[MrMon]

I never got back to this like I promised, but after reading through it a lot of the points I had have been covered. However, I'll try and add a new perspective that hasn't been covered.

As many of you may know, my wife is an attorney, a partner in a 300+ attorney Midwest firm. We have two kids. But we didn't start this way. When we met, my wife was in the new attorney in her first year of practice, in the process of getting a divorce, and she had a two-year old daughter. I earned more than she did, but due to an explosion of law salaries and the Internet bubble collapse, that was soon to change. Along the way, we got married, had a child together, her career started to take off, and mine collapsed completely. At some point along the way, we decided that it would be best to concentrate on her career while I took care of things at home and I tried to get into real estate, so I would have flexible enough in hours to look after all things kid-related while she could work the hours needed to progress in her career. And since this is the Midwest, not NY, we're not talking about 2500-3000 hour billable, we're talking about 1800-1900 hour billable, but that still requires some time commitment and the ability to stay late and work weekends. Fortunately, she rarely has to travel. After seven long years, she made partner, which is not all it's cracked up to be, the hour demands are still there, but it's way better than being an associate. And there is still a higher level, equity partner, which is where all the real money is, and she's determined to get there.

Okay, that's the background, somewhat similiar to the OP, not quite, but close enough. And what's my wife's perspective on all this? She despises the sort of woman in the OP. She see's it all the time. The firm hires some bright new female associate, and it's only a matter of time until they quit or go part time, usually related to the issue of children. How they do that is the question, sometimes, they've earned the right to do it, but often, the women in question are just spoiled and lazy. They got to law school, married their trophy husband, and now will proceed to terrorized the local school association with their frustrated career ambitions.

From my wife's perspective, it's not the husband who has the right to ask her to do more, it's women everywhere. The lawyer in question is just another selfish bitch who took a rare place in law school from someone who would have done something with it, but instead squanders the opportunity and makes it tougher for women who want to do more with their degrees. My wife can't tell you how many times the unansked question of her is, "How long until you quit or go part-time?". That is a tremendous career hindrence, and considering she's the ONLY full time partner with children in her office (there are many offices), it's not a question that's asked with any malice, the men just expect the other shoe to drop with all women with good reason. Women are not to be taken seriously, they'll quit eventually, the real lawyers are all men. Fighting that perspective is a full time job, one that other women do not help with.

The bottom line, according to my wife, is this. You sign up for the lawyer route, become one. If you're not going to take this seriously, quit, now, before you do more harm. If you hate law, quit, that's fine. Being out of the profession completely isn't great, but it does less harm than limping along. But if you do well, you have a responsibility to yourself and your female peers to pursue it. No, you don't have to go to some sweatshop and grind it out for top dollar, but there are good playing jobs that have reasonable hours that are respectable work. Or there are true public service jobs like public defender or prosecutor that at least have some respect attached to them, even if they don't have dollars. But to take a top performer and take a second rate job for minimal dollars because you don't want to work. Sorry, that's bush league and you should have dropped out of law school and given the spot to someone more worthy.

No, you don't have to do it forever, but you need to put some years into the profession at a level you are capable of before you earn the right to mommy track it or switch or slow down or even quit. It's one thing to realize you need to make a switch in your life, it's another to not even try. Yes, this is harsh, but when at least 50% of women going through law school seems to take the same route and waste everyone's time, making it very tough for the one's who do take it seriously, there is a problem.

Now, if the position in question is a clerkship with a judge that can lead to something better, that's another case entirely. But the above still applies. And I suspect that's not the case here, but rather the lazy woman syndrome my wife encounters so often. If a man did the same thing, we'd have no respect for him, why do we find it acceptible in women?