Work-life balance is the key
The Daily Courier (Vernon)
Aug 12 2009
By: Steve Macnaull

A startling one-third of women lawyers drop out of the profession within five years.

"I'm familiar with that report," says Laura Baptie, who just started as a lawyer with Farris Vaughan Wills & Murphy in Kelowna.

"But I certainly plan to practice law long-term. I'm already making a conscious effort to find that balance between my demanding work and a full personal life." The Law Society of B.C., which represents the 11,000 lawyers in the province, just released its Retention of Women in Law paper that contains the 33 per cent drop- out statistic.

The society says losing women lawyers is bad for the profession and it will only add to the expected shortage of lawyers in B.C. in the next decade as baby boomer-aged lawyers retire.

Women leave law for the same reasons they leave most other industries - they start a family and find the bulk of the child care and household organization falls to them.

However, the ramifications in law are probably more pronounced because lawyers are expected to carry heavy workloads, which just doesn't mix with a family.

That's why the Retention of Women in Law paper urges all law firms to have a work-life balance policy…..