Lawyers at home

[Anonymous]

Does anyone have suggestions on the best way to reach out to SAHMs or SAHDs who are former in-house or firm lawyers? The legal department at my employer, a small tech company in NoVA, is looking for occasional legal assistance on a contract basis when things get busy. But because it's going to be irregular in frequency, it's not going to result in steady work, which makes it non-ideal for someone who is looking for a typical job arrangement. And we have pretty high expectations for wanting someone with relevant experience in corporate/commercial law (for tech companies) so it needs to be someone who has a few years of related experience.

Add that all up and it seems like a SAHM or SAHD would be a good demographic to look in, someone who would appreciate occasional work to stay active and have continuity of work experience to potentially re-enter the workforce after their kids go to school full-time -- but who doesn't actually want a ton of hours.

But the tricky thing is how do we reach out to this segment? Craigslist or regular job boards don't seem to be the answer since the ideal candidate wouldn’t even be looking for a job and so they wouldn't see the ad. Not allowed to post jobs at DCUM due to site rules. It doesn’t need to be a DC area website so any national suggestions would be welcome as well.

Thanks all

Justin
[e-mail]

[Anonymous]

I would think a LinkedIn post about what you're looking for might quickly get forwarded to friends and former co-workers of working lawyers.

[Anonymous]

The DC Women's Bar Association has a lawyers at home forum. You can find contact information for the co-chairs of that forum on the DCWBA's website. You should reach out to them and see if they would be willing to circulate information to their members. It sounds like the kind of opportunity that would work well for a SAHM or SAHD.

[Anonymous]

Contact lawyers at firms and ask them to refer people to you.

[Anonymous]

Flex Professionals

[Anonymous]

I would start with Craigslist and see how that goes. I am a SAHM attorney and look at it daily for part time/freelance jobs. It is fairly regular for a posting to say the position would be perfect for a SAH parent and/or someone who has taken time off and is looking to return to the workforce. I applied to a small firm posting looking for freelance/part time help the day after it was posted and by the time they contacted me the next day they already had multiple applications.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The DC Women's Bar Association has a lawyers at home forum. You can find contact information for the co-chairs of that forum on the DCWBA's website. You should reach out to them and see if they would be willing to circulate information to their members. It sounds like the kind of opportunity that would work well for a SAHM or SAHD.

This is what I'd recommend.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thank you for all of the suggestions. I've contacted DCWBA and also posted at Craigslist. In case you're curious or interested, the posting can be found here: http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/nva/lgl/4002482516.html