Yes Virginia, you can have a part-time law practice

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

And apparently a part-time blog too!

When I graduated from law school ten years ago, the conventional wisdom was still, "there is no part-time law." I never really discussed the issue of balancing career and family with any of my female classmates, partly out of ignorance about the magnitude of change children bring to parents' lives, and partly out of a desire to avoid the vague, unsettling fear that I would be too old to get pregnant by the time my husband and I were in a position to have a family. Besides, we were all young and naive back then, and somehow we believed we would beat the odds and have it all. All of these women talking about "balance" were just not sufficiently dedicated and passionate enough about the law! Now, when's bar review again? (Note: in Wisconsin, "bar review" is a drinking party at the end of the semester, because Wisconsin law students don't have to take the bar exam to become licensed. Don't worry, I didn't get off that easy. I still had to take the Minnesota bar. But I digress.)

My worries about handling work and babies were eased a bit when we decided to move back to our hometown of Duluth, where both sets of parents still lived. I settled in with a little family-friendly firm, and after our son was born we managed to both work full-time with help from various combinations of grandparents (most important), working split shifts, limited flextime, and later, part-time daycare once our son reached toddler age.

After a few years, I moved to a less family-friendly, but more salary-friendly firm. By big city standards, the firm is medium sized, but it is the largest in the relatively small city of Duluth. They liked their billable hours just as much as any big firm. The quality of work and experience I got was, for the most part, great. But I began to feel torn in two. I felt guilty when our son's grandparents were always the ones to take him to his checkups. And for some reason, daycare providers always call mommy, not daddy, when kids are sick, even when mommy's in court. We did okay for a while. I took up smoking again to try and relieve some stress, hiding in a freezing garage after Erik was asleep with the Camel lights I'd quit in college. We hired Merry Maids to clean the house we felt like we never got to enjoy because we were both always at work. I knew that if we were going to have more kids, this crazy stressed-out lifestyle would simply not work.

By the time Steve accepted a new job here, I was exhausted and ready for a break. I spent the next 18 months hanging out with Erik and slowing down the pace of our lives a bit. Our daughter was born in 2005, and in 2006 I was ready to go back to work part-time. I had been a part-time municipal judge, but could I have a part-time solo practice? With no grandparents or other family here to back me up, this was my only option. (I now understand why women used to be encouraged to become schoolteachers. Between holidays, sick days, half days, and Charro days, it's the only full-time job that allows you to parent school-aged kids.)

I think the answer is yes, you can have a part-time solo practice. Right now, I prefer my home office, which although not luxurious, is much nicer than I could afford to rent. I also avoid the resentment I felt at working to pay a mortgage on a house where I spent few non-waking hours. I can now be with my kids or do a load of laundry whenever necessary. Technology makes running a low-overhead firm feasible, and I can be selective about the cases I accept when I don't have to meet rent. I can also be more responsive to clients when I don't have to count billable hours to pay for a partner's lake house. In short, a little less income, but a lot more freedom. Chuck Newton has a blog about "third-wave lawyers" and innovative variations on the traditional law firm. I'm not ready for a shipping crate office in the backyard yet, but maybe next year.