I'm sure that some of you have already heard about or read this article - "Why Women Still Can't Have it All", written by Anne-Marie Slaughter and published in the July/August edition of The Atlantic - but I thought I'd share it for those who haven't, as it provides some thought-provoking commentary on issues that both women and men face in striving to attain fulfillment at work and at home.

Slaughter specifically highlights the legal industry, built on the foundation of the billable hour, and discusses the unique challenges that this model presents for a law firm associate seeking to establish a work/life balance with which he or she is satisfied.

I thought that the article was a worthwhile read, as Slaughter directly addresses a lot of issues I've thought about and grappled with since beginning law school and considering the career I want to pursue and the balance I want to strike in terms of how that career fits into my life.

-- CourtneyDoak - 25 Jun 2012

Thanks for sparking this conversation Courtney. When I read this article my first thought was "Slaughter should have edited her outline a lot more." I liked the gist of what she was saying but it was often hard to distill what her main sub-points and solutions were. I think she could have done a better job conveying her point using half the words.

As for the substance - I appreciate that she sparked a conversation about more flexible work schedules, changing the business model, and being vocal about not being able to have it all. I also like that she was bold enough to say that fundamentally women are different than men in terms of how much not being present for family life effects them (obviously there are exceptions to that statement). The piece of this article that I have found myself thinking about most is that my career path will probably look more like a set of stairs, than a straight uphill line. What I have been trying to take away from Prof. Moglen's class is that my career path is changeable and I am in control of it. I can do with my license what I want, and just because I made the decision to come to law school does not mean that I have to become a BigLaw lawyer. I can and probably will do that for a couple of years, but I calculated my end date and am now trying to figure out what I need to do to get to my next career after that end date comes. Hearing a successful woman say that most career paths will plateau at points, and then pick up speed again (potentially in a different direction) was comforting and helped make me feel like law school was less of a waste.

-- SkylarPolansky - 25 Jun 2012