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Aspiring/Active/Retiring/Recovering LAWYER MOMS! - Page 8

post #141 of 369
10/19/07 at 7:05pm
Well, I'm on my way to join you all.

LSAT scores came out today. I did very well. At the very top of my practice range. I'll be going to law school somewhere, that's for sure. Probably with a full ride scholarship even .

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post #142 of 369
10/20/07 at 11:09am
Quote:
Originally Posted by gethane View Post
Well, I'm on my way to join you all.

LSAT scores came out today. I did very well. At the very top of my practice range. I'll be going to law school somewhere, that's for sure. Probably with a full ride scholarship even .
Woohoo! Congrats!! all that worry and you rocked it! :

Let us know where you end up!
post #143 of 369
10/20/07 at 3:46pm
Thank you! I'm still in the clouds today :
post #144 of 369
10/20/07 at 6:44pm
Hey there. I just found this thread-how interesting! I graduated law school in 1995, and ran screaming to mediation. I worked for a nonprofit mediation center for 9 years, now I'm doing Human resources and other stuff....and practicing YOGA ! (Hi Zoey from NMY!)

My family continues to wish I would go into practice.

lisa
post #145 of 369
10/30/07 at 10:13pm
Congrats Vivian! I just happened to notice your post in the October DDC.
post #146 of 369
11/11/07 at 7:35pm
I was in law school before I was pregnant with DS. After DS was born, I stayed at home full time, thinking I could never have the ambition and drive to finish up law school.

Now that I've been home for a year and a half, I am ITCHING to get back to law school and kick some butt! So I'd love to join your tribe! I've already registered for spring classes & am ready!

Here's a question for those of you a bit further along:

How did you decide what type of law you wanted to do?
post #147 of 369
11/12/07 at 9:16pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by gethane View Post
Congrats Vivian! I just happened to notice your post in the October DDC.
Thank you! Maya was born Oct 28th, for those who didnt see my DDC post.

We are over the moon, but exhausted. No one tells you how much work newborns are!

And I gotta admit, I have no desire to go back and finish the semester.: I got my Evidence final in less than a month!! Say it ain't so!
post #148 of 369
11/18/07 at 10:46pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by vivianstcloud View Post
Thank you! Maya was born Oct 28th, for those who didnt see my DDC post.

We are over the moon, but exhausted. No one tells you how much work newborns are!

And I gotta admit, I have no desire to go back and finish the semester.: I got my Evidence final in less than a month!! Say it ain't so!
Congratulations mama!
post #149 of 369
11/18/07 at 11:18pm
Those of you who are a mom of school-aged children -- do you participate in the PTO? Do you volunteer for school parties? Do you help with homework at night? How do you maintain your two worlds? I am a mom of a 2nd grader and two preschoolers. I often feel like it is so hard to be an active parent at my daughter's school, and I want to be an activie parent. It is frustrating. I check my daughter's homework each night, we eat dinner, then I get the kids ready for bed -- I read to my 2 youngest while my oldest reads to herself. That is our weeknight routine everynight that I don't have to work late. It seems to work, but if I work late -- everything is thrown off balance. But I need my job. I am the sole breadwinner for our family, student loans, and high property values will force me to stay in this profession for awhile. :

Okay, next question and this one is a doozy :, I think I need to find a new job. I haven't gotten any new case assignments in over a year -- unless I am bringing in the case. I have a client that calls me, but they are very small small cases, so I haven't been assigned to any new cases by partners and in my firm, you need big cases and I need the other partenrs support. And the cases I am on -- well the work is dwindling. The equity partner I worked with for the majority of my work, he left several months ago and went in house (which I don't want to do right now). The client that calls me is a left over from him. Anyway, I thought about looking for a new job at the time he left, but I got distracted b/c I was moving and I believed the firm could transition me into their other areas -- but it obviously isn't happening. The partners know I am looking for work, and short of odds and ends assignments and my continuing case load -- nothing new. I have always gotten very strong reviews, but I haven't seen mine from this year. Anyway -- don't you think this all points to that I should leave? My firm has always said that "systematic" slowness or "systematically" not getting assigned new cases demonstrates a problem. Okay, I guess I am reading a sign on the wall. Now, to add to the problem, I am 8 weeks pregnant! Would any firm actually hire me knowing that I am pregnant? :
post #150 of 369
11/18/07 at 11:52pm
I found a tribe for me....

I am a pt attorney raising now 3 children.
post #151 of 369
11/19/07 at 10:45pm
Any words of wisdom? I could really use some.

