Virginia Seitz, partner in the law firm Sidley Austin, is the poster child of the part-time lawyer. But in the legal world, there's an interesting definition of part-time.
Although Seitz defines herself as part time, this is the reality: She's in the firm's Washington, D.C., office every day at 6 a.m. and leaves by 2:55 p.m. to pick up her children, 12-year-old Roy and 15-year-old Miranda, from school.
That's a nine-hour day and a 45-hour week. Only a big law firm would call that "part time." A bus driver would be racking up the overtime with that schedule.
The article goes on to describe Seitz's determination to balance work and home in a rather unusual way for the legal world: she gets to work very early, leaves mid-afternoon, and then is fully dedicated to her home life for the rest of the day.
Although many mothers engage in some kind of multidimensional juggling act, Seitz seems to bring a particularly heavy burden of love, anxiety and vocation to the task of motherhood. "I couldn't make any choice that would have a long-term impact on a child's happiness," she says. "I brought them into the world. I feel responsible."
Before she leaves the house in the still-dark morning, she makes sure her children's lunches are packed and the table is set for breakfast. She helps with school ticket sales, car pools and teacher appreciation lunches. She bakes cookies. She sits in the bleachers at baseball games (albeit sometimes while taking a conference call). And although she does work from home some afternoons, she has dinner with her family every single night.
Her regular nine-hour day serves in part as a cushion against the times she has to deal with a child home sick from school or a parent-teacher conference or the other sundry issues that eat away at any mother's day. In other words, not every day adds up to nine hours of face time.
What do her children think of this level of what some might call sacrifice? They don't think about it, Seitz figures. "They expect and believe that I build my life around them," she says. And it's true, she adds. "My feeling is that they should take me completely for granted -- in a polite way."
I have always had the same philosophy about mothering. I told my husband that I want them to think of me as furniture: comfortable and reliable and something they don't spend a lot of time thinking about. But Seitz nails it: they should take us for granted but in a polite way.
Feminists tend to eschew this philosophy, instead focusing solely on the amount of personal pleasure a woman receives from the life she leads (it's all about ME!). They also tend to frown at the obvious guilt involved in a situation like Seitz's, where she is constantly attentive to the juggling act. I'm sure the argument is because Teh Patriarchy is keeping her down.
Yet this woman satisfies not just her family but also her clients. Billing at 60% is no easy task, and Seitz is considered a top lawyer, meaning she goes above and beyond the usual efforts to please clients.
It doesn't sound like an easy life to me, but it does show that when a person determines not to sacrifice their family for their career, it's possible to do it.
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