In every profession, working parents face immense challenges. The latest American Bar Association report, Legal Careers of Parents and Child Caregivers, released by the ABA Commission on Women, documents how lawyers navigate their careers and family life and how such challenges are especially acute for mothers in comparison with fathers. This issue of The Practice includes excerpts and data from the ABA report, which in full presents findings from a survey of over 8,000 lawyers and insights from 10 focus groups. Even as many lawyers occupy a privileged class—with access to money, education, and other benefits—the responsibilities of caregiving that disproportionately fall on women create a profession plagued by inequity, something the report seeks to rectify with its recommendations.
[Anne-Marie Slaughter – Center on the Legal Profession, Harvard Law School, November, 2024]
