How to Return to Law After a Career Break

Taking a hiatus from work is something that may spike apprehension amongst those who are trying to climb up their career ladder; you may find yourself contemplating, asking: will you find it difficult to settle back in, or will the workplace assume you aren’t as dedicated to your job?

And this especially rings true to new mothers. One of the reoccurring reasons why some women struggle to make partner is the fact that they may struggle to return to the rigid 9 – 5 days when they have a baby to look after post maternity leave. Or, if they have implemented a daily routine which allows them to return to work as normal, some firms may unintentionally (or intentionally) discriminate against new mothers, assuming that they may not have the time to tackle more responsibility for a promotion or they can’t travel overseas as they need to look after their child.

Assumptions and stereotypes like these often prevent women from making partner as fast as their male peers.

An obvious and effective solution is flexible working and it looks like international law firm DLA Piper have a good handle on things. Speaking to Laura Ford at the Women in Law Conference 2018, she reveals that soon after her return from maternity leave she was promoted to Legal Director, and she has since made Partner. So, what is her secret?

It is almost impossible not to feel at ease around Laura’s warming presence. And it is just as impossible to imagine her crumbling under the stress the legal sector can present and the mayhem two toddler twins bring along with them. But, not a grey hair in sight (or at least that I can see), and as I learnt throughout my conversation with Laura, it seems that it could be due to her work life balance.

How can you prepare for your first step back into law?

I found that having a plan devised before you leave, where you set out what will happen when you are away and how you will ease back into things works well.

I work at DLA Piper and they have a fantastic maternity coaching scheme, where you work with the executive coaching consultancy to make a maternity plan. I had sessions with them before, during and after my maternity leave and one thing that I found really interesting, was that there was a lot of planning and preparation to be done before I had even left. The coaching helped me to look, not just at the period of my maternity leave, but for my return and even into the years after that. It made me think about how I wanted to operate as a lawyer and what my ambitions and targets were for the future. All this accumulated and effectively became a “maternity plan” that I put into place before I went on leave.

This was really just a form of clear communication for those I work with, too. I was obviously in touch with my  partners and my colleagues, but having it all written down in a plan stating how long I anticipated being off for, the clients I had handed over and importantly, would like back (as you don’t want to lose the hard work you’ve put in over the years), was beneficial; stating what I wanted to do on my return also helped. For me, my plan was to come back full time but to work flexibly. I was fortunate because my husband took a year off to look after our children when I returned to work, which gave me the ability to be more flexible with my work and to devote more time to it, whilst still making sure I had time to see the children.

Planning in advance was key for a smooth return and my progression. The promotion window for legal directorship was coming up whilst I was off, so I made sure that it was known that I would still like to be considered for that, even though I wasn’t going to be there in person. The application wasn’t due for another 6 months, but I made sure I completed my business plan in advance.

It is all about looking into the future and really communicating to ensure that your colleagues and managers know your goals and plans. Making sure that people knew how I felt, what I wanted to do, how I was happy to be communicated with whilst I was off – I am sure lots of people don’t want to be contacted at all, but I was happy to be contacted every so often, especially for important matters – and what would happen when I returned, all helped the transition to run smoothly. Maternity can be seen as a private or sensitive topic, so being open about it and communicating everything across clearly really helped to remove that aspect and keep things running efficiently.

Is it important to have a mental break during that time off, or is it more important to keep on focusing on the progression in law and working in law?

Yes, I think it is very important to have almost a complete break, certainly for the first half of the time. The reason for your time off, whatever it may be, is important; you’ve got to be able to focus on whatever it is that you’re doing – which for me was keeping these little babies alive, happy and fed.

There does come a point where you have to get your mind moving back towards “work mode”. You don’t want to get today 364 of 365 and not have thought about how you want to work, what type of work you are going to be doing and how you are going to hit the ground running. I do think preparing for your return is good, but don’t do it too soon in, as you can lose the benefit of having that time off.

What can women [parents] in the legal sector do if they don’t have a partner who is working flexibly?

I am back into that situation now. My husband took a year off to look after the boys and has recently returned, so we are just trying to get into the hang of working out what is best. I think the key to maintaining your work and family life is flexible or agile working. I don’t have a formal flexible working arrangement, but I do work flexibly. So, sometimes I get up at 6.00am and do some work before the children get up, which can allow me to be free at the end of the day, just in case I have to leave early to collect them from nursery.

Other people work shorter days or compressed weeks, which I tried…it is really difficult to do! You have to remember to look after your own mental state, you have to have time to yourself. It is hard being a lawyer and being a mum or dad, so you need to incorporate a bit of time for yourself as well, which flexible working helps with. Having a good support network helps too. We have family who live nearby and are our safety net, but looking after twin toddlers is hard, so we try not to call on them too much!

