This time in the LA Times.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-lawstudents18mar18,1,1509837.story
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Friday, March 14, 2008
New babies!
Congratulations to Vanessa, who had her son earlier this week. To help y'all have a moment to de-stress before finals, here are some photos of a few of the law school babies who were born this year. There are more new babies out there -- send me photos!
Carlos Manuel "Manny", Vanessa's son
Nathan, Karen Horowitz's son
Eli, Emma Kagel Berry's son
Corinne, Peter Moreno's daughter, born Feb. 29
Carlos Manuel "Manny", Vanessa's son
Nathan, Karen Horowitz's son
Alexander, Eric and Melissa's son
Eli, Emma Kagel Berry's son
Corinne, Peter Moreno's daughter, born Feb. 29
Work-life balance panel downtown
Unfortunately it's during finals week.
Mother Attorneys Mentoring Association of Seattle
Invites you to attend our next monthly brown bag lunch:
“MAMAs in the Job Market”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When: Wednesday, March 19th, 12:00 noon Where: K&L Gates 925- 4th Ave, Suite 2900
RSVP: by Monday March 17th to Stephanie Morris : sa_morris99 (((at))) hotmail.com
Please join us for a brown bag panel discussion on "MAMAs in the Job Market"
We will hear from a panel who will offer advice to MAMAs seeking employment as well as discuss ideas for employers hoping to recruit. Topics to be addressed include: How to reenter the job market after staying at home with children; how employers can better recruit people who have taken time out of the profession for child-rearing; tips for finding a "family friendly" employer' how to make a positive impression during the application process (including resumes, cover letters, interviews, etc.); tips for interviewing for in-house positions; tips for looking for government jobs; how to work with a legal recruiter; and planning for career advancement. Our panel includes Lynn Hubbard, Director of Business Development for Major, Lindsey and Africa; Maggi McConnell, legal recruiter for Washington Mutual; and Kate Corcoran, Assistant Director of the UW Law School Career Center. The moderators will be Stephanie Morris (at-home mother attorney) and Lori Lynn Phillips (shareholder at Heller Ehrman LLP). CLE credit is pending for this event. http://www.mamaseattle.org/
The panel is at K&L Gates
To reach our office driving south on I-5
Take the exit exit number 165A toward James St.
Stay straight to go onto 6th Ave.
Turn right onto Columbia S.
Turn right onto 4th Ave.Follow 4th Ave. to 4th & Madison Building at 4th and Madison.
Here are the publications:
Off ramps and On Ramps: Keeping Talented Women on the Road to Success
http://harvardbusinessonline.hbsp.harvard.edu/hbsp/hbr/articles/article.jsp;jsessionid=KIEC0VTCVFFG2AKRGWCB5VQBKE0YOISW?ml_action=get-article&articleID=R0503B&ml_page=1&ml_subscriber=true
Women Lawyers and Obstacles to Leadership
http://web.mit.edu/workplacecenter/docs/law-report_4-07.pdf
Lawyers Who Take Time Off Face Tough Return
http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1158829526982
Mother Attorneys Mentoring Association of Seattle
Invites you to attend our next monthly brown bag lunch:
“MAMAs in the Job Market”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When: Wednesday, March 19th, 12:00 noon Where: K&L Gates 925- 4th Ave, Suite 2900
RSVP: by Monday March 17th to Stephanie Morris : sa_morris99 (((at))) hotmail.com
Please join us for a brown bag panel discussion on "MAMAs in the Job Market"
We will hear from a panel who will offer advice to MAMAs seeking employment as well as discuss ideas for employers hoping to recruit. Topics to be addressed include: How to reenter the job market after staying at home with children; how employers can better recruit people who have taken time out of the profession for child-rearing; tips for finding a "family friendly" employer' how to make a positive impression during the application process (including resumes, cover letters, interviews, etc.); tips for interviewing for in-house positions; tips for looking for government jobs; how to work with a legal recruiter; and planning for career advancement. Our panel includes Lynn Hubbard, Director of Business Development for Major, Lindsey and Africa; Maggi McConnell, legal recruiter for Washington Mutual; and Kate Corcoran, Assistant Director of the UW Law School Career Center. The moderators will be Stephanie Morris (at-home mother attorney) and Lori Lynn Phillips (shareholder at Heller Ehrman LLP). CLE credit is pending for this event. http://www.mamaseattle.org/
The panel is at K&L Gates
To reach our office driving south on I-5
Take the exit exit number 165A toward James St.
