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article 25% of female attorneys leave ...
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Anonymous
| I'm at a "biglaw" (hate the term) firm and so is my husband. I would say the 25% number is about right for women who stay home but many, many more leave to go to the government or in house, etc. Then there are those like me who choose to go "part time" which kills your partnership prospects but lets you make very good money for roughly 40-45 hours a week, most weeks. Overall, the percentage who stay full time is small, probably around 25%. |
Anonymous
I'm not taking comfort in anything. The opt out revolution is a myth. Highly educated women are more likely to stay in the workforce, some by choice, many because the extra money is nice (maybe not absolutely necessary to live, but like me, necessary to hit our savings, retirement goals, etc.). Of course there will be women who choose not to work, always, but acting like most women who have kids would drop out and continuing to perpetuate that is damaging. Like I said, if this changed the culture of big law, great, but I don't think it will. |
Anonymous
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I don't think anything will really change the Biglaw culture -- enough people stay to make it worthwhile. Frankly, I don't see this as a huge problem. It's self-selecting - some people want or need to work those hours and get the pay, but many don't. I don't think it's workable for both parents -- if one parent, whether mom or dad, is at Biglaw, the other really needs to have a low-hours and flexible job. That's often a problem for two-lawyer households, and often it is the woman who departs. But it could be the man; I know couples where mom is a Biglaw attoreny and dad left or went part time.
It's not that different in many areas of medicine. My dad was a surgeon at a hospital, my mom was a teacher - she did all the day to day, and we saw dad late at night and on weekends. I didn't feel deprived of his company in any way, but I grew up knowing I wanted to work full time but not as hard as he did -- and looking back, I know he could not have worked those hours and had a family if my mom hadn't stepped up to do virtually all the childcare and house care, while teaching full time. They made it work. DH and I are both lawyers, but we both left Biglaw for the government after several years. Neither of us wanted to work those hours while having a family, so the trade-off is that we both work full time for reasonable, flexible, and relatively set hours, which allows us to share the childcare and house work more or less evenly. Of course, we make less than half the money -- one senior associate salary would be more than our government salaries combined. But to us it was more important to have a life, hobbies, family, and dual careers. That would not have been possible if either or both of us had stayed at Biglaw. And we both have much more responsibility and more interesting work, so other than money and prestige, we did not sacrifice anything career-wise. |
Anonymous
It tells me that there are a bunch of men who suck it up, unhappy, because they have to bring in a large income. |
Anonymous
This is what happens when you are not the baby-maker. Earn their keep so to speak. 
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Anonymous
| There was a study which the NY Times wrote about awhile ago that showed that women in medicine have much higher career satisfaction than women in law. I searched for the link but can't find it. I think one of the reasons was the hours. I think it is also probably more satisfying to help sick people than to be a lawyer. |
Anonymous
Okaaaaaaaay... |
Anonymous
So does that go both ways? Women can opt out of bad jobs and men get to opt out of child rearing? Is that how you women should earn their keep? |
Anonymous
A good number of them really are unhappy and they are real as*holes as a result. |
Anonymous
There is little or no flexibility in anesthesiology, and part time is tricky. |
Anonymous
Big Law sucks as a profession. The reason people do it is pretty much the money. I don't see why women are surprised that they leave it so often. Sure, there are some people who are in a position that gives them emotional satisfaction. But most do it for the money. The fact that more women leave it suggests that they have career options. Another thing lost in this discussion is how many men leave before making partner. |
Anonymous
| Many doctors wanted to be doctors from the time they were very young. They see themselves as healers. (My perspective as a doctor's daughter and sister of an MD). Many lawyers back into the profession because they've got good grades, do well on standardized tests and majored in history, English or government. There's less of a burning passion for the law on the part of lawyers, so, if there's an opportunity to move to government, an in-house job or the non-profit sector, or to stop working altogether, lawyers are more likley to grab it -- whether male or female. (My perspective as a lawyer, married to a lawyer, and sister of another lawyer.) |
Anonymous
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It also does seem like part-time options are more readily available for physicians. I know of a number of female physicians who work part-time. They may well be paying some price in terms of advancement and prestige and money, but I think the positions are more readily available than they are for attorneys.
I also think there may be something else a bit more intangible going on...I'd be curious to get others take on this one. Being a biglaw associate is pretty soul sucking -- even at a pretty decent firm. It may be somewhat prestigious to the outside world, but as the associate you tend to feel pretty low on the totem pole most of the time. My sense is that being a physician is a bit different - there's a cache and respect that I get a sense that physicians feel and that is reflected in how they are related to that may increase their job satisfaction and likelihood of sticking with the profession. |
Anonymous
| BigLaw is tough. There is no getting around it. For all of the reasons PPs stated above, a two BigLaw attorney household can leave you feeling pulled in 15 directions. I'm in such a family, and I often wonder how much longer I can keep doing it. Younger female lawyers in my office say, "But you do it, so I can do it." I want to say, "Oh, honey. Let me tell you - you would have to be insane to do this!" But I don't. I just smile and wonder whether I will survive the next few weeks of DH's deposition sweep through the West Coast, or whether I will get lectured about my low hours again, or whether the clients who all love me now still will love me when they realize what I already have - I can't do my best work when I am entering my second decade of less than 5 hours of sleep a night. At this rate, I'm going to be dead before the kids go off to college. I feel the exhaustion in my bones. On the plus side, however, I did remember to stop and pick up the special thing DC#1 is supposed to take to school tomorrow. See? 15 directions. Blackberry is buzzing - gotta go... |
Anonymous
I have one girlfriend who is a doctor and mom to young kids. She loves it because she works only 25hrs a week. Her husband is also military and they move every 3 years and it is very easy for her to find work any place they go. She is a general physician. |