Law Times

PAGE 8 NEWS April 19, 2010 • lAw Times Helping new parents get back to work Coaching program targets lawyers struggling with home, job responsibilities BY DARYL-LYNN CARLSON For Law Times at the fi rm someday put enough pressures on young lawyers. But for women, taking leave from their work to start a family can be downright overwhelming. According to a recent study T of 50 British law fi rms, one-fi fth of women left their practice and quit law after starting a family. Th ose challenges prompted Marjorie Shore, a trainer and coach with the Coaching Clinic in Toronto, to launch a program geared specifi cally towards help- ing women and men achieve a balance between demands at both work and home. She started the program af- ter receiving phone calls from law fi rm clients who reported they had women who were com- pletely overwhelmed by trying to negotiate their workload after Bindu Cudjoe turned to the Coaching Clinic for help after returning from maternity leave and before going on leave once again. returning from maternity leave. "Th ey said they had female lawyers who had returned to work and were struggling," Shore recalls. "Th e lawyers were in their offi ce and were he demands of sustaining a lucrative law practice in order to become a partner particularly unhappy, sometimes even crying, and defi nitely strug- gling upon returning to work." Shore, a psychotherapist and executive coach, operates the Coaching Clinic with her part- ner Jerome Shore. Th ey provide law fi rms with a range of coach- ing services. Shore, who launched the transi- tion program for lawyers with fam- ilies about fi ve years ago, has many law fi rm clients. Th e program in- volves one-on-one meetings before their maternity leave, then up to two months before they return, and fi nally through followup ses- sions to assess their work, career goals, and practice with an eye to managing both work and home re- sponsibilities. "I think having a coach to talk with really helps them to stay steady until enough time has passed that they feel they can un- derstand what this is going to be like in the long term," says Shore. Bindu Cudjoe, a partner in the debt products group at McMillan LLP, says she has benefi ted from working with Shore after return- ing from maternity leave and prior to taking leave again. She has three youngsters aged fi ve, three, and one. Her practice focuses on representing lenders and borrowers in a variety of domestic, cross-border, and global corporate and commercial debt fi nancings, including syndicated lending and asset-based, cash-fl ow-based, and mezzanine transactions. McMillan makes Shore's coach- ing services available to lawyers who want support and feedback on balancing their responsibilities. "Th e people who I work with have made it very easy to step out and take the time on maternity leave without feeling that I had to keep on top of my fi les," says Cudjoe. Yet once she returned to work, the challenges started to mount. "I have a transactional practice that is mostly driven by deals and, at times, it can feel overwhelming to juggle work priorities with my home priorities," she says. But, Cudjoe notes, it was very helpful to have Shore's advice in order to understand how to achieve a better balance. "She is a third party who doesn't have a stake in the choices that I make, so it was good to have her to talk through some of the challenges of juggling all the responsibilities at home and at work and to yourself," she says. "Th ere can be a lot of chatter in your head about whether you can have this kind of practice and still be the parent you want to be." Shore was particularly good at helping her see things in diff erent ways, Cudjoe adds. "Sometimes, she can help reframe the issue and present a diff erent perspective on it in terms of how my family can perceive my responsibilities at work and how my colleagues and clients might perceive my respon- sibilities at home. So if you can get your head around that, you can focus on how to do a great job for your clients, spend qual- ity time with your kids, and be the parent and spouse you want to be." Claire Kennedy, a tax partner The Ontario Municipal Service Directory: A Comprehensive Guide for Real Estate Professionals, 2010 All the municipal services information you need for real estate searches under one cover This handy resource helps you process your real estate transactions more efficiently, saving you time and energy. 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Perfectbound • March 2010 • One time purchase • $86 • P/C 0517010999 On subscription • $81 • P/C 0517140999 • ISSN 1206-694X at Bennett Jones LLP, has two children aged six and three. She retained Shore on her own after realizing she needed some objec- tive feedback on scheduling and prioritizing. "It was important to come to the realization that if you can't stick to your schedule, you're not a bad mother. It really is about juggling all the time," she says, noting that "a number of my colleagues quit law outright" after having children. Kennedy acknowledges, how- ever, that she has an advantage: "I have a full-time nanny and a stay-at-home husband." Still, she works long hours and also travels a lot as a speaker at var- ious conferences, often overseas. "Essentially, see it as an invest- ment in your career. If you have to pay someone to do something around your house, that is a trade- off in that context," she says. Shore, she points out, under- stands the law fi rm culture and the time demands lawyers work- ing in it fi nd themselves dealing with. "Th is is a day-to-day thing," Kennedy says. "You can't put in a single system and have it work ev- ery day. Your schedule is not going to be a clear eight to six [o'clock] with all the clients running ac- cording to that, so there will be days that work better than others. I think for people who stay in the private practice of law, they have to be fl exible." LT For a 30-day, no-risk evaluation call: 1.800.565.6967 Canada Law Book is a Division of The Cartwright Group Ltd. Prices subject to change without notice, to applicable taxes and shipping & handling. www.lawtimesnews.com OMSD 1/2 page - 4X.indd 1 3/19/10 12:42:24 PM W ith Introduction and H by Michael L. Y istorical Linkages oung, LL.B.

• Cover
• Restricted Mobility
• Paying The Piper
• Focus On ADR/Mediation