My Shingle

Work Life Balance

Hanging a Part Time Shingle

August 10, 2009 by Carolyn Elefant

Conventional wisdom says that lawyers can’t hang a part time shingle.  But then again, we’re hardly conventional.  Though challenging (and what part of life isn’t?!), you can start a practice part time, for a variety of reasons such as not wanting to lose your day job or desire to spend more time with family.  We’ll [...]

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When Should You Make “The Big Reveal?”

July 31, 2009 by Carolyn Elefant

In dating, it’s known as "the big reveal" – the point in an emerging relationship where both participants put everything out on the table, from old flames to skeletons in the closet to religious preferences and desire for marriage and children.  Deciding when to make the big reveal is tricky.  Disclose too soon and you [...]

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Happy Fathers’ Day to the Unsung Solo Dads

June 21, 2009 by Carolyn Elefant

My dad was what you’d call a company man; he worked as a chemist for a major pharmaceutical company for 35 years until he retired in 1997, avid to spend time with his first grandchild and the six others who would later follow.   My dad’s job didn’t offer much flexibility in terms of dress [...]

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Mommy, You’re A Hypocrite!

May 27, 2009 by Carolyn Elefant

Yesterday, while driving home from the mall with my daughters, they began fantasizing about the day that my older daughter would get her license (still four years off) so that they could go shopping together, sans mom.   My daughters then asked if I’d let them take the car to the mall or other destinations when [...]

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There Is No Stress Like…

May 22, 2009 by Carolyn Elefant

Many of you may know what it’s like to stand up when the jury verdict’s about to be read.  Your heart pounds, your palms sweat and you get weak in the knees.   The seconds seem like an eternity as you wait to learn the result. Before I became a mom, I could think of nothing [...]

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The Twenty-First Century Mom Lawyer: A Life Without Seams

May 10, 2009 by Carolyn Elefant

October 21, 1996 marks the day that I qualified to celebrate Mothers’ Day with the birth of my first daughter, Elana.  Exactly a week to the day of my daughter’s birth, I donned the one non-maternity work skirt that still fit me (albeit with the top button open), slipped a boxy red blazer over my [...]

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Michael D.J. Eisenberg – The Other Woman (or how technology helped me take a vacation)

January 22, 2009 by Carolyn Elefant

The Other Woman . . . I admit it, there is another woman.  She is alluring, demanding, and very intrusive.  And yet my wife puts up with my law practice. I am writing this while on vacation in the Caribbean.  We had a vacation like this a year ago and my new wife was so [...]

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Your Partner in Life and Law

September 29, 2008 by Carolyn Elefant

Update – a reader tipped me off to this letter from Bruce Allen’s Marketing Catalyst that seeks a spouse’s buy in when a professional signs up for Allen’s services.  Actually, I think one of the hardest things for a spouse to understand is that new solos need to invest much of their extra in business [...]

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What Michelle Obama Couldn’t Have Found at The (So-Called) Fifty Best Law Firms For Women.

August 26, 2008 by Carolyn Elefant

I’m not much of a political junkie, but I made a point of watching Michelle Obama’s speech to the Democrat National Convention.   Michelle (it’s tough for me to refer to someone a few months older than me as "Mrs.")  intrigues me, largely because she’s a contemporary with many superficialities in common:   we both graduated law [...]

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Big News (NOT): Starting A Firm Helps Work Life Balance

January 23, 2008 by Carolyn Elefant

Nearly two years ago, I posted here about a panel addressing the issue of gender equality in the legal profession.  Strikingly absent from the panel, however, were solo female lawyers.  A month later, I wondered why we should care whether women reach the top at large firms, given that many voluntarily chose a better option [...]

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