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Originally Posted by mamadeo  Would any of you wonderful lawyer mama's be willing to give me some advice?
I am a single SAHM of a darling 17mo. I want with all my heart to continue being a full-time mom but need to pay the bills. I have dreamed of starting my own solo appellate practice, first doing some contract lawyering while it builds up. I am licensed and live in a state that I haven't worked in before, so I have virtually no contacts right now. The other challenge is my home is in a very rural area, so networking is challenging. I believe I could do it though, with some hard work.
Another option is to move and work 20 hours a week as a court staff attorney. I would work 4 hours 5 days a week with an hour break each day to come home and nurse baby who would be cared for by grandma. The thought of leaving LO for 4 hours a day breaks my heart. We are deeply attached to eachother and we've never been apart before. I would much rather work from home.
I would love some advice/feedback on weighing these options. What would be best for baby? Anyone who has started a practice or contract lawyered, how challenging is it to start your own business? Any and all comments would be appreciated. Thank you.
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Sorry, I've been offline for a while, only now getting back to MDC. Hope this isn't stale advice, but count me as a second vote for the court staff atty. position. As a court employee, you'll probably get benefits that you wouldn't as a contract atty (when your LO is a toddler, jumping around bumping into things getting all sorts of injuries and you're wondering "does this need stitches . . .?" it's nice not to have to think of paying the ER bill out of pocket.) You'll also be in the courthouse daily, will learn the local players and can make contacts with other members of the bar and the bench. Much more could develop later down the road from that, I'd think.
Don't know what contract lawyering is like in your neck of the woods, but where I am it's brutal long hours, demoralizing work, with LOTS of demands on your psyche. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone with a child under the age of, say, 25. So the thought that you'd do that, and have time to rear a child and develop a practice of your own is one that just wouldn't fly for me, but your situation may be different.
The leaving your LO thing is hard, but if you can time it right, 1.5-2 hours of that 4 hrs would be naptime, right? Hard to know what's the best thing for each mama and her child, but I'd jump on the staff attorney position if it were my decision to make.
Congratulations!!!
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), I was really hoping one of you could help to work through the question in the post linked above...
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