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What female firm owners face when taking maternity leave
Here, one female firm owner shares the significant concerns and anxieties that emerge when planning for maternity leave and what will happen to the legal practice one has built.
Grace Robbie
Speaking on a recent episode of The Boutique Lawyer Show, Malisa Howard, the founder and principal of Jaide Law, discussed the challenges and obstacles female law firm owners encounter when they take maternity leave and step away from their legal practices by reflecting on her own experience.
Since founding her firm, Howard has harboured ongoing concern regarding the future of the law practice she had diligently built when the time arose for her to take maternity leave.
“I set up my firm eight years ago, and as a female, from the very beginning, there was always this lingering thought in the back of my head, a slight worry, which was, what am I going to do with my business when I have a baby?” she said.
Howard emphasised that these concerns are distinctly felt by female law firm owners, who must navigate not only the usual challenges of running a business but also the added complexity of taking time off for maternity leave.
“It’s important because it’s a challenge unique to female law firm owners or business owners. The worry about how [your business will] survive when you need to take time off to have a child,” she said.
She emphasised that female firm owners must recognise that taking time off is not merely a choice but is crucial for addressing the physical and emotional challenges associated with childbirth and early motherhood.
“No matter what your personal preferences are about taking time off, there are physical demands of childbirth and of early motherhood that you simply can’t ignore.
“There’s the recovery from the birth, which does require rest. Then there are the demands of early parenthood. There’s sleep deprivation, whether you’re breastfeeding or formula feeding, you’re most likely going to be waking throughout the night, and you’re pretty much on round-the-clock care for this newborn,” she said.
For women in this position, Howard highlighted that the question is not whether to take maternity leave and temporarily step away from their roles but rather, “How can I make it work so that I can rest, recover, and care for my baby while keeping my business running?”
To prepare for her maternity leave, Howard engaged in discussions with other female business owners to gain insights into their experiences during similar periods, which made her discover that a significant number felt compelled to make drastic decisions.
“When I fell pregnant, I started speaking to a lot of female law firm owners and seeing what solutions they had done ... but the majority of the women I spoke to felt forced to do one extreme or the other,” she said.
Howard expressed that she was significantly overwhelmed by the concerns surrounding the potential implications of taking time away from the firm and the possible impact this decision may have on the business.
“I certainly had a struggle with what the perception would be of my business if I stepped away. There are so many fears.
“There are fears that you’ll lose clients, there are fears that you’ll lose referral partners. There are fears around the financial pressure of stepping away from the business, particularly in the current climate, you know, where the cost of living is so high,” she said.
However, Howard’s biggest concern went beyond the legal work itself: “You’re not just stepping away from legal work as a business owner; you are running a business, and you wear so many hats. So you’re not just handling client matters. You’re often doing sales, marketing, admin, managing cash flow.”
These fears related to maternity leave are not limited to women, with Howard acknowledging that these issues are also pertinent to fathers.
“This information isn’t just for mothers; it’s for dads, too. I’m sure that there are a lot of dads who run their own businesses, run their own firms who want to take that time off or want to be able to take some time off to bond with their baby, to spend time with their baby,” she said.
