QUESTIONS OF THE MONTH - JANUARY

Each month you can “ask an expert” who will share her experiences and opinions.  Is there a question you want answered?  We’re sure you may have a few that others can benefit from as well.  So feel free to ask our experts by emailing us at experts@flexperienceforum.com.

To learn more about the experts, click on their names to see their bios.

Q. I “off-ramped” from my job as an attorney two years ago and hope to return to practice next year.  Any thoughts on what I can do now to help me when I’m ready to “on ramp”?

Linda Marks On-Ramp Moms Linda Marks is Director of Training and Consulting at the Center for WorkLife Law. She has over 25 years experience in corporate consulting and training and specific expertise in flexible work arrangements and work-life balance. She previously directed the Work Time Options in the Legal Profession project for New Ways to Work (NWW), a nonprofit organization founded in 1972 to promote workplace flexibility, and is co-author of Negotiating Time: New Scheduling Options in the Legal Profession. While at NWW she also directed the FlexGroup, a consortium of 14 companies that were taking the lead in moving workplace flexibility forward as a business strategy. Included in this group were Hewlett-Packard, Marriott International, Royal Bank of California, Chevron and other major corporations. Linda also worked for WFD (Work Family Directions), a Boston-based consulting firm, and for Rupert & Company as part of their flexibility consulting and training practices, working remotely from her home in San Francisco. She is a frequent presenter and has spoken to meetings of the American Bar Association, Association of Legal Administrators, NALP and the state bars of California, Washington, Oregon, Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado. She is currently working with the Bar Association of San Francisco on their Work/Life Balance task force. She holds a bachelor's degree cum laude from Brandeis University.

A. Congratulations on thinking about this in advance of wanting to return to practice.  There are definitely things you can be doing.

• Network, network, network!!!  Most of the people we’ve worked with in the “Opting Back In” group that we’ve been running through UC Hastings College of the Law who have found jobs found them through friends, family, former colleagues, friends-of-friends, informational interviews.  So get yourself out there now and make connections.  Sign up for LinkedIn, join a local bar association and attend their functions, re-connect with people you’ve worked with before, talk about this with others like yourself.  It will help a lot when you’re ready to return.
• Start updating your skills.  Take CLE courses and/or explore the latest legal research tools.  
• Add something recent to your resume. Are you ready to do some volunteer work or perhaps do a bit of work on a contract basis?  Flexperience can help you ease back in.

Q. I’m working full time but would like to reduce to part time.  I’ve heard horror stories about people who’ve tried this and failed.  How can I make it succeed?

A. The biggest reason that people fail in reducing to part time is that they reduce their hours but not their workload.  If the hours aren’t replaced (that is, if someone else isn’t assigned some of the work that you were previously doing), you’ll end up with “schedule creep” (that horrible thing that happens when you’re being paid for part time but your hours are moving up to full time).  Think about some ways that the rest of your job can get accomplished. 

• Have a job sharing partner?
• Fill in with a contractor?
• Delegate some of your more administrative tasks?

Have a heart-to-heart discussion with your manager about this and monitor the arrangement as you go along to make sure you’re working the schedule you sign up for.  However, it helps if you’re not rigid about your schedule.

Another thing to keep in mind is the “principle of proportionality.” Not only your hours and workload should be reduced proportionally, but also your pay, bonuses, advancement and the kind of work you’re doing.  And make sure you keep up with your professional development.