Here is a subject near and dear to my heart. I lived it, and I can unequivocally say that the answer is “no.” No …. part-time practice does not have to be a career killer, but you have to have a plan and stay engaged in the practice. You also need to have a sponsor to support your part-time aspirations, and your law firm has to recognize the value of retaining talent. You also need to understand that the road to partnership is likely to be longer and paved in a certain amount of frustration and exhaustion. After all, the reason that most women lawyers want to work part-time has to do with family and care for young children, and the home experience during those years is no more a walk in the park than the office experience for those women. It is a lot to handle, but it is worth it to salvage a career.
That is my story, and experiences like mine are reflected in a recent article in the Chicago Business on-line magazine, “Top Female Lawyers and Executives Find that Part-time Isn’t a Career Killer.” Chronicled there are stories of women lawyers like Rebecca Eisner, managing partner of the Chicago office of Mayer Brown, who has a part-time history, and Amy Manning, managing partner of the Chicago office of McGuire Woods, whose past includes reduced billable hours and telecommuting from home before she became a partner and took over the helm at her law firm. She attributes much of her success to a boss who did not want to lose her talent over something like reduced billings for a relatively short time during her career.
It was a little different for me, and I am glad that we have come a long way from my experiences in the early 1980’s. In those days, it was hard to find such a forward-thinking partner to sponsor a part-time proposal, and there was no such thing as telecommuting. It also is true that most women lawyers did not attempt part-time practice. The obstacles were too challenging, and most of them threw in the career towel. So did I for awhile, but I went back to practice part-time, and what a difference that made for the rest of my career. As one of the women interviewed for the Chicago Business article said, “[Part-time] did slow me down on the promotion path … and that was fine with me. It’s just what I needed to keep my sanity at that point in life.” I could not have said it better.
As the Chicago Business article points out, today it is all about the culture of law firms. If reduced hours at your firm translates into lack of commitment, that is probably not a place to hang your career hat. Although law firm cultures are hard to change, it now is time for change. Law firms are losing too much talent and need to initiate changes to accommodate the flexibility that both young women and young men need to raise children in two-income families. Law firms should care, as I point out in my new book, Best Friends at the Bar: Top-Down Leadership for Women Lawyers (Wolters Kluwer/Aspen Publishers), which will be released later this summer. They should care about losing talent, attracting and retaining clients who respect diversity, and protecting law firm succession plans. All of that is more important today than ever before in a highly competitive legal services environment .
My favorite part of the article is the description of how women who practice part-time must “stay tethered intellectually to their company” or firm. That is a powerful metaphor. I see that tether as a lifeline, and so should you.
Part-time practice does not have to kill careers. Lack of ingenuity and flexibility on the part of law firms may, however.
