blog 31

Balancing work and family when that career is in the legal field can be very difficult. First of all attorneys are know to work long hours and have very high stress, high demanding jobs. So what happens when a female lawyer who has put in many years worth of education and hard work to get where she is at decides to have a family? Does she have to choose between one and the other or is there a way to balance both with out loosing respect from her colleagues? In our lesson material we have read that often times certain firms and male lawyers feel that there is not such thing as a good part time attorney so what if you want to do both. Many professions such as nurses, doctor’s and judges have individuals who work part-time for one reason or another so why is it impossible to think that it can’t be done within the legal field? English stated in chapter 8 that firms were almost more accepting to partners who were married and had children because you fit in and were what they would call “one of them”. One lawyer said that she was upfront about her family plans from the beginning so there were no surprises, yet another woman wondered if stating your plans ahead of time could work against you in getting the job. With this issue becoming more common with more woman choosing to balance both lives some companies have implemented such these as alternative work schedules and flexible hours and yet some woman choose not to take advantage of these for fear of the way that colleagues will look at her or she may loose her status within the firm. So in other words these women walk a fine line because on one hand you don’t want to loose your standing at work but on the other hand if you don’t take off the time to be with your young family you can be negatively judge because of that also.