Stay straight to go onto 6th Ave.
Turn right onto Columbia S.
Turn right onto 4th Ave.Follow 4th Ave. to 4th & Madison Building at 4th and Madison.
Here are the publications:
Off ramps and On Ramps: Keeping Talented Women on the Road to Success
http://harvardbusinessonline.hbsp.harvard.edu/hbsp/hbr/articles/article.jsp;jsessionid=KIEC0VTCVFFG2AKRGWCB5VQBKE0YOISW?ml_action=get-article&articleID=R0503B&ml_page=1&ml_subscriber=true
Women Lawyers and Obstacles to Leadership
http://web.mit.edu/workplacecenter/docs/law-report_4-07.pdf
Lawyers Who Take Time Off Face Tough Return
http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1158829526982
Another major firm adopts work/life policy
Cleary Gottelieb Steen & Hamilton, a NY-based firm of 900+ lawyers with an international practice, recently adopted new policies for parental leave and "flexible work." The new policies, in sum, are:
* Up to 18 weeks paid parental leave (including for adoption), plus employees may take vacation time and unpaid leave time. The 18 weeks of paid leave are split between different types of leave. For example, the parent who is not the primary caregiver is eligible for less than the full 18 weeks.
* Any associate can telecommute one day a month, or two days a month after two years. (This actually seems pretty strict to me.)
* Associates can apply for a flexible or part time schedule, meaning working from home, or working up to 40 percent less than full time. Associates who have worked more than two years design their own schedule and apply to the partnership committee for permission. Going with such a plan reduces your salary, bonus and vacation time proportionally, though not your benefits, and extends the partnership track.
Currently more than 60 associates work flexible or part time schedules.
I have copies of memos from Cleary Gottleib. Email me if you 'd like a copy. They might come in handy if you're thinking of asking your employer for similar accommodations.
Thanks Hollybeth Hakes for the info.
* Up to 18 weeks paid parental leave (including for adoption), plus employees may take vacation time and unpaid leave time. The 18 weeks of paid leave are split between different types of leave. For example, the parent who is not the primary caregiver is eligible for less than the full 18 weeks.
* Any associate can telecommute one day a month, or two days a month after two years. (This actually seems pretty strict to me.)
* Associates can apply for a flexible or part time schedule, meaning working from home, or working up to 40 percent less than full time. Associates who have worked more than two years design their own schedule and apply to the partnership committee for permission. Going with such a plan reduces your salary, bonus and vacation time proportionally, though not your benefits, and extends the partnership track.
Currently more than 60 associates work flexible or part time schedules.
I have copies of memos from Cleary Gottleib. Email me if you 'd like a copy. They might come in handy if you're thinking of asking your employer for similar accommodations.
Thanks Hollybeth Hakes for the info.
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Falknor
The Falknor Moot Court competition is kind of a cool way to get two non-graded credits. You're entitled to earn up to six of those credits while you're in law school. For Falknor, you sign up with a partner, you write a brief on an assigned topic (there are two questions, so you and your partner each address one), and then participate in oral arguments. You have to do at least two rounds.
For me, it was a good way to get experience doing oral arguments since my schedule precludes me from taking trial ad. Plus, having the two extra credits freed up some time later in my schedule. I signed up because I saw a couple of student-parents do it the year before. Email me (kremerl@) if you want to know more about it.
For me, it was a good way to get experience doing oral arguments since my schedule precludes me from taking trial ad. Plus, having the two extra credits freed up some time later in my schedule. I signed up because I saw a couple of student-parents do it the year before. Email me (kremerl@) if you want to know more about it.
