It has been proven that women work harder and are more productive than their male counterparts in the workforce.1 Yet still, women continue to fight gender gaps and glass ceilings to achieve their positions and when asking for promotions, women do not receive the same outcomes as their male counterparts.2
In 2024 our law firm underwent a collaborative and strategic restructuring, and we have now become Guerra LLP! So, while this post applied to our previous namesake, some things will never change, like our unrelenting work ethic. With decades of experience on our staff that you are familiar with, our team is remaining steadfast in our mission to continue to fight the good fight for our current and future clients.
Women comprise nearly half of the United States’ workforce, accounting for 46.8% of the labor force.3 Working mothers account for almost one-third, 32%, of all employed women in the United States 4 and 37.4% of lawyers are females which is an increase of roughly ten percent from ten years ago.5
So why are we so focused on the female workforce in this post? The answer is found in a recently published article by the ABA Journal criticizing the productivity, quality of work, and leadership capabilities of lawyers who also happen to be working mothers. We were dumbfounded and honestly angry when we read this article. After all the progress that women have made in the workforce, and the battles they still have to face, how could someone even want to publish an article like that?
So, rather than angrily react and disagree, we thought it would be a better idea to show how the working lawyer moms at Guerra LLP disprove every negative comment the author had to say on a daily basis.
If you missed it, here is the article. We do not want to really give this incorrectly written piece any more views, but it is best to understand the true context of what we are discussing.
Who are the Working Lawyer Moms at Guerra LLP?
Guerra LLP is proud to have nine female attorneys at our firm with five of them being mothers (or even grandmothers). All five of the women are income partners and excelling in their careers. Shalimar Wallis has been an attorney for 20 years, a Super Lawyer since 2014, and a mother for 14 years. Shelly Sanford is not only a mother but a grandmother to two grandsons. Alicia O’Neill (who is also the managing attorney of our Mass Tort Offices) has practiced for 18 years and has been a mother for 11 years. Paige Boldt was a mother prior to being an attorney, so she has been balancing both roles her entire career. Lastly, our newest lawyer mom is Erin Rogiers who recently had her first child in July 2021, has been a lawyer for 9 years and has been a Super Lawyers Rising star since 2017. She worked up until the day her son was born. If that doesn’t exhibit her incredible work ethic, we do not know what does.
These women have worked hard to be positioned where they are at in their careers. They do not view motherhood as a distraction to their career but rather harness the abilities it has provided them to benefit their clients. Four of them are in leadership positions on MDLs, while all of them are successfully mentoring the next generation of lawyers. They are proving every falsity the ABA Journal claimed to be incorrect while exhibiting why lawyers who just so happen to be mothers do not let anything hold them back.
To address some of the “concerns” that the ABA Journal had regarding attorneys who are mothers, we asked our lawyers some questions to provide insight on how they are successfully managing their careers. We hope that this inspires the next generation of attorneys to not let anything hold them back from achieving their professional and personal goals.
What advice can you provide that helps you balance being a mother and a lawyer?
Being both a mother and attorney requires balance and prioritization. Lawyers are trained to handle tough situations and will work through whatever hurdles come their way. Paige’s advice is to prioritize your tasks and to not be afraid to ask for help. She also advised to figure out what matters the most to you and place your effort there, and then see who is there to help you with everything else. Your family and friends are there to assist you along the way, just must remember to communicate your needs to them.
Shalimar’s advice is to figure out what works for you and do not fall into the comparison game. You will not be able to work the same way that you did prior to having children, so find out what works for your family now. Shelly had a mentor who showed her that you can find your own creative way to balance both roles, “My mentor was a woman lawyer who took her kids to school, focused on work when she was there and family or other important life matters when she was not. She skipped the out-of-office lunch as often as possible. She helped the firm reimagine some of the social events around families, instead of golf outings, or alcohol-laden social events where children were not welcome. When travel was required, she brought along her children if she could. We once got stranded in Dallas on a flight and took the overnight bus into Houston just so she could be there to take the kids to school the next morning.”
What is something that you have struggled with when trying to balance both roles?
Juggling being a mother and a lawyer is not an easy feat nor does it come without struggle during demanding times. It would be unfair for us to assume that everything always goes off without a hitch, but the representation the ABA Journal article painted of women lawyers with children is completely inaccurate. They stated that the responsibilities of motherhood can derail a career.6 We asked our attorneys what was something that they have struggled with when trying to balance both roles and each one had their own answer.
