Best Lawyer Mom Jobs

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Go through an agency honor’s program if you haven’t graduated yet.

OP here. Should have clarified this in the original post, I’m currently in law school. So looking for family-friendly first year attorney jobs. Ideally 40ish hrs/week, no travel, good telework, flextime options. I’ll definitely look into honors, but wasn’t sure how often it converts to a permanent position. Definitely looking for something with job security.

You are looking for a unicorn.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Go through an agency honor’s program if you haven’t graduated yet.

OP here. Should have clarified this in the original post, I’m currently in law school. So looking for family-friendly first year attorney jobs. Ideally 40ish hrs/week, no travel, good telework, flextime options. I’ll definitely look into honors, but wasn’t sure how often it converts to a permanent position. Definitely looking for something with job security.

You are looking for a unicorn.

I have this unicorn but I am in a highly specialized position that I worked 15 years for. I started as a JD PMF, OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Go through an agency honor’s program if you haven’t graduated yet.

OP here. Should have clarified this in the original post, I’m currently in law school. So looking for family-friendly first year attorney jobs. Ideally 40ish hrs/week, no travel, good telework, flextime options. I’ll definitely look into honors, but wasn’t sure how often it converts to a permanent position. Definitely looking for something with job security.

You are looking for a unicorn.

They do exist, but what OP has to understand is the first couple years will be harder anywhere. I'm a fed with a 40 hour a week job but during training it was more like 50.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ve never worked for the federal government, but I’m in a regulatory biglaw practice that regularly interfaces with a couple of federal agencies and they seem to have reasonable hours. I would think this really depends on the agency and their telework policies, culture, etc. - and you can get in at the entry level through the honors program. I don’t know how far in advance they hire, though - when are you graduating? My recollection is that my classmates from law school who did this route applied early in 3L.

If you go the biglaw route (and I think there are advantages to doing this, especially if you want an in-house position, since I don’t think those hire entry-level lawyers), regulatory practices typically have better hours. I switched practices as a junior associate from transactional work to a niche regulatory group, and the hours are not comparable. I generally work a 9-6 work day, and fire drills are pretty rare. This may not apply to all regulatory practices (especially ones that are there for deal support, like antitrust/HSR) and will also probably vary by firm, so you need to do some diligence, but generally it’s true. My group brings in its own work, i.e. we do investigations and regulatory counseling, so we don’t work on deal timelines.

+1. I've heard regulatory work is great for WLB. I didn't get that advice when I went into Big Law (oh well), but I at least had people tell me to focus on litigation as it is often (but not always) more predictable than transactional work. For example, you generally know when discovery is due, deps are happening etc because those dates are set at the start of the case. Further, I was told to avoid general litigation and opt for nice practices where the entire goal was to avoid trial. (After all, part of gen lit's sale to clients is that they are trial lawyers. Trials are fun, but you'll be doing horrible 90 hour weeks when they happen every few years.)

I went into Labor & Employment, which is speciality litigation work. The goal on most lit is to avoid trial (so settling or winning on a dispositive motion) and counseling work is helpful if you want to go in house. Most of the in house L&E lawyers I know have very reasonable hours. Plus, as long as you have employers and employees, you'll have employment law. You can also go work for the EEOC, which is another good WLB pivot.

[Anonymous]

I'm the PP in private regulatory practice, and forgot to mention that I am very close to someone who works at FINRA. I know for a fact that they hire entry-level lawyers in certain departments, and from what I have heard/observed, they are a very flexible employer, strictly 40 hours a week, and almost 100% WFH. Might be worth looking into!

[Anonymous]

It is a little late for honors attorney programs. I would look at USAjobs to see if there are any still accepting applications. I would expect the programs to convert the honors attorneys to career positions so long as the attorney works hard. Not crazy hours (assuming not litigation) but not mailing it in.

When you say you are highly credentialed what does that mean? Do you have an area of focus? Have you interned or worked during your summers? Do you have a job but are looking for something more family friendly?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is a little late for honors attorney programs. I would look at USAjobs to see if there are any still accepting applications. I would expect the programs to convert the honors attorneys to career positions so long as the attorney works hard. Not crazy hours (assuming not litigation) but not mailing it in.

When you say you are highly credentialed what does that mean? Do you have an area of focus? Have you interned or worked during your summers? Do you have a job but are looking for something more family friendly?

Fancy law school + reasonably good grades, nothing super special. Was going to pursue clerkships originally so did the things to be a candidate for that, decided against it due to WLB.

[Anonymous]

Agency OGC but you need an in advance an entry level. My office does hire entry level attorneys sometimes but typically those who have some kind of experience/specialization in our area based on with they did prior to law school, internships in law school, journal etc…

If you are a Jack of all trades type try to figure out if you can pitch yourself towards a regulatory area - banking, communications, health law, environmental. That would help you package yourself for applying to an agency and then network like crazy.

