Combining Family Responsibilities With A Career In The Legal Industry Can Be Challenging
With school almost out – or maybe it’s already out for your kids – you are probably starting to feel the pressure of summer activities mixed with your clients and running a law practice. How do you balance parenting and partnering – especially during the summertime?
Earlier this year, we offered a “Parenting, Partnering, and Practicing” workshop where we discussed some ways that you can bring balance to lawyering and parenting:
– Plan family time first before planning your work week
– Have a weekly family meeting
– Schedule a family night once a week
– Eat dinner as a family where you can discuss “wins” and goals
The legal industry and larger law firms, over time, have adapted and revised their policies to adjust to the needs of parents and caretakers by offering:
– Parental leave
– Part-time work
– Flexible work weeks
– Family-friendly offices
– Temporary leave
– Remote work
Balance is important in all aspects of life and isn’t just limited to parenting and practicing. During this time, it’s important to make time for yourself. This can be done through nutrition, fitness, sleep, relaxing, or meditation. Life can be hectic so finding hobbies that you enjoy can offset any stress that may be caused during summer break.
According to the ABA Journal, “There is some evidence of a correlation between work-life balance and attrition, which a NALP study highlighted by linking decreased percentages of lawyers searching for new jobs with enhanced availability of work-life balance policies. More than 70 percent of those surveyed reported having significant problems meeting personal and health needs and finding time for family and leisure. People should not have to choose between their careers and their well-being.”
Being a lawyer can be hard work but the important part is being able to balance work and parenting so you can bring joy back into your life.
Here at Atticus, our goal is to help lawyers grow great practices and cultivate great lives through family, health, and taking care of oneself. We have developed strategic growth concepts to help increase profitability and cashflow, sharpen focus and prioritize, attract high value clients, and build a great team. We deliver these concepts through our group and one on one coaching programs led by highly trained and certified coaches.
Abbie Guerrero
Assistant Marketing Manager/Resource Advisor
Abbie joined the Atticus team in 2021 with more than a decade of digital marketing experience. She is results driven and has an extensive background in content creation, lead generation, understanding the customer development process, solving problems, and advertising. She is an expert at building relationships and sets high quality expectations. She loves to set and exceed personal and professional goals.
Abbie is currently the Resource Advisor for Atticus livestream webinars and workshops. In addition to her Resource Advisor role, she is the Assistant Marketing Manager. In this role she leads the strategy for digital marketing, creates content for weekly newsletters, all advertising campaigns and executes many ad hoc marketing projects.
Abbie has her bachelor’s degree in Marketing from Utah Valley University. She is a blogger and published author and enjoys spending time with her family in both Utah and California.