Any moms who had kids while they were associates (or currently are associates)? How do you all survive, particularly in M&A?

I had a kid as an associate. Litigation group. Some days are better, others are harder. It helps if you have family. We didn’t but daycare is part of our village.

I think it’s not easy being an associate and a mom but if you have a life partner that supports you, you can make it work. Daycare, alternating childcare, babysitter when you feel comfortable. To the extent you can I try to work with partners who have little kids or recently had them. Obviously it’s not always possible but they seem to get it more. Outsource non-parenting tasks when you can (cleaners, ordering food, etc.). Just remember it’s all temporary - the hard times pass.

I’m doing it in M&A right now - and I feel strongly about doing it without a ton of extra nanny coverage. First year is hard but we’ve found a rhythm with it - feel free to PM me!

I have a stay at home husband. As a senior assoc, it’s the only way to stay both sane and on the partner track. We have 3 kids and it is chaos but kids make life more full.

I had two kids when I was a junior to mid-level associate in biglaw. My husband is also an attorney in big Law. we have an incredible nanny and she’s still with us even though both of my kids are now school age. I was in big law for 15 years, but I just recently went in house. One thing that I did after I had my first kid was go on a reduced our schedule and that really worked for me to just bring down my overall billable expectation. I took six months leave for each of my kids and when I went back from maternity leave I was working from home a few days a week and I told my firm that I was going to leave the office by a certain time every day and just work from home after if I needed to. This was pre-Covid days so it’s more common these days of course to work from home regularly

I think the nanny was truly instrumental. You just need to find someone or a few people who you can really rely on. And definitely outsourced as much as possible.

One day at a time, lol

About to have my second as a senior associate - specialist that works on a lot of M&A deals. Will definitely be going (and hopefully staying indefinitely) on reduced hours as soon as I’m back from mat leave with this one. Thankfully in a practice group that is generally open to perma counsel and that has become the long term goal.

I have irish twin babies right now. Its doable but very hard… All our free time is spent playing with the kids so we outsource everything else - cleaning, food, etc. We spend as much as we earn right now but it lets me have it all - im able to retain my career, spending mornings and afternoons with the kids, breastfeed, etc.

We spend $10k a month on childcare alone… haha

I’m in m&A and struggling. Yes extra nanny coverage helps of course, but it’s hard to not see your baby

It’s much easier to take leave as an associate because the client doesn’t care if you’re out, their main relationship is with the partner.

Coming back from leave and balancing m&a as a parent is very tough. Work from home so you can see your baby whenever you can take breaks throughout the day, and have an at-home spouse or nanny so your household can work around your schedule. Be prepared for late nights and early mornings, but take long lunches mid-day to hang with your family. This works until the child goes to school.

I’m a 3rd year with two and it’s hard. I don’t have a nanny but I have my mom. Even with that help, I’m never truly able to be with the kids due to work. I’m working all day and the few moments of free time I get is spent trying to catch up on sleep.

There are lulls in the work, so when it’s slower it’s nice. I try and spend as much time as I can with my kids when it’s slow; however, I’m also dealing my aging father and his health.

When it’s busy, I barely make it through.

I hope you follow the advice here! Outsource as much as you can.

F