for Women Lawyers released a report on Actions for Advancing Women Into Law Firm Leadership.  This report was based on the National Association of Women Lawyers National Leadership Summit.

To view a copy of the report, click here.

The 50 Best Law Firms for Women - 2008

Click here to go straight to the list.

Flex-Time Lawyers and Working Mother Magazine have just released their 2008 ranking of "The 50 Best Law Firms for Women." You can download a PDF of the press release from www.flextimelawyers.com.

Bias against children

I ate lunch with one of the partners today. We chatted about working at a big law firm and he mentioned the expected hours of 8-8 plus 2-3 weekends a month. We both acknowledged my stumbling block, as a single parent, will be the demanding hours.

I begin to think that BigLaw is not my path. I'd have to hire a nanny to raise my kiddo, and no amount of money is worth the time lost. I'd have to miss funny things she says or hear about them from the nanny. Yesterday, for instance, she flopped down and pointed at my chilled skin, saying "you got moose bums" ...

Advice from New York's top women attorneys

Advice for success from New York's top female attorneys

New York Magazine recently reached out to some of the most successful women lawyers practicing in New York City to solicit their advice for younger lawyers. The verdict? “In a nutshell, you have to be prepared to work very hard for very long hours” and “unless you really love the work, it won’t be worth that very high cost.” Exploring “how hard is hard,” the article references one partner who was using her Blackberry during labor, another who took “literally no time off” after giving birth three times, and others who forfeit sleep to work “around the clock when the situation demands it.” Though for many, “a work ethic bordering on obsession isn’t worth the price,” the women interviewed for the article “say the key is that they love what they do.”

In addition, to hard work, flexibility also played a role in the featured women’s successes. Valerie Ford Jacob, “one of only a few women to head a major United States law firm,” was able to bring her kids to work (and not secretly—they were playing soccer int eh hallways!). Another attorney cited the importance of “giving permission to men and women so they don’t feel furtive about the demands of family life.”

While flexibility is helpful, taking time off to raise your children is harmful. One woman noted that “unfortunately, if you take a year off, it’s equivalent to taking two or three years because technology changes, the market changes, the law changes . . . If you are really committed to your career, I really believe taking time off is going to hurt you.”

When Being Smart Isn't Enough

Current Debt: $183,542.33 Current Income: $0/month

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.

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.

Reminder: Register for free NYC networking event by MAY 15 (the event will be on June 4th)

If you'll be in New York next month and you haven't yet registered, consider attending the free networking reception & presentation at White & Case on June 4th with Debbie Epstein Henry talking about the Best Law Firms for Women ranking she undertook with Working Mother Magazine last year. (We covered her survey here and here.) The deadline to RSVP is TOMORROW, May 15th. Hope to see you there! More details after the jump...