Tradtional Law Firms are Not Structured to account for Family

      My wife and her sisters, and their mom, left town to take their Dad back to the city where they grew up to bury him. You may recall that my wife’s father passed away within a week or two of me starting my law firm. I posted about it here.

      So, I am in charge of the three boys, ages three, five and seven. I have been running around doing double duty, working from home and car pooling. I had to get my oldest from school because he was sick. I kept him home the next day and my second oldest started throwing up. I now have two sick kids and one peppy three-year-old who is bouncing off the walls because we are all cooped up in the house.

      The good new is that technology allows me to work from home almost as easily as if I was at the office. This four-day effort is certainly a challenge. But, I don’t carry any sense of obligation except to my family and clients. I don’t have to call and explain to my partners that I am not coming in. I don’t have to feel guilty because we expect our associates to come in regardless of family circumstances. Sure, at a medium or large traditional firm we would allow associates to take some liberties, but we would would do it with a heavy sigh. The partners would worry that we were creating dangerous precedents for the other associates and staff by being flexible with any one of them.

      Hooray for the independent practitioner. Hooray for technology. (Hooray for kids who manage to get to the toilet before being sick).