Shalimar constantly battles with not being present enough in either role. To combat that she tries to plan a week at a time to help her stay grounded and in control. She uses a “week” rather than the typical “day at a time” timeframe because as a mother, you have to plan out your week to be as efficient as possible.
For Paige, COVID gave her family a new struggle – Zoom. She had to not only navigate the new legal landscape of conducting legal proceedings via zoom but also had to help her son out with kindergarten conducted via zoom. Her husband was an essential employee, so she spent most days at home balancing be a mom, lawyer, and a remote teacher for her son. To adjust, she had to add an extra layer of planning to make sure that the “new normal” for her family was executed without missing any deadlines.
Alicia summed it up by saying that everything is a struggle when you are attempting to balance being a mother and a lawyer. You have to learn to harness the good qualities that you develop from each role and apply them to your life. “The struggle will shape you. It will make you humble, but if you learn from the struggle, you will end up becoming better at both roles.”
Has being a mom derailed your career?
Being a mom has not derailed any of our attorneys. They are all excelling in their practice and helping their clients receive justice. For Alicia, being a mother has made her become a better lawyer and leader. She has made it a point to instill in her son the importance of her job so he can understand and respect what she does. She lets him know that her job is just “as important of a job that any daddy has.” He also sees the impact that his mom has on clients and hopes one day when he grows up that he can take over for Alicia and run the Mass Tort office like his mom does.
Paige appreciates that she works for a firm that does not question or doubt her ability to litigate while balancing being a mother. Although she knows that is not every attorney’s experience, she is grateful to all of those who have “normalized ‘radical’ activities including working from home with sick kiddos, making their spouse’s unexpected phone call a priority, and taking full paternity/maternity leave.”
Do you think being a mom makes you a better lawyer?
All our lawyers agree that being a mom makes them a better attorneys. Shalimar has gained more efficiency in her career. She is able to do much more in a condensed time frame because she prioritizes and maximizes her time with every task she sets out to do. She also has found herself being able to empathize with her clients more than before when she was not a mother.
Paige finds herself constantly practicing her lawyer skills outside of the office. She stated that “questioning your teen about what happened at school is not dissimilar to deposing a hostile witness” and “managing cranky toddlers prepares you to handle unprofessional opposing counsel.” Through all of this, she finds that she is a better advocate for both parents and children because she has children of her own.
Alicia has found that being a mom has made her gentler and more reasonable in general. She says, “for some that may be bad, but for the good of the whole world, this was for the best for me.”
What qualities do you think help influence your career that are derived from being a mom?
“Care, determination, protectiveness, kindness, understanding, and the knowledge that the good we do, or fail to do, in this world is the legacy we leave our children” is what Alicia has gained during motherhood. She tries to remember that her son is watching her and learning “how to do good and be good citizens of this world.” She is trying to set a good example for him by showing him that everything that we do is important because it shapes not only yourself but the world around you and the next generation.
Shalimar has developed more efficiency, patience, and determination in her career thanks to motherhood. In fact, she has become more successful in her career since having children. For Paige, she appreciates the planning qualities that motherhood has provided her. She has developed her outset planning time and projects but also has been able to become more adaptable, “even the best-laid plans get derailed, so you have to adapt and come up with another option” she stated.
The attorneys we have at Watts Guerra are one of a kind. They are determined and ready to meet any challenge that they are handed, whether it be a difficult case or motherhood. They hope that those who are struggling with balance or the career choice of becoming an attorney are not deterred by the ABA Journal article. There will always be critics of whatever you do, but as females, and more importantly, mothers, you have to remember why you are an attorney and what drives your passion behind your career.
The ABA Journal infuriated the masses with their article. To read one of our attorney’s, Shelly Sanford’s, personal response to the ABA Journal, click here.
Be sure to follow us on Instagram and Facebook to see more Guerra LLP news!
-
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/10/women-are-more-productive-than-men-at-work-these-days
-
https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/19/health/women-work-harder-gender-pay-gap-intl/index.html
-
https://statusofwomendata.org/earnings-and-the-gender-wage-gap/womens-labor-force-participation/
-
https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2020/05/the-choices-working-mothers-make.html
-
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1086790/share-lawyers-united-states-gender/
-
https://www.abajournal.com/columns/article/are-women-lawyers-paying-enough-attention-to-upward-mobility
