DIVERSITY CORNER
Will COVID-19 Make the Practice of Law
Friendlier to Working Mothers?
KATHRYN LEWIS PERRIN
One hundred years ago, the United States
passed the Nineteenth Amendment to our
Constitution, guaranteeing women the
right to vote. Of course, women have made
great strides since then, especially in the
legal profession. Women sit on the United
States Supreme Court and in the United
States Congress. The current president of
the Florida Bar and the immediate past
president of the Palm Beach County Bar
Association are both women. It is not
uncommon that I find myself in a courtroom
(or more frequently these days, in a Zoom
room) arguing against a female attorney in
front of a female judge.
These advances are not inconsequential.
In fact, some might say they are proof
that women attorneys are finally on equal
footing with their male colleagues. Yet
when asked to contemplate the current
state of women in the law, my mind
immediately races back to a letter to the
editor that appeared in the Florida Bar
News three years ago. After the Bar’s
Board of Governors proposed a rule
allowing attorneys to obtain three-month
continuances for parental leave, a fellow
Bar member mocked the proposal by
dismissing it as “political correctness”
and suggesting that “perhaps the new
rule will spawn a new specialty: Gestation
& Lactation, P.A. Board Certified in
Continuances.”
The letter was a stark reminder that no
matter how far women, and in particular
working mothers, have come in the legal
world, the legal world is not built for mothers.
The law in Florida is well-established that
a litigant is entitled to counsel of their
choosing, and that to deny a continuance
based on an attorney’s health or medical
needs is almost always reversible error. But
to my esteemed letter-writing colleague,
the idea of a three-month continuance to
allow an attorney to birth a child, recover
from that birth, establish a breast-feeding
pattern (not always an easy task, as any
mother can attest), and to receive medical
care for all of the above, was something
to be ridiculed and belittled. In the end, it
seems that in the mind of that writer, there
was a fundamental conflict between the
role of an attorney and the role of a mother.
Fast-forward three years. At the time of
this writing, COVID-19 continues to explode
across the state. Palm Beach County
schools have been closed since March, and
our school board has delayed the start of
the school year to prevent an even more
widespread outbreak. When school returns,
it is likely to be virtual, at least in part, and
with a more structured curriculum than in
the spring. Should that happen, the burden
of childcare -- including shepherding
children through their online classes
-- will, once again, fall disproportionally
to mothers. For working moms of all
stripes, the pandemic has exacerbated the
longstanding gender gap in housework and
childcare. For women attorneys, COVID-19
serves as a special reminder that the legal
profession still too often operates on the
assumption that an attorney can easily bill
upwards of fifty hours a week while the
attorney’s spouse handles the domestic
work and childcare in the background.
Women, of course, almost never have that
luxury; according to United States Census
data, only seven percent of fathers do not
work outside the home.
For many women attorneys, the challenges
ahead seem insurmountable, especially
for those attorneys who are single
mothers, or whose spouses cannot work
from home. Although I am fortunate to
work at a firm that provides excellent
flexibility and accommodations, I’ve lost
far too much sleep worrying about how I
will keep my young daughter focused on
her schoolwork on one computer, while I
attend a work-related Zoom conference on
another. How will I manage my clients,
attend court hearings, bill my hours, and
oversee my child’s virtual school day?
If I need accommodations, extensions,
or continuances, will clients, opposing
counsel, and judges be sympathetic? Or
will I be demeaned and snickered at? Will
someone write a sarcastic letter to the
editor, dismissing me as “board certified in
recess and naptime?”
The world, and the law, has changed
dramatically over the past hundred
years, but they still have far to go. Our
profession has been slow to accept and
accommodate working mothers. Perhaps,
on the centennial anniversary of women’s
suffrage, this is the year that our profession
has no choice.
Kathryn Lewis Perrin practices guardianship
and probate litigation with the law
firm of Kitroser & Associates.
i
See, e.g., City of Lauderdale Lakes v. Enterprise Leasing
Co., 654 So. 2d 645 (Fla. 4th DCA 1995).
ii
See, e.g., Ziegler v. Klein, 590 So.2d 1066 (Fla. 4th DCA 1991).
iii
Goldberg, E., The pandemic’s setbacks for working
moms, N.Y. Times (July 2, 2020), https://www.nytimes.
com/2020/07/02/insider/virus-working-moms.html;
Cohen, P. and Hsu, T., Pandemic could scar a generation
of working mothers, N.Y. Times (updated June 30,
2020), https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/03/business/
economy/coronavirus-working-women.html.
iv
Livingston, G., Stay-at-home moms and dads account for
about 1-in-5 U.S. parents, Pew Rsch. Ctr. (Sept. 24, 2018),
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/09/24/
stay-at-home-moms-and-dads-account-for-about-onein-five-u-s-parents/.
Mark Your Calendar
Tuesday, October 6 th
12:00 P.M. - 1:00 P.M.
Live via Zoom
www.PalmBeachBar.org
Law enforcement officers are
entitled to qualified immunity
when their actions do not violate
a clearly established statutory or
constitutional right.
The Committee for Diversity
& Inclusion will present a live
webinar on October 6th, 2020 at
12:00 P.M. regarding this issue.
PBCBA BAR BULLETIN
9