Attorney looking for entirely WFH job

[Anonymous]

Or you could you know, hire a nanny to care for your toddler during the day so you can work.

[Anonymous]

This is OP. I currently work for the federal government. I was assuming an all telework job would be another government job or maybe working for one of the legal publishers? I don’t have the right personality to be a legal recruiter but maybe that’s a WFH job? In other words, I am willing to do something different from what I have been doing. Is there contract work that pays decently that you can do from home? If so, is it all document review?

[Anonymous]

Why do you talk to your alumni office/network to see what's out there?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why do you talk to your alumni office/network to see what's out there?

*don't*

[Anonymous]

You'd be better off having your family move in with you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You'd be better off having your family move in with you.

What? In my 800 square foot 2 bedroom apartment?

[Anonymous]

The federal government probably won’t be hiring many people for some time due to the pandemic. However, I am working at home full time as an attorney advisor for the Social Security Administration. Normally, attorneys in my office can telework from home for three to four days a week. I used to be a state prosecutor, but this is a better job for raising a family due to less stress and a regular schedule. I went to a top ten law school and we have many great attorneys in the office that want work life balance and to live in a rural area.

The Social Security Administration has hearing offices all over the country and you just need to be within a two-hour drive to work at an office (which is not that bad with three or four days at home). My hearing office is in a city of 100,000 people, but I live an hour away in a town of 10,000 people. Salary is okay for a rural area. I’m a GS-12 now and there is sometimes overtime on the weekends to bump your salary up. I could possibly move up to a GS-13 senior attorney advisor someday. Anything higher and I’d have to find a different federal attorney job. There is the possibility of becoming an Administrative Law Judge for the Social Security Administration one day and you sound like you might have a chance with a good law school and litigation experience.

https://aljdiscussion.proboards.com/thread/4377/thoughts-on-decision-writer-positionexperience before coming to SSA.

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/840767.page#16053461

[Anonymous]

Same boat. WFH partner in small firm. It's very, very hard not to have the face time and my career has definitely suffered. I don't think it's sustainable in my practice and I am basically waiting for the hammer to fall.

So far all I have seen is doc review. I think WFH really has to be solo practice, earned, or you have to have an established relationship/connections where the firm would trust you.

[Anonymous]

OP, you said you work for the federal government as an attorney. I’d keep a federal job in this economy if possible. I thought I heard something about paid leave to care for children in legislation recently. I know I’ve seen several threads on the forum about childcare issues and maybe someone has an idea that would work without you giving up a stable federal attorney job during a pandemic? Childcare is a mess right now, but I wouldn’t give up my federal job without a fight during this pandemic.

It seems like nearly everyone is teleworking right now in the federal government. Are you able to telework? Does your agency have field offices? Or could you transfer to an agency with field offices near your rural area? You’d be at home, but you’d still have a federal job with stability and benefits. And, you’d likely have a telework job for the foreseeable future/during the pandemic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The federal government probably won’t be hiring many people for some time due to the pandemic. However, I am working at home full time as an attorney advisor for the Social Security Administration. Normally, attorneys in my office can telework from home for three to four days a week. I used to be a state prosecutor, but this is a better job for raising a family due to less stress and a regular schedule. I went to a top ten law school and we have many great attorneys in the office that want work life balance and to live in a rural area.

The Social Security Administration has hearing offices all over the country and you just need to be within a two-hour drive to work at an office (which is not that bad with three or four days at home). My hearing office is in a city of 100,000 people, but I live an hour away in a town of 10,000 people. Salary is okay for a rural area. I’m a GS-12 now and there is sometimes overtime on the weekends to bump your salary up. I could possibly move up to a GS-13 senior attorney advisor someday. Anything higher and I’d have to find a different federal attorney job. There is the possibility of becoming an Administrative Law Judge for the Social Security Administration one day and you sound like you might have a chance with a good law school and litigation experience.

https://aljdiscussion.proboards.com/thread/4377/thoughts-on-decision-writer-positionexperience before coming to SSA.

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/840767.page#16053461

This sounds pretty intriguing. How often do these positions get posted, PP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I need to move in with family if we’re going to be doing these covid closures on and off for a while. I can’t take care of my toddler and work. This isn’t sustainable. But my family lives in a tiny town with no jobs for me. I am a litigator but don’t care about being in a courtroom. Substantively I have experience in criminal and civil law and civil rights. Ivy League law school. Where would I even start to look for an all WFH job?

Try Axiom or Potomac Law Group - I think they're all WFH jobs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think you're looking for a unicorn job that doesn't exist right now.

+1 and 100% WFH does not mean that you don't still need childcare. Every WFH agreement I've ever signed requires you to have childcare

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is OP. I currently work for the federal government. I was assuming an all telework job would be another government job or maybe working for one of the legal publishers? I don’t have the right personality to be a legal recruiter but maybe that’s a WFH job? In other words, I am willing to do something different from what I have been doing. Is there contract work that pays decently that you can do from home? If so, is it all document review?

What about a firm that does work with your agency? Any contacts with something like that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think you're looking for a unicorn job that doesn't exist right now.

+1 and 100% WFH does not mean that you don't still need childcare. Every WFH agreement I've ever signed requires you to have childcare

Oh, I know! What I’m trying to arrange is living near my parents so that when we have the next round of stay at home, my mom can be my childcare while I work. I would have paid childcare when things aren’t shut down.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is OP. I currently work for the federal government. I was assuming an all telework job would be another government job or maybe working for one of the legal publishers? I don’t have the right personality to be a legal recruiter but maybe that’s a WFH job? In other words, I am willing to do something different from what I have been doing. Is there contract work that pays decently that you can do from home? If so, is it all document review?

What about a firm that does work with your agency? Any contacts with something like that?

That’s a really good thought but we don’t work with any firms. Good idea though.