Women in the practice of law

Spoiler alert: My daughter is a 2021 call practising with an estate boutique.

I have the pleasure of driving with my daughter to the office about once a week now that her maternity leave is at an end. Her office is quite close to mine in downtown Toronto. She is strong-willed, an advocate for womenin the practice of law, and an advocate for the recognition of work-life balance. I am somewhat thick-headed and old-fashioned, but I do listen to her views and now have been moved by many.

We as a profession are quite rightly proud of the influx of women to the practice of law. The small minority of women in my graduating class in the 1970s has given way to equality of numbers or better in today’s graduating classes. But, as my daughter points out, that is not the test. The test is retention: how women in the profession are treated and how their different needs are addressed.

In my own firm we have many women practising family law and trying to balance the significant demands of the practice with their equally demanding childcare responsibilities. I have seen young associates return from their first maternity leave only to not return from their second. I have seen the demands of family law litigation drive many bright and promising associates, either from the practice or at least from the type of complex family law practice we have at my firm, to less a demanding practice elsewhere.

Talent retention and respect for the diversity of needs of professionals in a law practice are essential elements for the growth and stability of the practice.

Please excuse any trace of sexism; I happily recognize that men have increasingly become more involved in childcare, but my observation is that women still carry the greater load. Thus, we as a profession, hopeful of retention rather than fixated on graduating numbers, must accommodate that reality, or we will continue to shed talented women from the profession. As part of work-life balance (a concept I have personally struggled with for years), law offices should adopt realistic policies not only with respect to maternity (and paternity) leave but follow-up policies for parents upon the parent’s return to practice.

You can read this article directly on Law360.