Quote:
Originally Posted by 3cuties View Post
Those of you who are a mom of school-aged children -- do you participate in the PTO? Do you volunteer for school parties? Do you help with homework at night? How do you maintain your two worlds? I am a mom of a 2nd grader and two preschoolers. I often feel like it is so hard to be an active parent at my daughter's school, and I want to be an activie parent. It is frustrating. I check my daughter's homework each night, we eat dinner, then I get the kids ready for bed -- I read to my 2 youngest while my oldest reads to herself. That is our weeknight routine everynight that I don't have to work late. It seems to work, but if I work late -- everything is thrown off balance. But I need my job. I am the sole breadwinner for our family, student loans, and high property values will force me to stay in this profession for awhile. :

Okay, next question and this one is a doozy :, I think I need to find a new job. I haven't gotten any new case assignments in over a year -- unless I am bringing in the case. I have a client that calls me, but they are very small small cases, so I haven't been assigned to any new cases by partners and in my firm, you need big cases and I need the other partenrs support. And the cases I am on -- well the work is dwindling. The equity partner I worked with for the majority of my work, he left several months ago and went in house (which I don't want to do right now). The client that calls me is a left over from him. Anyway, I thought about looking for a new job at the time he left, but I got distracted b/c I was moving and I believed the firm could transition me into their other areas -- but it obviously isn't happening. The partners know I am looking for work, and short of odds and ends assignments and my continuing case load -- nothing new. I have always gotten very strong reviews, but I haven't seen mine from this year. Anyway -- don't you think this all points to that I should leave? My firm has always said that "systematic" slowness or "systematically" not getting assigned new cases demonstrates a problem. Okay, I guess I am reading a sign on the wall. Now, to add to the problem, I am 8 weeks pregnant! Would any firm actually hire me knowing that I am pregnant? :
post #152 of 369
11/19/07 at 11:10pm
first off, lots of hugs. i have no great words of wisdom but i know you need a response. are you sure you don't want to go inhouse? i was inhouse and it was great - as far as hours go. i think you are right to trust your gut and try looking for a new job. it does seem that they are quietly telling you to go. i am sorry. (personally i have met very few lawyers i like or trust so i can see how they could do this to you). do you think you will have a hard time getting a new job? do you have a speciality? does government work interest you? that could be a nice alternative and they can't discriminate because you are pregnant (congrats by the way!) because of the civil rights pregnancy act. i know here in arizona there is a big discrepancy among pay in government - federal pays the best, state pays the worst and the counties and cities are in the middle. so you really have to feel it out.
sorry for the rambling. i so feel for you!
post #153 of 369
11/19/07 at 11:15pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by lurve View Post
first off, lots of hugs. i have no great words of wisdom but i know you need a response. are you sure you don't want to go inhouse? i was inhouse and it was great - as far as hours go. i think you are right to trust your gut and try looking for a new job. it does seem that they are quietly telling you to go. i am sorry. (personally i have met very few lawyers i like or trust so i can see how they could do this to you). do you think you will have a hard time getting a new job? do you have a speciality? does government work interest you? that could be a nice alternative and they can't discriminate because you are pregnant (congrats by the way!) because of the civil rights pregnancy act. i know here in arizona there is a big discrepancy among pay in government - federal pays the best, state pays the worst and the counties and cities are in the middle. so you really have to feel it out.
sorry for the rambling. i so feel for you!
Thank you for responding. I don't think I will have a hard time getting a job theoretically, I have a great resume -- the main concern is that I am pregnant. Should I tell them upfront? How badly will this hinder me. : I live in Chicago, which is a great market for attorneys and corporations. I would love to go in house down the road but I have crunched the numbers and since I am the breadwinner for my family and b/c of my student debt and our mortgage, we just can't swing that for the next few years. So government is out of the question. I need to do a firm job. It is so hard to tell if there is just a general slow down at my firm (which I think there is) and thus a rationing of work to certain people (i.e. not me). So I think you are right.

So I need to decide, do I wait and risk it and try to see if I can last through my pregnancy and maternity leave? Or jump now -- but who will take me? And then of course, the idea of transition and leaving my one job I have had as a lawyer is so scary. I loved what this firm was to me even just 4 months ago.
post #154 of 369
11/20/07 at 2:18pm
No advice, but commiseration... I'm in a similar situation. I went from being a star favorite to being on everyone's shit list withiin three months... any interest in guessing which three months? Yep, you got it - my first trimester! I am so frustrated by the idea that I should start looking for a new job while I'm on maternity leave, because all I want to do is go back to my firm part-time. I am not happy there now, but I really don't enjoy law anyway, so I don't really foresee being that much happier elsewhere.

I just don't know how long they would let me stay before they started shooing my out - or what I can do to make them happy with me again, especially since I'm not getting much new work.

I think as far as interviewing for other jobs - if you aren't obviously showing, and you would have medical coverage from day one, there's nothing wrong with it. By the time I knew I should look for a new job, I was pretty big and it was too late.
post #155 of 369
11/20/07 at 2:45pm
Sarah I am so sorry this happened to you. The industry sucks, it is set up to demand nothing but an enormous output of hours.

Don't you think that a firm would feel manipulated though if I didn't tell them during the interview process?
post #156 of 369
12/5/07 at 10:09pm
Bumping.
post #157 of 369
12/9/07 at 9:58am
I haven't been on MDC much for the last few months because I started law school! Tomorrow is my last exam (Torts). I have been loving school!

