Family-friendly places for lawyers?

[Anonymous]

Another government lawyer here. VERY family friendly, though a little boring. Top tier law school, big firm experience. The main way I've gotten jobs at this point in my career (I'm in my 40's) is through contacts. It's all about who you know in DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DH also in-house, fairly junior, feel very lucky. Great benefits, reasonable hours, interesting work.

The lack of billable hours / timesheets makes a huge difference.

I'm in house, but we do charge time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was in house and it was family friendly in the sense that it was just 40 hr/week but you had to be at your desk whenever you were supposed to be working.

Now at an agency and it's more flexible in terms of working at home (but you do need to take leave for every dr. appt etc).

Naive question, but what do you mean you had to be at your desk whenever you were supposed to be working? No meetings, no client visits? Or do you mean no working from home?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have to ask. Are those with these wonderful jobs Ivy grads?

No. State school for law school. I did have a lot of good experiences and references from an AmLaw 100 firm before I transitioned to in house. Plus, I have an actual personality, unlike many of the superstar lawyers at my old firm.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you don't land one of those good first jobs that provides good work experience, are you forever at a disadvantage? Similar to what they say about college grads who are unemployed or underemployed, they will always be behind.

Yes. That's why I went with the best known firm that offered me a job right out of law school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was in house and it was family friendly in the sense that it was just 40 hr/week but you had to be at your desk whenever you were supposed to be working.

Now at an agency and it's more flexible in terms of working at home (but you do need to take leave for every dr. appt etc).

Naive question, but what do you mean you had to be at your desk whenever you were supposed to be working? No meetings, no client visits? Or do you mean no working from home?

I meant no working from home, but that was more my way of saying there was sort of a facetime culture-- you couldn't really take off early (or come in late) one day because you had been working hard/overtime all week and had caught up on everything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:General Counsel for a start-up. My dog and baby can come to work with me every day. I can wear jeans to work. Love.It.

Sounds like my dream. Will you hire me?

[Anonymous]

I'm at a very family-friendly small law firm. About 30 lawyers. When things get busy, I still have to keep up and do the work, but I'm allowed/encouraged to leave at 5 every day to pick up DD from daycare, and work from home in the evenings as needed (unless there's a meeting or some other big thing going, on rare occasion).

Not an Ivy grad, but went to a top-10 law school.

[Anonymous]

Small nonprofit. Family friendly in the sense that everyone can leave at 5, several new moms who support each other, supportive managememt. But the work can be fast paced and there is always more of it you could be doing, with external stakeh

[Anonymous]

... External stakeholders who dont care about your kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:General Counsel for a start-up. My dog and baby can come to work with me every day. I can wear jeans to work. Love.It.

Sounds like my dream. Will you hire me?

But how many hours a week does GC for start up work? I'd rather work only 40 - 45 hours a week and have less flexibility.

[Anonymous]

Another GC for a nonprofit here. I am an Ivy grad (Harvard) and honestly it does come in handy. I'm youngish and the Board takes me very seriously because they all know I went to Harvard Law. I don't talk about it but when they introduce me around they always bring it up.

I work 3 days a week, only lawyer, from home. It is really the perfect law job for a mom but I spent my time billing 3000+ in biglaw.

[Anonymous]

PP here -- forgot to mention I have full-time childcare as my association's needs vary from week to week. Not sure how I could get anything done with my toddler at home and it wouldn't be professional to have him in the background on calls.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Another GC for a nonprofit here. I am an Ivy grad (Harvard) and honestly it does come in handy. I'm youngish and the Board takes me very seriously because they all know I went to Harvard Law. I don't talk about it but when they introduce me around they always bring it up.

I work 3 days a week, only lawyer, from home. It is really the perfect law job for a mom but I spent my time billing 3000+ in biglaw.

What's your current comp?

[Anonymous]

I work for a large corporation as well. Telecommute nearly 100% of the time. A few trips and meetings very infrequently now.

Flexibility is awesome. I do end up working odd hours but the work gets done and no issues. Comp is lower than what I believe I could make in a more traditional work environment, but at this stage in life, the flexibility is more important.