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Written by Crystal Luxmore
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Tuesday, 01 December 2009 |
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 Women are twice as likely to leave private practice as men. Many say having kids is the reason. But with women making up the majority of law school grads these days, it's time to do more to make the mother-lawyer balance work
Jennifer Thomas was building a thriving little practice helping tomato farmers in Leamington, Ont., buy real estate, write wills and get divorced. Then she got pregnant. She worked until her Jan. 4, 2005, due date, had a little boy and was back in the office 20 days later. With no access to Employment Insurance or benefits, the sole practitioner had little choice but to get back to work or watch her practice fall apart. |
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Written by Sheena MacAskill
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Tuesday, 01 December 2009 |
As one of the first so-called “part-time” equity partners on Bay Street, Sheena MacAskill (who worked 1,500 — 1,600 hours instead of 1,800 — 1,900 hours) knows a thing or two about having it all. “You need a fabulous husband, a fabulous daycare or a fabulous nanny,” she says. The former McCarthy’s litigator turned her experience into a coaching/consulting business, advising law firms on issues like parental leave policies and flextime, and coaching individual lawyers.
Here is Sheena’s 8-step program to manage your maternity leave so you can return at full tilt. |
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Written by Christina Litz
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Tuesday, 01 December 2009 |
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Turns out being a mom and being a lawyer have a lot in common (diapers and drool notwithstanding) On the surface, it may not seem obvious that being a lawyer is good training for motherhood. |
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Written by Precedent
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Tuesday, 01 December 2009 |
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Congratulations! You just got a big bonus. Get ready to share it with your new baby. New parents can expect to pay between $9,600 and $31,200 a year in childcare costs. Here, Precedent weighs your options. |
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Written by Melissa Ghislanzoni
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Wednesday, 23 December 2009 |
 As any lawyer who has taken a vacation is sure to know, sorting through emails and missed correspondence upon your return is about as pleasant an experience as giving yourself multiple paper cuts. One of the things that helped the most with my professional re-entry was the enthusiasm of the colleagues who dropped by my office to hear stories and look at photos from my trip.
My return from Shakawe, Botswana (where there are no street names, you just describe where you live in relation to your neighbours) to the tallest tower on Bay Street resulted in something I wasn’t prepared for: reverse culture shock.
I returned home after a six hour, non-air-conditioned bus ride in 45 degree heat and three flights. I was sunburned, covered in bites from bugs that I do not ever want to identify, dehydrated and thrilled to see my family. But now, I miss Botswana so much that I would even consider putting up with the hippos grunting in my backyard and the red Kalahari sand that still seems to hide in everything I own in order to go back. |
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Written by Melissa Ghislanzoni
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Wednesday, 16 December 2009 |
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 Botswana is often held up as a model of development in Africa, and rightfully so. It boasts a strong economy and a stable, vibrant society comprised of many different tribes. Rural Botswana, however (like rural areas the world over) faces many challenges with respect to lack of infrastructure. Issues of health and education also affect the workforce.
In the 1980s, the government of the Republic of Botswana devised a program of Community Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) with a view to engaging rural communities in the conservation and sustainable use of natural resources in order to improve livelihoods. The idea was that providing local peoples with stewardship of the resources that they use for sustenance and trade would help to address the high levels of rural poverty and unemployment, while simultaneously reversing dangerous levels of unsustainable use of natural resources.
After the jump: An inside look at the inspiring work Melissa engaged in while volunteering in Botswana. |
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Written by Christina Litz
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Tuesday, 15 December 2009 |
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 I don’t really know if this is true (this, BTW, is where my editor starts to sweat a little) but I remember being told about a prominent female lawyer who went back to work within three days of having a child. Three days. If I recall correctly, on day three I was still in the hospital, practicing my best swaddle and wondering how the heck I was going to do all this.
Day three also marked the longest time I had gone without checking my BlackBerry. Ever. This radio silence on my part, I found out later, was so distressing to my co-workers, and so out of character for me, that they thought something had gone wrong.
After the jump: Christina checks her BlackBerry, and slowly begins to be sucked back into office life until...well, read on and find out. |
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Written by Melissa Ghislanzoni
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Wednesday, 09 December 2009 |
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Those who work with me at FMC know that my technological skills are somewhat limited. In fact, it is a running joke at the firm that I call the Help Desk on a daily basis. That makes it all the more comical that, while working at TOCaDI in Shakawe, Botswana, I’m often asked to help people with their computers. The Internet, when there is any kind of connection, requires that the modem be tapped and wiggled around in the electrical socket every half hour or so in order to work — and yes, I came up with that ingenious technical solution myself. What’s more, since replacement parts for computers, printers and faxes can only be found in Maun or Gaborone (five and 12 hours drives away, respectively), there is one sole printer cable that is being shared by everyone in the office. What people lack in supplies and tools, however, they certainly make up for in patience and camaraderie. After the jump: Client consulations are a whole other ballgame at TOCaDI. |
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