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[quote=Anonymous]I'll put in a plug for biglaw, having spent 8 years there earlier in my career. I was a litigator and while I worked hard, it wasn't all crazy all of the time. I generally billed 2000-2200 the years I was there, with ebbs and flows in workload month to month. After having my first child, we put her in daycare and I started leaving at 6:00 almost every night for pickup (DH, also biglaw, handled some pickups as well). Once I got used to it, it wasn't that hard. I commuted on a bus and was always above ground and responsive, we lived very close to the daycare, so I could get her home quick, and then I could monitor email through dinner, bath, bedtime. Once she was down, I almost always logged back on to keep working. I found that as long as you were responsive and gave an idea of when you could get the assignment done, most people were fine. I also found that my concentration and efficiency improved when I had a more finite period in which to bill hours before leaving the office. I had to travel some, so that got sticky, but we have family nearby and relied on them. I had my son 3 years after my daughter was born and started leaving closer to 5:30 or earlier. It was hard and tiring for sure, and I had no free time to myself, but it gave me 2 paid maternity leaves of considerable length, a lot of savings, great experience, and a good name on my resume.

That said, as my kids get older, I hope that both DH and I can be around more and more. I'm at mid-law and still work plenty. I really do enjoy it, but all the tradeoffs in the prior posts are quite real. At the end of the day, I don't think chasing the prestige ("prestige"?) or the money is how I want to spend my time. But, I also freely admit that I didn't have the option. I wasn't on partner track, even before having kids. It may be that I would have made different choices if I had been.[/quote]

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