So what can women returning from work do to ensure that they aren’t perceived to be lacking in any sense,  particularly if they have children?

I am lucky in that I have not experienced too many obstacles since I have come back and I think that is due both to the preparation made beforehand and the support of the firm. Having that open line of communication in order to let people know how I was willing to work, to understand what they needed from me and what I was willing to give back worked well.

I did have one particularly difficult moment with a client during a late night telephone call where one of the babies couldn’t settle himself. I had to briefly cut the call to look after the baby but phoned the client back five minutes later – unfortunately the client didn’t appreciate or understand that I quickly needed to tend to my child. I think you are always going to come up against something. If people aren’t as lucky as I am to have colleagues and partners that are supportive and are willing to give you that flexibility, you may come across such issues with them. There may be clients who aren’t used to working with people who have those kinds of requirements and you just have to take it on the chin. Whilst the client’s response was frustrating at the time I didn’t let it impact me. If you are taking a call that late at night, there is obviously a problem you are trying to solve. After calling back, we sorted everything out and still have a good working relationship. It is easier to just try and accept that it won’t always be easy, but you just get on with it and try to make sure you are doing the right thing for the client, the firm and yourself.

Do you think there are stereotypes towards women in law who take maternity, compared to those who have time off for other reasons, such as a gap year?

Potentially, because someone who has taken a break for another reason does not necessarily come back with any additional requirements. If you take a year off for maternity, you come back with a one year old child and that child still needs to be looked after. You may not necessarily be able to work ordinary hours, every day, every week. Whereas the person who has gone travelling, for example, does not necessarily have that issue. So, I do think there is a risk of people with young children being treated differently, but again, it comes back to the issues of communication, being open, having a dialogue and making sure that there isn’t a lacuna between what people expect of you and what you are willing to give. If you can achieve this and you are working at a firm that will give you that flexibility to allow you to work in such a way, then it shouldn’t cause too many difficulties.

I think I say that from quite a privileged position of not having had those difficulties, but I have seen friends and colleagues who have experienced difficulties. It may be their own approach to work and returning, or the firm’s approach towards them, but I think you put the above measures in place and try not to get bogged down in the stereotype of people thinking you are a parent and therefore you are not going to give as much as you did before. You have to prove them wrong, so you may need to work and give a little bit differently.

Do you think flexible working for everyone including men and women, would help with equality at law firms, especially higher up, when moving up towards partner, for example?

I do. I think that would really help with the stereotyping – if there is a stereotype – that new mums don’t contribute as much as new dads may do, (because for the dads, their partner may be the one at home looking after the children). I think if everybody who wanted to have the opportunity to work flexibly did so, I am sure that would help when the time comes for progression further down the line.

I, myself, am hoping to go for partnership soon and I don’t think that the way I work will impact that, as I still get what I need to do completed, I just do it in a more flexible way.

Could flexible working post maternity leave produce a stigma towards women in the workplace? Should this be made for both men and women, to ensure equality?

Yes, of course. It should be available to all. It is really important for women who have children and return to work, or for anybody who has the need, to work flexibly when they need to and to do it loudly and visibly. We have a motto in our firm which is: “leaving loudly”. If someone is going to see a school play, we believe they should say so and not appear to be present when they are not. And that is what I try to do. I don’t try to hide the fact that I am leaving early. I will almost certainly have started a lot earlier in the day, as I still have to do my job and provide that value. I think you become a lot more efficient when you have had time off.

How can women prepare for promotion after maternity leave?

If you are trying to progress towards a promotion, whether it’s partnership or anything else, there are a lot of things you need to do to get there. It is not just about getting the hours in and doing a good job with the client; it’s about business development, growing the team and mentoring others, which all take time. If you have children, you are less able to use your evenings for work and so everything comes down to operating with ruthless efficiency during the day. 6.00pm – 8.00pm is sacred to me to have that time with the children, so everything gets done by 5.30 and if something spills over and I have to do it at the end of the day I don’t mind that at all as I have had that time I needed with my children.

Working for DLA Piper you said that there was a maternity plan – do you think that should be mandatory across all law firms?

I am not sure everybody would want to work this way. I know that many of my friends and colleagues have not appreciated the value of the coaching scheme and plan and would not want to say in advance when they expect to return and how they would like to work when they do. It is perhaps not until you undergo it yourself that you may appreciate the system in place. I am not sure it would work for this to be mandatory. The notion of flexible working is doing work when you can and what fits well with your lifestyle, and I suppose for some people what might fit in for them is the 9.00 – 5.00 process.