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@MrsH: I'd love to hear about any of your maternity leave terms that you are willing to share if your firm is small.
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Worked for a non-profit doing legislation stuff, so no billables and normal working hours. But it got a little mundane after several years. I'm a SAHM for now and liking it much, much more.
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Fwiw, I am still up working . . . I could probably work straight through the night and still struggle to meet all of the deadlines I have for the next two weeks. Obviously, it can be done . . . but I am certainly tired of proving that to myself--at least for tonight--tomorrow is a new day.
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I did criminal prosecution for a few years, taught, now I am currently not practicing, since we live overseas. I would love to work again but it's not an option to practice crim law here as a prosecutor.
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@MsLipGloss: Word. It definitely spoils you, I know you already got a taste of it, but I cannot recommend it highly enough for family life while still doing interesting work!
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@ DC yoga bee: yeah, the pay issue is tough. It is really satisfying/rewarding work but I find I really tend to take it home with me (mentally). It's hard to separate myself from it when it really can be a life altering consequence for my client.
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Non-practicing lawyer. I did a very specialized form of real estate for quite some time, then switched to legislative/policy work and now I am learning the finance side of what I used to do. I always worked for small, boutique mission-driven firms, so I never really had to deal with hard core billable requirements. My career has been such a mixed bag, but I actually intended it to be this way. I never wanted to be traditional lawyer for a extended period of time.
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I am a paralegal, can I join? I love hearing about what kind of law you ladies practice. My office does bankruptcy
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@Madison43: yup, i feel exactly the same way! my firm is so accommodating, but i feel so conflicted over my desire to be in two places at once. it is hard!
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@DillonLion: of course you can
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@DillonLion: I bet we know some of the same people...
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I am a staff attorney at a large NYC firm. It is really the best of both worlds in some ways. I do a lot of discovery work so certainly not glamorous, but I usually work 40 hours a week (occasional weekend work or a long day but not typical), work from home and have very flexible hours. The trade off is really being pigeon holed into this work, it will be hard to break into practice again after doing this for so long. But while we have little kids, it is great and I am taking advantage of the flexibility and will deal with the career issues later on when the kids are in school.
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@shortcake: Is staff attorney a different sort of position?
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@Mrs. Blue: yah?
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@sandy: you sound a lot like me
I was thrilled to be a sahm - my job brought me so much stress. Opposing counsel, the constant arguing, insane deadlines... I never want to go back to that again. I don't plan on going back to work for awhile, but like you, am keeping my license active just in case (although I am 99.9% sure that I will never go back to actually practicing law). Sometimes I wonder why I can't seem to let my license lapse since I'm so sure I don't want to go back to it 
I actually wouldn't mind doing doc review - it doesn't seem exciting but I like how you don't have to deal w/ billable hours or opposing counsel. Something for me to think about -
@DillonLion: walled you.
@pinkcupcake: I think I'm like you about the license. We've been talking about me working part-time or staying home next year, and DH asked about going inactive if I SAH. I was adamantly opposed to it, even though I think I'll be much happier SAH; I definitely would never go back to a firm. I'm not sure why exactly, but I just do not want to go inactive under any circumstances. -
@Mrs. Blue: yeah, me neither. I was actually seriously considering it a couple months ago when my renewal was up. My husband was telling me I should just go inactive since I was so miserable when I worked and I knew there was no way in hell I would ever go back to it, but I don't know, I just couldn't do it. It's going to be a pain- I have to fulfill my cle requirements and a portion of them must be live credits and I'm really not looking forward to attending a seminar and introducing myself as a SAHM
. I will prob just hide out in the back somewhere 
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@pinkcupcake: any thoughts of what you might do when you eventually go back?
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@Mae: I have no idea. It's something I think about often, but I haven't come up w/anything definitive yet. I think at this point, I have a better idea of what I *don't* want to do than what I do
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@lindsayinny: it is usually non partnership track but much the same work as junior associates. Depends on the firm though. Some promote SA's to associate (mine does) and some do not.
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@pinkcupcake: everyone told me it would get better after 3 years, 5 years, etc. Then I realized that the old partners still woke up in the middle of the night bc they had a freak out moment about a case...and I realized I would never be happy working at a traditional firm. I'm not exactly sure what kind of work I'm going to do after I have another child and send them off to school but everyone said it was better to keep my license active if possible bc going inactive and trying to change back to active status would be a huge pain.
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Joining in late, but I'm an associate at a mid-size firm. I practice public agency law so I love my clients and the work, just not a huge fan of the billable hour (shocking, right?) and I'm not a fan of litigation so I'm trying to do exclusively transactional work. My department within the firm is pretty family friendly, so that is nice.
We don't get any paid maternity leave, so I'm taking state leave (2 weeks before birth + 12 weeks post-birth) and then PTO, which should end up being about 20 weeks.
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Another non practicing attorney here. I used to work at a big firm but was really unhappy. I'm currently a sahm. My bar membership is currently inactive. Never dreamed I would be a sahm but I am loving it so far. Unfortunately, paying off law school loans is a harsh reminder of my former life
I actually wouldn't mind doing doc review - it doesn't seem exciting but I like how you don't have to deal w/ billable hours or opposing counsel. Something for me to think about 
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