MyShingle : Solo and Small Law Firm Management and Marketing

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Ah, Mothers' Day.  A time when my daughters leave me free to blog uninterrupted. (though I guess I should worry a little when my younger daughter's mother day note reads like this:  My mom likes to hug me.  She always works on her computer).   Today, I've rounded up a couple of articles of interest to mother-lawyers.

First up is Do mothers make better leaders than women without children? originally printed in USA Today (5/12/06).  For the record, I don't buy that women with kids are any better or worse leaders; it simply depends on the person.  Anyway, one interesting tidbit in the article for lawyer-moms was the descripton of how Jennifer Wolfe, founder of the largest woman owned law firm in Ohio got her start:

are notorious for long hours and inflexible schedules, so when Jennifer Wolfe was bedridden with pregnancy complications three years ago with her son Jack, she wrote a business plan that led to the largest female-owned firm in Ohio. Seven of the firm's 10 attorneys are women.

One of her lawyers, Jennifer Livingston, works entirely from home, where she cares for her 19-month-old son, Mason, and is expecting her second child in October. Jeanette Dannenfelser is a trial attorney who works Monday through Thursday to spend more time with her 1-year-old son, Aidan, adopted from Kazakhstan four months ago.

Wolfe, whose husband is the firm's operations manager, said she has had to "pick up Jack, face cooking dinner and doing laundry, and deal with temper tantrums and potty training. I don't know how you couldn't go through a transformation."

She has installed a system that lets her lawyers more easily cover for each other. Yet, flexibility is not a free pass, and Wolfe said she expects no complaining if they are needed on a Sunday.

In another piece, Stay networked to return to work (May 14, 2006), there's advice on
how to keep your foot in the door even if you decide to stay home full time. For lawyers, that advice includes keeping bar membership current and possibly working on pro bono matters or keeping up with other lawyers.

And finally, thank you, David Giacalone for remember us lawyer-mother-bloggers.  To be honest, I always feel a little silly celebrating Mothers' Day; it seems strange to be honored for the one thing in my life that's so far brought only pleasure and fulfillment and not a single regret (wish I could say the same about my legal career!).  But enough of these thoughts -  Happy Mothers' Day to moms and lawyers everywhere!