My job is very family friendly.

[Anonymous]

Uber eats

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Agency OGC but you need an in advance an entry level. My office does hire entry level attorneys sometimes but typically those who have some kind of experience/specialization in our area based on with they did prior to law school, internships in law school, journal etc…

If you are a Jack of all trades type try to figure out if you can pitch yourself towards a regulatory area - banking, communications, health law, environmental. That would help you package yourself for applying to an agency and then network like crazy.

My job is very family friendly.

+1 on this

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is a little late for honors attorney programs. I would look at USAjobs to see if there are any still accepting applications. I would expect the programs to convert the honors attorneys to career positions so long as the attorney works hard. Not crazy hours (assuming not litigation) but not mailing it in.

When you say you are highly credentialed what does that mean? Do you have an area of focus? Have you interned or worked during your summers? Do you have a job but are looking for something more family friendly?

Fancy law school + reasonably good grades, nothing super special. Was going to pursue clerkships originally so did the things to be a candidate for that, decided against it due to WLB.

Any internships? Are you a 3L? You're too late for most clerkship at this point.

What's your focus? What do you mean by "nothing super special?"

If you're a 3L you need to get real, a lot of doors have already closed and the remaining doors are closing quickly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is a little late for honors attorney programs. I would look at USAjobs to see if there are any still accepting applications. I would expect the programs to convert the honors attorneys to career positions so long as the attorney works hard. Not crazy hours (assuming not litigation) but not mailing it in.

When you say you are highly credentialed what does that mean? Do you have an area of focus? Have you interned or worked during your summers? Do you have a job but are looking for something more family friendly?

Fancy law school + reasonably good grades, nothing super special. Was going to pursue clerkships originally so did the things to be a candidate for that, decided against it due to WLB.

Any internships? Are you a 3L? You're too late for most clerkship at this point.

What's your focus? What do you mean by "nothing super special?"

If you're a 3L you need to get real, a lot of doors have already closed and the remaining doors are closing quickly.

There's truth here, to a point. Small firms have not hired entry-level attorneys yet -- they often wait until after bar results unless they have a law clerk that they want to keep on. Government positions that are non-honors programs are still available - those are typically filled when they need to replace someone. Look at policy analyst positions at government agencies (usually GS-9) -- I've seen grads transition from that into attorney-advisor positions after a bit. Trademark examiner positions are good "mommy track" positions. You will find that while federal clerkships are almost all gone, the state courts in Maryland hire later than Virginia, and some DC judges as well. Go talk to a career counselor at your law school. It is in their best interest to help you find a job.

[Anonymous]

Honestly, I think you need to prepare yourself that you are not going to be able to be a first year attorney and be doing school pick ups and drop offs and have that much flexibility. You have zero experience. Attorneys work hard at the beginning of their career, regardless of whether they are a public defender or at a big law firm. You have to earn the right to be trusted to do your own thing after you’ve carved out expertise. I seriously think this is a troll post because I can’t imagine a 3L would be asking this type of question.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What does primary parent mean?

I used to be in the federal government and found it to be super micro-managey and not at all conducive to a flex schedule required. And at entry level you have to accrue leave which can take a while so that you can take time off. But still as an entry level all leave has to be approved usually.

Maybe things have changed post-pandemic but YMMV.

OP here. Spouse works long hours with occasional travel, don’t have family in the area. So looking for something ideally compatible with school pick-up and drop-off, staying home with sick kids, etc.

This is not going to happen your first year at any job, let alone your first year out of law school. I would advice OP to get into a transactional practice at a big firm for 2 years then move on to the unicorn job she's searching for, which may actually exist after she's worked in big law for a few years. I have a great job in the law with time for pick-ups, drop-offs, and staying home with sick kids, but I worked very hard for 10 years to get to this point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Go through an agency honor’s program if you haven’t graduated yet.

OP here. Should have clarified this in the original post, I’m currently in law school. So looking for family-friendly first year attorney jobs. Ideally 40ish hrs/week, no travel, good telework, flextime options. I’ll definitely look into honors, but wasn’t sure how often it converts to a permanent position. Definitely looking for something with job security.

You are looking for a unicorn.

I have this unicorn but I am in a highly specialized position that I worked 15 years for. I started as a JD PMF, OP.

Same. I have this unicorn job but I am in a high-demand field that I got in on the ground floor on and am one of few experts at my level. You can maybe get a gov job, although flextime varies a lot by agency and the work won't necessarily be interesting if you really only want 40 hrs/week. Being a contract attorney would also totally work on being flexible, no travel, etc., but the pay isn't great, it's boring and not a lot of job security.