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Support needed for work/life balance

USC Gould School of Law • March 23, 2007
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Finding a work-life balance isn’t easy in any job, especially in the legal profession. But with right mix of support and perseverance, it is possible,

Video from "Conversations with the Dean: Balancinc Work and Life: Is it possible?" is now online. Click here to view.
said a group USC Law alumni and employees who participated in a recent panel discussion, “Balancing Work and Life: Is it possible?”

A work-life balance may be found at a big firm, nonprofit, government job or in the home as a stay-at-home parent, said the six graduates, along with a USC Law professor and a USC Law staff member, who joined Dean Edward J. McCaffery March 20 in the latest installment of the “Conversations with the Dean” speaker series.

“It’s been a challenge for me to balance work-family and I knew this was something that our students were concerned about. If you can’t pay the bills and have meaningful relationships and love and family, you’re not going to be happy,” McCaffery said. “I’m happy addressing these things. I think this is a conversation that is important to have at law schools and I’m hoping that USC law school can be a leader in it.”

Work/life balance panelists 
(left to right:) Panelists Silberman, Forbes,
Peterson, McCarthy, Dean McCaffery
The conversation will continue in the coming years, McCaffery said, and generate working groups of students and alumni who will study work/life balance issues. He hopes to hold an interdisciplinary symposium on the topic sometime next year.

McCaffery asked panelists to discuss their own path to achieving fulfillment with both work and family life.

“It’s such an individual thing,” said Pegine Grayson ’87, who was joined on the panel by her husband Kerry Bensinger ’87. “There’s no one who can say, ‘I’ve found it and here’s what you do.’”

Grayson ’87 stayed at home for a few years between the birth of her son and daughter. After rejoining the work force, she eventually became director of the Western Center on Law and Poverty.

“It was my dream job, and it was the pinnacle of my career,” Grayson said. She also truly enjoyed the job and stayed for five years. Last summer, she again decided to be a stay-at-home mom. “It’s a thing I wouldn’t trade. The commitment we made to our kids was really important.”

Work/life balance panel
(l to r:) Grayson, Bensinger, Prof. Hempel
John Peterson ’95 and his wife graduated from USC Law and joined a big firm to pay off their school debt. But the 70- and 80-hour work weeks quickly wore on them. Peterson’s wife took a 70 percent pay cut to work at the U.S. Attorneys Office “and has been thrilled ever since,” but Peterson saw her even less because they weren’t working together.

Two years out of law school, Peterson and a partner started their own practice. Nine years later, their firm – Bate, Peterson, Deacon, Zinn & Young – has 10 partners. Today, the Petersons both make sacrifices to care for their young son and daughter and rely on friends and family for help.

“The support base is the most importing thing that you have to have,” Peterson said.

Amy Forbes ’84 started her career with Gibson Dunn & Crutcher and is now a partner there while married with three kids. She says finding a balance working at a big firm is “absolutely doable.”

“A lot of it comes from finding what it is that you want to do, and for women out there a lot of it comes from … a tremendous support network,” said Forbes, whose nanny and husband help her juggle caring for the children. “One of the things about being in a big firm that gets overlooked is that you also get a lot of flexibility.”

Audience at the work/life balance panelHarvey Silberman ’92, a commissioner at the Superior Court, said he suddenly found himself a single parent while working 60- to 70-hour work weeks with a mid-sized firm.

“I certainly had the funds with which to hire a nanny and delegate my parenting job, but after actually very little soul-searching, I decided that that was really not the kind of commitment that I needed to make to my son,” Silberman said.

He found a public interest job with a child- and family-friendly organization that allowed more flexibility. Two years ago, once his son entered middle school, Silberman moved to the bench.

Finding an ideal job and making a commitment to find balance are keys to success, panelists said. Priya Sridharan, director of career services as USC Law, stressed the importance of forming a long-term view of career and life.

“You don’t find joy and happiness and everything you want in two years,” said Sridharan, who came to USC from the city attorney’s office shortly after giving birth to a daughter. Now, Sridharan manages her family’s home life while her partner is the primary wage earner. “I find (balancing work and family life) very difficult, but I also find it very fulfilling – I wouldn’t want to give up either.”

Other panelists included Katheryn McCarthy ’00, who works part-time at Sidley Austin, and USC Law Clinical Professor Carrie Hempel.

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