PT-LawMom

The Wall Street Journal Law Blog has an interview with Cameron Stracher, former BigLaw attorney who has stepped off the fast track to teach and write. He has just released a book called “Dinner with Dad: How I Found My Way Back to the Family Table.” Thanks to my one-click account with Amazon, a copy is on its way to me as we speak. I actually just finished one of his earlier books, “Double Billing: A Young Lawyer’s Tale Of Greed, Sex, Lies, And The Pursuit Of A Swivel Chair” while on vacation. Having worked as a legal secretary and seen the inner workings of law firms for so long, I could only nod and chuckle at that very insightful book. (Plus I have sooooo worked with an office manager like that at a former job!)

I was struck by two comments in Mr. Stracher’s WSJ interview. The first was his assertion that the law is more flexible than people imagine it to be. I’d like to think that’s true. Problem is that people get sucked into large law firms (scary places with little-to-no feedback and an enormous amount of passive/agressive Type A bullshit behavior) and, especially in the case of women, often get dropped from a team without a second glance and effectively pushed out.

I worked for an associate once who was at the top of his field in a very niche area of law. The client loved him and, therefore, so did the firm. Problem was that he considered law his job and something more earthy his passion. He left every night by six in order to explore that passion. The firm pushed for more, he pushed back, and finally he left for a non-firm position, thinking that it would be more flexible. That position ultimately fell through and he returned to the firm, once again in a power struggle. You know what? He got what he wanted. The associate is now Of Counsel at that firm and can generally work the hours he wants on the matters he wants. He goes home every night to his beautiful wife and young child and they spend weekends doing the things they truly love. He’s a great example of having it all.

Obviously one must go into a busy law firm environment generally knowing what’s in store. Which brings me to the second part of the interview I found interesting — Mr. Stracher’s perspective on joining a large law firm. I have spoken with countless current lawyers, former lawyers, judges, BigLaw associates, BigLaw partners, former Supreme Court clerks, etc., and all agree that you have to put in the time at a mid-to-large-sized firm if you want to ultimately get what you want out of a law career. That said, the challenge is keeping your goals in perspective as you tough it out for 3-4 years.

Speaking of goals, I am logging off now and returning to my casebook. The relevant sections of the WSJ interview are quoted below:

But at New York Law School you help train law students for the profession. How do you reconcile that with your sometimes dim view of the profession?

That’s definitely something I’m conflicted about and I do have students ask me, “Should I take this job at Sullivan & Cromwell?” And honestly most of the time I tell them that they should because I know that as unhappy as I know they’re going to be, they need that on their resume to go somewhere where they might be happier.

Lawyers are famous for not making it home for dinner. So were you writing your book for them?

I think that law is actually more flexible than a lot of people imagine it to be. Most firms do offer some type of flex arrangement, but most lawyers are afraid to take it. And I think that goes to our Type A personalities. But I think if we are really serious about wanting to spend more time with our families, we can cut back. And we’re fortunate to work in a profession where we can still earn a pretty good living even if we’re not working full time.

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 26th, 2007 at 10:54 pm and is filed under Work/Life Balance . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.