Career Toolkit: Lawyer Moms & Working Parents
| Type of Resource | Resource | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Guide | The Mom at Law | Candace Alnaji’s goal is to provide knowledgeable career guidance and workplace education. She offers free resources, online courses, and one-on-one career coaching to women lawyers navigating career transitions. |
| Webinar | Mothers in the Law: Confronting the Challenges and Celebrating the Victories | In summer 2021, an ABA Journal article caused an uproar when its author suggested that once women lawyers become mothers, they fail to pay attention to their career trajectories and lose focus on professional success. This panel discusses the institutional challenges, societal expectations and unconscious biases faced by lawyer moms, as well as the steps that can be taken to succeed as both a lawyer and a mom. |
| Article | How to Be a Mom and a Lawyer During the Pandemic | This article provides tips on balancing parenting and lawyering during the pandemic. |
| Blog | Week in the Life of a Working Mom: BigLaw Lawyer in D.C. | This week’s installment of Week in the Life of a Working Mom series features CorporetteMoms reader CM, who lives in Northern Virginia with her husband and son and works in D.C. in BigLaw. |
| Video | Work Life Balance for Lawyer Moms | Wonder what it’s like to be a mom lawyer? Working as a lawyer is tough in and of itself, but being a district attorney working mom or in-house counsel working mom adds an entire new level of complication and commitment. In this video, Sarah Brubaker, full-time lawyer, mom of two, and host of the Mom Brief Podcast, discusses what it’s like to be a lawyer with kids. Hear her stories of lawyer life and motherhood, and dive into her working mom life hacks! |
| Center | The Center for WorkLife Law | The Center for WorkLife Law is an advocacy and research organization at UC Hastings Law that seeks to advance racial, gender, and class equity. WorkLife Law addresses inequality at a structural level by developing and implementing concrete, evidence-based interventions in schools and workplaces and changing public policy at the state and national levels. It is extremely strategic in how it approaches each structural intervention, forging partnerships with grassroots groups and field experts to identify the best change levers to tackle the problem at hand. It aims to produce dramatic changes within a two to five year timeframe. Its main areas of impact are economic security, maternal & child health, education equity, and racial and gender justice in the workplace. Throughout the pandemic, the team has also mobilized a COVID-19 emergency response, applying its legal expertise to help protect workers’ rights during the crisis. |
| Blog | DC Urban Moms and Dads | A forum to connect working parents in the DC area. |
| Website | Pregnant at Work | This online resource center provides tools and educational materials for pregnant and breastfeeding workers, the healthcare professionals who treat them, and the attorneys who represent them. It also has useful materials for companies, human resources professionals, and management attorneys that can assist in navigating the many legal and practical considerations around pregnancy and breastfeeding accommodations. |
| Website | It’s Working Project | Founded by Julia Beck, It’s Working Project’s purpose and passion is to actively support the American workforce and the private sector to develop strategies for supporting working families, keeping them engaged at work and at home with ease, as a matter of course and with a sense of pride. |
| Center | Center for Parental Leave Leadership | The Center for Parental Leave Leadership is the first consulting and coaching company devoted exclusively to helping our nation’s families, employees, employers, and companies improve their parental leave policy and practice. |
| Website | FairyGodBoss | A network of working mothers, including jobs, advice, connections, and resources. |
| Website | A Better Balance | A Better Balance, a national nonprofit advocacy organization, uses the power of the law to advance justice for workers, so they can care for themselves and their loved ones without jeopardizing their economic security. Through legislative advocacy, direct legal services and strategic litigation, and public education, the expert legal team combats discrimination against pregnant workers and caregivers and advances supportive policies like paid sick time, paid family and medical leave, fair scheduling, and accessible, quality childcare and eldercare. |
| Website | MothersEsquire | MothersEsquire’s Mission is to achieve gender equity in the legal profession by improving promotion and retention rates of women in the law, along with championing equal pay and transparency regarding compensation practices in the legal profession. |
| Blog | Chaos & Quiet | Chaos & Quiet was created to help busy families simplify and organize their chaotic lives. Its goal is to provide you with top-notch information, advice, and support – to help create that village that so many of us are lacking. It is written by a lawyer mom. |
The Committee welcomes feedback from the WBA membership about the Toolkit at careertoolkit@wbadc.org. If you have suggestions for resources to include, please use “TOOLKIT RESOURCES” in your email subject line.