The future for working parents in the legal profession

This is the latest big shift in parental benefits and policies recognising that an increasing proportion of lawyers share primary care responsibilities. In this article, Elaina Bailes, Member of the LSLA Committee and Commercial Litigation Partner at Stewarts, reflects on these issues following a roundtable run by the LSLA this year, and looks to what more can be done.

Thriving as a working parent and as a lawyer – feedback from the LSLA Roundtable

The London Solicitors Litigation Association ran a roundtable earlier this year to discuss the issues for working parents in the legal profession and the particular challenges associated with litigation work. As an organisation for London litigators to share knowledge and network to help promote London as a centre for dispute resolution, the committee saw this was a crucial topic to tackle – if litigators are struggling to manage caring and professional responsibilities this is a problem for the future success of the profession.

On the positive side, participants recognised that remote working had been a game-changer in allowing lawyers to see more of their children during the working week and be able to participate more actively in school and community life.

All participants had broadly positive experiences of firms and clients being flexible where childcare falls through and being understanding regarding the teething problems on return from parental leave where it may take some time to get childcare arrangements right.

The roundtable also discussed that despite the difficulties in retaining talent, there is now a generation of working parents at a senior level who are sharing parental responsibility. They act as positive role models for junior lawyers but also can help drive change within their organisations bringing their own experience as to what policies and practices actually make an impact.

The key challenges discussed were as follows. Interestingly, none of these surrounded client demands – in fact it was recognised that aside from in the most urgent of circumstances it was not client need that created problems.

• At the senior end, partners the need to generate work requiring evening and overseas networking, without any real solutions (practical or financial) to the fact that this may require extra childcare.
• But for junior lawyers, there are different challenges: with career progression now slower, more junior lawyers are taking parental leave and returning to work at a time in their career where the work is detailed and there is no shortcut to working long hours.
• For litigators, the difficulty of court deadlines falling at 4.30pm or on a Friday (a non-working day for many part time workers) and the problem of last minute changes or parties being asked to return to court at short notice.

In-house: a better place for working parents?

Historically, taking an in-house role was seen as a preferred option for working parents, with more scope to work part time, no need to pursue business development and freedom from billable hours targets. However, as the legal function within organisations has got more sophisticated as a result of complexity of regulatory and international regimes, the in-house role is increasingly demanding. Further, in-house lawyers often do not work in large teams and so if they have to be absent for childcare, there is no one to pick up their work.

On the flip side, the legal profession is no longer a linear or one-way career path and there is now much more scope for lawyers to move between private practice, in house, non-fee-earning and other quasi-legal roles. As any parent knows, the needs of children change constantly and so where there is scope to take on a role that better suits a parent’s personal needs for a few years, this should not preclude shifting back into a previously held role. Further, lawyers returning to private practice from in-house roles often bring unique insight into the way businesses have managed to balance productivity and profit with employee well-being.

Equal parental leave: why is it so important?

Enhanced maternity leave has for a long time been part of the attractive benefits package that large city firms offer, which is clearly positive. However, the unintended consequence has been that women naturally take advantage of the chance to spend the maximum amount of time with their infants with a lesser financial impact. Yet men have not been given the same incentive to take time away from the workplace.

While now there are many more women returners to the profession, the career impact of time out of practice is still under-recognised. It can be hard to maintain client relationships and take matters back from colleagues on return because there is a valid argument that the client’s best interests are served by keeping continuity. This can affect career progression in unforeseen ways - keeping utilisation high pre and post parental leave can impact financial performance that feeds into promotion decisions. Not acting on high-profile matters can impact on market profile and directory rankings. The comments at the roundtable confirmed that men who take extended parental leave experience exactly these issues.

There are also the positive effects of taking time away from the office. Aside from the research showing the positive effects of fathers spending more time with their young children, this can also be enhancing for professional development and well-being. The legal profession already experiences a high level of burnout, which is exacerbated for the parent in the ‘breadwinner’ role if they feel they cannot afford to take time out. Stepping away from day to day practice makes better lawyers who can gain a sense of perspective and recognise personal priorities.

The Future – parenting and lawyering out loud

So where does this leave us? The recent trend for equal parental leave policy is encouraging in that that this spans larger organisations, whose status as market leaders should help set the bar, and also smaller firms. This sends a message that you don’t need the financial safety of a multi-national organisation to be able to offer attractive benefits for working parents. It also helps discourage the idea that parenting is a women’s issue in the workplace.

The concept of “parenting out loud” is the idea to encourage all parents (but particularly men) to be honest in the workplace about their personal commitments and tell colleagues and clients that certain time is out of bounds due to parental commitments – from the first festive performance to final exam results day. Perhaps we should also embrace a move away from the toxic narrative of whether women can ‘have it all’ to one of ‘lawyering out loud’ regardless of gender - championing the idea that it is possible to be a successful lawyer and a parent. This is not without real challenges, but in voicing concerns and seeking practical solutions, in exactly the way we would all do on behalf of a client, we should be able to achieve meaningful change.