2019Diversity&FlexibilityAllianceConference-97

Spotlight On Flex

Showcasing success stories of professionals working flexible schedules.

The Diversity & Flexibility Alliance’s Spotlight on Flex showcases professionals from member organizations who exemplify personal and professional success while working a flexible schedule. Their stories illustrate the long-term benefits that flexible schedules offer to both individuals and organizations.

CURRENT SPOTLIGHT

Spotlight – Jessamine Lee, Wolf, Greenfield & Sacks, P.C.

January 30, 2022

January 2022 Spotlight on Flex

Our Spotlight on Flex showcases professionals from member organizations who exemplify personal and professional success while working a flexible schedule. Their stories illustrate the long-term benefits that flexible schedules offer to both individuals and organizations.

For our January 2022 Spotlight on Flex we are pleased to share insights from Jessamine Lee, Shareholder, Wolf, Greenfield & Sacks, P.C.

Diversity & Flexibility Alliance: How have you made flexibility a priority and a success with your schedule? How has the firm and/or your clients contributed to this?

Jessamine Lee: Flexibility has been a key to my success at Wolf Greenfield. After coming back to work from having my first child 11 years ago, I went on an 80% schedule. I was a junior associate at the time. I stayed on an 80-90% schedule through having my second child three years later and then becoming Counsel and a Shareholder at the firm. During that same time, I also had a flexible arrangement in which I worked remotely twice a week. The firm was supportive of my requests and made it possible for me to have this alternative work arrangement during a time when it was not common to do so. I had a lot of help from my colleagues. For example, at times when my workload was too high, I was able to transfer work to other colleagues who had more bandwidth at the time. This is a testament to Wolf Greenfield’s collegiality and culture – we work as a team. I also set boundaries, made expectations clear to both my colleagues and clients as to when I was available, and inquired about firm and client expectations as well. Of course,

PAST SPOTLIGHTS

Spotlight on Flex – Maryam Casbarro, Davis Wright Tremaine

June 29, 2021

Our Spotlight on Flex showcases professionals from member organizations who exemplify personal and professional success while working a flexible schedule. Their stories illustrate the long-term benefits that flexible schedules offer to both individuals and organizations.

June 2021 Spotlight on Flex

For our June Spotlight on Flex, we’re pleased to highlight Maryam Casbarro, Associate, Davis Wright Tremaine

Diversity & Flexibility Alliance: How have you made flexibility a priority and a success with your schedule? How have the firm and clients contributed to this?

Maryam Casbarro: I formally started working a flex schedule in January of this year. It was brought about by life circumstances. In October of 2019 I found out that my baby would be born with special needs. We anticipated that she would have significant medical needs going into 2020, but of course we didn’t anticipate there would also be a pandemic! So I had a conversation with the chair of my practice on what work would look like returning from maternity leave with my baby still in the hospital.

She said I could come back on whatever schedule worked for me, and the firm would be completely flexible with my hours. At that time, my schedule wasn’t formalized so I would just take on projects that my personal life allowed. Then in September of 2020 I decided to come back full time. There was a very stark difference between working a pseudo flex schedule without a formal agreement to working full time. It quickly became apparent that life had shifted and it was not realistic for me to maintain a full-time schedule.

I spoke to the partner who oversees flexible working schedules and she walked me through what life would look like on a formal reduced hour schedule and what other attorneys had done in the past.

Spotlight on Flex – Abigail B. Molitor, Sidley Austin

May 25, 2021

Our Spotlight on Flex showcases professionals from member organizations who exemplify personal and professional success while working a flexible schedule. Their stories illustrate the long-term benefits that flexible schedules offer to both individuals and organizations.

May 2021 Spotlight on Flex

For our May Spotlight on Flex, we’re pleased to highlight Abigail B. Molitor, Associate in the Chicago Office of Sidley Austin, LLP.

Diversity & Flexibility Alliance: How have you made flexibility a priority and a success with your schedule? How have the firm and/or clients contributed to this?

Abigail Molitor: I’ve worked a flexible schedule for nearly the entire time I’ve been at Sidley. I had my first child a few months after starting at the firm, and I returned from parental leave to an 80% reduced hours schedule. I’ve maintained that same schedule in the years since and through the birth of my second child. Over that time, I’ve found that the key to success is to periodically review and adjust how I organize my schedule within that general 80% framework. There have been times, particularly when my kids were very small, when it has been very important for me to manage the number of hours I worked in a day to accommodate other responsibilities. There have been other times, as my kids have gotten a bit older, where I have greater capacity to dig into more intense periods of work, then balance out my hours with longer periods of time off. In either case, I try to be intentional and thoughtful about the demands of my cases and the needs of my family to figure out how best to fit those puzzle pieces together.

Spotlight on Flex – Margaux Trammell

April 26, 2021

Our Spotlight on Flex showcases professionals from member organizations who exemplify personal and professional success while working a flexible schedule. Their stories illustrate the long-term benefits that flexible schedules offer to both individuals and organizations.

April 2021 Spotlight on Flex

For our April Spotlight on Flex, we’re pleased to highlight Margaux Trammell, Director of Professional Development, Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck.

Diversity & Flexibility Alliance: Please tell us a little about your background. When did you begin working a reduced hours schedule?

Margaux Trammell: I began my legal career in Switzerland before earning my LLM in American and comparative law and J.D. from the University of Denver Sturm College of Law in the U.S. I joined Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck over 15 years ago as a second-year corporate associate, where my practice focused on outside general counsel representation, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, corporate reorganizations and finance matters. I became a shareholder at the firm in due course shortly after welcoming my first child.

Prior to my maternity leave with my second son, I approached our co-managing partners and CEO at the time about potentially enrolling in our reduced-work schedule that nobody was taking advantage of at the time. During those discussions, I wanted to make sure they knew that even though I was going to be working reduced hours, I still wanted to be fully committed to the deals I was working on and to be involved in the success of the firm. I still wanted to take an active role, and wanted to make sure that my part-time status wouldn’t sideline my involvement in firm initiatives and client work.

If you are a professional working a flexible schedule and would like to share your story in an upcoming Spotlight on Flex, contact Jane Caldeira at jane@dfalliance.com.

Implement meaningful change within your organization.

Benefits of Membership

Spotlight On Flex

Showcasing success stories of professionals working flexible schedules.

CURRENT SPOTLIGHT

Spotlight – Jessamine Lee, Wolf, Greenfield & Sacks, P.C.

PAST SPOTLIGHTS

Spotlight on Flex – Maryam Casbarro, Davis Wright Tremaine

Spotlight on Flex – Abigail B. Molitor, Sidley Austin

Spotlight on Flex – Margaux Trammell

Implement meaningful change within your organization.

Let’s get started…

Get In Touch

Stay Connected