I was surprised at how quickly law school totally took over my life. It really wasn't bad until about the last week of October when the first draft of our second memo was due. Then the final draft was due on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving and our first exam was on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving. It is a good thing everyone in our study group is dedicated and we all get along -- we were spending at least 8 hours a day (and frequently longer) with each other for two entire weeks. I'm kind of feeling like I'm in withdrawl. They all finished with exams last Thursday, so I haven't seen them since then. I had my Torts exam rescheduled because it was on a Saturday and I keep Sabbath, but the rest of my study group has already taken that exam. I've been feeling pretty exhausted for the last few days and have allowed myself to rest and do a few things around the house. However, I will be studying all day today for the Torts exam.

I feel good about my exams and what I have learned this semester. My study group keeps telling me they expect me to be in the top of the class, but I do not necessarily have that same expectation. Of course it is what I want! But my class is 330 people divided into 3 or 4 sections. We simply do not know enough people in our class to be able to predict the curve. I was very, very worried about Criminal Law (to the point that I was shaking as the exam was starting and could barely fill out the bubbles on the scantron sheet as I entered my anonymous number), but the exam turned out to be significantly easier than I expected. I have felt well prepared for every exam I have taken so far. I hate that we have to wait so long to get our grades! I want to know NOW (whine).

I am excited about next semester -- no more crim law (property instead) and I got into the elective I wanted -- Earth Jurisprudence which is taught by the director of the Center for Earth Jurisprudence. This course is one of the reasons I chose my school. I was in line at the registrar's office when they opened on registration day so I could have the best possible shot at getting into the class since they only take 20 people in it. The registrar told me my chances of getting into it were slim because the 2Ls and 3Ls get priority, so I expected to get waitlisted at best. But I am not waitlisted!!!! It is showing up on my schedule.

Next semester is going to be even crazier than this one. I will have 6 classes instead of 5 since I got my elective. In reality, it is going to feel like going from 4 classes to 6 because we never did anything to prepare for Crim Law since all that happened in class was that the professor read to us out of the book (seriously). We will have to be prepared for our property class, however. In addition, we write our appellate brief next semester in our writing class and I will have to write an additional 25 page paper for Earth Jurisprudence.

However, my schedule is much better next semester. This semester's schedule wasn't that great because I had long blocks of time in between classes, so had to be on campus significantly longer. In addition, I only had one class on Friday -- Torts from 8:00 am to 9:25 am. That sucked since it is about a 1 hour drive to campus. Next semester, 4 of my classes meet on Tuesday and Thursday. These will be long days since I start at 8:30 am and finish at 5:00 pm. But Wednesday I only have one class (Torts 9:15 to 10:10 am), Monday I have Torts at the same time plus the Earth Jurisprudence class from 3:00 to 5:00 pm and Friday I have no classes! Right now, my study group is planning to meet on Mondays and Wednesdays so we can talk through the cases for all of our classes, work on our outlines, etc. My personal plan is to get all my reading done on Friday and Sunday for the following week. I am planning to be at school on M-Th at 7:30 am when the library opens and stay through 5:00 pm. I am a morning person and there is almost no one in the library that early, so I am planning to use the time before classes start to work on the two big papers.

This post is exactly what I did NOT do on my exams -- it is one big brain dump! I just needed to get it all off my chest with people who would understand, but who aren't emotionally involved in the day to day life of my particular school. I read plenty of books about and talked to lawyers about law school before it started, so I didn't go in blind. But it is one thing to have an intellectual understanding and another to live it.

Now I am looking forward to a 4 week break. I have let a lot of personal and home stuff slide while I've been in school, so I have a long list of things to do! I am going to be doing a lot of crafting in order to finish up Christmas presents. And, of course, I am going to start reading for next semester!

For now, I better stop procrastinating on MDC and start studying for Torts!
post #158 of 369
2/17/08 at 11:55pm
So I'm knee deep in application season. I am really surprised at how torturous this waiting is. After being pregnant 5 times, I thought the 4-6 month admission season would be a snap.

I've got some good acceptances already, and 2 places with scholarships, but I've not had a decision yet from the big 3. I got a cryptic email from one on Friday and I've been nauseous since with the effort of trying not to get my hopes up.
post #159 of 369
2/18/08 at 12:16pm
Congrats on the acceptances!!! Just don't get worried right away if you get a small envelope - my small envelope said "yes." It sent me out of my mind when I first saw it, though. Keep us posted!
post #160 of 369
2/24/08 at 11:31pm

New to thread....

Just found you guys - what a great thread!

I have to admit that for a lawyer and new mom (DD will be a year in April) I have a pretty good deal. I work 3 days a week with a state agency doing kind-of-prosecution work. I have a great boss and very supportive coworkers - so even though I'm basically carrying a full load of work in 3 days, it's been very manageable. I had been with the agency for almost 3 years prior to having DD.

I graduated from a decent state school in 2002 and was lucky to be able to pay off my student loans before our baby arrived, which has made a huge difference in my decision-making about work. DH has a good job, so I mostly stayed part time for my own sanity and because I'm too afraid to step completely out of the job market. For me, it's a nice balance and I'm glad to be in a profession that does offer some options.

Thanks for all the great reading and good luck to everybody who is struggling through big career changes!
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