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Work-life follow up
Hi team,
After some reflection, I'd like to put Monday's Maybe Baby panel (see post and comments here) in a bit of a context. Sarah and Carson both work full time -- more than full time -- but that isn't the only option that parents have. In fact, for the last several years PALS has put on a "work-life balance" panel each spring, in which we ask three or four attorney-parents (both men and women) to describe how they manage to balance their work and life. Their solutions to work/life balance often are to work part time, or to job share. We often get complaints after those panels, too, because people want to know how to work full time and still have a happy personal life. (We'll have that panel again this spring, and try to have a variety of viewpoints.)
The best solution would be institutional change. That IS happening, slowly -- we just can't always get those people as speakers here. For example, see the link at left to the Project for Attorney Retention, a group that's working on ways to make work-life balance more possible. As another example, next month KC-WWL is hosting a CLE on work-life balance and stress management -- I'm trying to get those speakers to come here to the UW, by the way.
In more specific examples, I think if you inquire at just about any firm in town you'll find people who work less than full time, and still make a family wage. I know several government attorneys who went to a part-time schedule after a few years. I was able to negotiate lower billable hours in the job I'll start next fall -- in part because, unbeknownst to me, the partners at my firm had recently discussed that they want to be more family friendly.
The institutional change isn't here, but it's coming. Sarah and Carson probably still are the norm. And the norm (if you follow the link at the left to the New York Times article on work-life balance) is that lawyers often burn out or get disgusted after a few years and find ways to make life more manageable. Clearly that's a model that's doomed to failure. I think as new grads, we ought to -- carefully -- try to be part of the change.
p.s. Another sign of change? Both Career Services and Academic Support came to the panel to get ideas for how better to support student-parents. Yay them.
After some reflection, I'd like to put Monday's Maybe Baby panel (see post and comments here) in a bit of a context. Sarah and Carson both work full time -- more than full time -- but that isn't the only option that parents have. In fact, for the last several years PALS has put on a "work-life balance" panel each spring, in which we ask three or four attorney-parents (both men and women) to describe how they manage to balance their work and life. Their solutions to work/life balance often are to work part time, or to job share. We often get complaints after those panels, too, because people want to know how to work full time and still have a happy personal life. (We'll have that panel again this spring, and try to have a variety of viewpoints.)
The best solution would be institutional change. That IS happening, slowly -- we just can't always get those people as speakers here. For example, see the link at left to the Project for Attorney Retention, a group that's working on ways to make work-life balance more possible. As another example, next month KC-WWL is hosting a CLE on work-life balance and stress management -- I'm trying to get those speakers to come here to the UW, by the way.
In more specific examples, I think if you inquire at just about any firm in town you'll find people who work less than full time, and still make a family wage. I know several government attorneys who went to a part-time schedule after a few years. I was able to negotiate lower billable hours in the job I'll start next fall -- in part because, unbeknownst to me, the partners at my firm had recently discussed that they want to be more family friendly.
The institutional change isn't here, but it's coming. Sarah and Carson probably still are the norm. And the norm (if you follow the link at the left to the New York Times article on work-life balance) is that lawyers often burn out or get disgusted after a few years and find ways to make life more manageable. Clearly that's a model that's doomed to failure. I think as new grads, we ought to -- carefully -- try to be part of the change.
p.s. Another sign of change? Both Career Services and Academic Support came to the panel to get ideas for how better to support student-parents. Yay them.
Monday, March 3, 2008
PALS meeting Tuesday
PALS Quarterly Membership Meeting, Room 116, 12:30-1:20. Food! Elections! Talk!
Maybe Baby recap
Thanks to the folks that came out for the Maybe Baby session today. There were 30 people there, quite a turnout. I heard from some people who thought it was a great discussion, and some who were pretty depressed. What did you think? I'd love to get some comments. You can post anonymously on this blog.
My recap:
Regarding whether to have your baby during school, Carson (who had a baby in school, and another as a second-year associate) said school is the way to go. There, if your baby needs extra attention and you have to neglect your work, the only one who is affected is you, and all that will happen is you'll get a lower grade. Plus the Remote Learning Room is such a great resource. Whereas now that she's working, if there's a problem with the baby, potentially a client could suffer (though that's never happened to her). Sarah, on the other hand, chose not to have a baby during school because she needed to keep her grades up -- scholarships at her school were based on grades. Plus she was going to be coming across the country to find a job, so grades (and law review, and federal clerkship) were crucial.
A couple of people asked what if you want/need to take the summer off with your baby, and I asked, what if you need to take a quarter off and graduate late. Both speakers thought that if you had a hole in your resume you could explain, it shouldn't bother employers, though it's a good idea to look for something that takes minimal time away from your baby, like doing research for a professor.
Sarah works full time at a big Seattle firm (I'm leaving out identifying details because this blog can be googled). She enjoys it, and finds that she rarely has to work nights and weekends to make her hours. She gets about an hour a night to purely devote to playing with her 17-month-old son. This was one of the things that some of the audience members found depressing: one hour a day. Sarah also said she makes a point at work of never "playing the mommy card" -- never blaming her son for having to leave or for having difficulty making a deadline. Sarah was kind of the hard-core example of how to work full time with a baby.
Carson's work is more flexible, with paid maternity leave, and partners and associates who work less than full time. She works full time. She said she's absolutely focused when she's at work, and eats at her desk, but rarely does work at night or on weekends.
So, the discussion strayed from the "Maybe Baby" topic and wandered more into the "work-life balance" area. For those who were looking for more answers about what it's like to have a baby in school and how people made the decision to do that, PALS members are more than happy to talk about it. In particular, Laura Arras, 3L, had a baby her 1L summer and brought her to school most of her 2L year. You can email her at arras@... Vanessa Hernandez also is willing to share her thought process and experience. You'll see her around -- she's the one that looks like she must have been due two weeks ago (but she still has a couple of weeks to go).
What did you think of the panel? Any suggestions for follow-up discussions?
My recap:
Regarding whether to have your baby during school, Carson (who had a baby in school, and another as a second-year associate) said school is the way to go. There, if your baby needs extra attention and you have to neglect your work, the only one who is affected is you, and all that will happen is you'll get a lower grade. Plus the Remote Learning Room is such a great resource. Whereas now that she's working, if there's a problem with the baby, potentially a client could suffer (though that's never happened to her). Sarah, on the other hand, chose not to have a baby during school because she needed to keep her grades up -- scholarships at her school were based on grades. Plus she was going to be coming across the country to find a job, so grades (and law review, and federal clerkship) were crucial.
A couple of people asked what if you want/need to take the summer off with your baby, and I asked, what if you need to take a quarter off and graduate late. Both speakers thought that if you had a hole in your resume you could explain, it shouldn't bother employers, though it's a good idea to look for something that takes minimal time away from your baby, like doing research for a professor.
Sarah works full time at a big Seattle firm (I'm leaving out identifying details because this blog can be googled). She enjoys it, and finds that she rarely has to work nights and weekends to make her hours. She gets about an hour a night to purely devote to playing with her 17-month-old son. This was one of the things that some of the audience members found depressing: one hour a day. Sarah also said she makes a point at work of never "playing the mommy card" -- never blaming her son for having to leave or for having difficulty making a deadline. Sarah was kind of the hard-core example of how to work full time with a baby.
Carson's work is more flexible, with paid maternity leave, and partners and associates who work less than full time. She works full time. She said she's absolutely focused when she's at work, and eats at her desk, but rarely does work at night or on weekends.
So, the discussion strayed from the "Maybe Baby" topic and wandered more into the "work-life balance" area. For those who were looking for more answers about what it's like to have a baby in school and how people made the decision to do that, PALS members are more than happy to talk about it. In particular, Laura Arras, 3L, had a baby her 1L summer and brought her to school most of her 2L year. You can email her at arras@... Vanessa Hernandez also is willing to share her thought process and experience. You'll see her around -- she's the one that looks like she must have been due two weeks ago (but she still has a couple of weeks to go).
What did you think of the panel? Any suggestions for follow-up discussions?
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