Bad-ass.As soon as someone (usually a middle-aged duder) would start going on and on about child care, flex-time, part-time, non-partner tracks, and other inapplicable women and family stuff, I would wait for a polite pause and inform them I wasn't interested in such things and would be interested in pursuing partner track if I came to their firm. And then I would ask a question about their patent litigation practice (what I do actually care about) to get back on track. Although this was borderline too ballsy, it was surprisingly well-received, saved wasting previous interview time, and perhaps dispelled any concerns at the same time.
I'm a female and I'll be 29 when I graduate... Forum
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- Shaggier1
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Re: I'm a female and I'll be 29 when I graduate...
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Re: I'm a female and I'll be 29 when I graduate...
My parents are attorneys (not biglaw) and I and my siblings were raised by a succession of nannies. It is eminently doable, and I really don't think I suffered all that much. Parents came home a decent hour, less stressed, the house was clean and the laundry done, and we still had dinner and did stuff together without the satrain of trying to "do it all". Yeah it is a financial strain I'm sure, but at least from the kids end, well worth it.
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Re: I'm a female and I'll be 29 when I graduate...
Anonymous User wrote:
A woman at my school scored a DC V50 SA position despite being very visibly pregnant through the entirety of OCI season
in all honesty, why not? the timing's just about perfect.]
I should have added that my school is low T1 and I don't know anyone else who bagged a DC SA.
Her probably superb credentials aside (shes on LR and from what I've heard a huge workaholic), I think that the firm also didn't mind polishing its "family-friendly" reputation.
- AlasLavinia
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Re: I'm a female and I'll be 29 when I graduate...
Don't be an asshole. Do you think a man would ever post "OH HEY GUISE I will be 30 when I finish law school and I will have a kid, will I be a liability?"
No. Having a child, at whatever age you choose to do so, whatever gender you are, increases career motivation.
I will be 32 when I finish next year. If I had a kid (which I plan to), I would only want to work harder and longer, to provide for it.
Also: It is incredibly unethical to create a false impression about your sexual identity during the interview process.
No. Having a child, at whatever age you choose to do so, whatever gender you are, increases career motivation.
I will be 32 when I finish next year. If I had a kid (which I plan to), I would only want to work harder and longer, to provide for it.
Also: It is incredibly unethical to create a false impression about your sexual identity during the interview process.
- Ragged
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Re: I'm a female and I'll be 29 when I graduate...
Just tell them you're sterile.
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- JennBNYC
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Re: I'm a female and I'll be 29 when I graduate...
#1) Yes, it shouldn't make a difference if you have a kid or not, but don't be naive. I have heard plenty of stories about job discrimination based on whether someone was male/female, married, gay, etc. Yes, it's wrong, but all I wanted to know was if people thought there was significant discrimination against women who started law in their thirties. And having kids may increase motivation, but it's also certainly a huge commitment of time. Even at the company I used to work at (not in the legal field) people almost always assumed that when a woman became pregnant she was going to leave, and a lot did. I have no intentions of doing this. Don't call me an asshole for asking about the prevalence of discrimination in a particular career that is already incredibly competitive.AlasLavinia wrote:Don't be an asshole. Do you think a man would ever post "OH HEY GUISE I will be 30 when I finish law school and I will have a kid, will I be a liability?"
No. Having a child, at whatever age you choose to do so, whatever gender you are, increases career motivation.
I will be 32 when I finish next year. If I had a kid (which I plan to), I would only want to work harder and longer, to provide for it.
Also: It is incredibly unethical to create a false impression about your sexual identity during the interview process.
#2) I don't think anyone was serious when they suggested creating a false impression about one's sexual identity. Relax.
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Re: I'm a female and I'll be 29 when I graduate...
This is absolutely not an issue. To someone in their mid-20s, a 4ish year age difference might mean something. Anyone older than you would laugh att this.
They like seeing experience, but don't see you as "old." When you are interviewing with some 60-something year old partner, people in their 20s are all the same, age-wise. They might (and most likely will) like to see that you've taken time off, but the 4-year age gap is nothing to them. Some people don't have kids till they're 40, some have them when they're 22. Even if wanting to start a family soon could possibly be seen as a negative (a different issue), there's no way they're calculating that somehow based on a slight age difference.
I will be 29 when I graduate. The work experience is a DEFINITE plus. The only time anything to do with family or kids came up it was in the context of female partners trying to sell the firms on how accommodating they are, and I'm sure that was because I'm a woman, not because my resume hints that I'm a couple years closer to that world than other candidates.
They like seeing experience, but don't see you as "old." When you are interviewing with some 60-something year old partner, people in their 20s are all the same, age-wise. They might (and most likely will) like to see that you've taken time off, but the 4-year age gap is nothing to them. Some people don't have kids till they're 40, some have them when they're 22. Even if wanting to start a family soon could possibly be seen as a negative (a different issue), there's no way they're calculating that somehow based on a slight age difference.
I will be 29 when I graduate. The work experience is a DEFINITE plus. The only time anything to do with family or kids came up it was in the context of female partners trying to sell the firms on how accommodating they are, and I'm sure that was because I'm a woman, not because my resume hints that I'm a couple years closer to that world than other candidates.
- JennBNYC
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Re: I'm a female and I'll be 29 when I graduate...
Thanks for the insight, I really do appreciate it.Anonymous User wrote:This is absolutely not an issue. To someone in their mid-20s, a 4ish year age difference might mean something. Anyone older than you would laugh att this.
They like seeing experience, but don't see you as "old." When you are interviewing with some 60-something year old partner, people in their 20s are all the same, age-wise. They might (and most likely will) like to see that you've taken time off, but the 4-year age gap is nothing to them. Some people don't have kids till they're 40, some have them when they're 22. Even if wanting to start a family soon could possibly be seen as a negative (a different issue), there's no way they're calculating that somehow based on a slight age difference.
I will be 29 when I graduate. The work experience is a DEFINITE plus. The only time anything to do with family or kids came up it was in the context of female partners trying to sell the firms on how accommodating they are, and I'm sure that was because I'm a woman, not because my resume hints that I'm a couple years closer to that world than other candidates.
- underdawg
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Re: I'm a female and I'll be 29 when I graduate...
a lot of my interviews had to do with their asia practices which i absolutely showed no interest in before/after the pitchamyLAchemist wrote:I'll also be 29 when I graduate, and 30 by the time I start working. I don't think it will hurt you, but I would be prepared to deal with it in interviews. I was surprised how a good deal of my interviews were so different than my male peers.
As soon as someone (usually a middle-aged duder) would start going on and on about child care, flex-time, part-time, non-partner tracks, and other inapplicable women and family stuff, I would wait for a polite pause and inform them I wasn't interested in such things and would be interested in pursuing partner track if I came to their firm. And then I would ask a question about their patent litigation practice (what I do actually care about) to get back on track. Although this was borderline too ballsy, it was surprisingly well-received, saved wasting previous interview time, and perhaps dispelled any concerns at the same time.
middle aged duders are just weird in general.
Last edited by underdawg on Sun Jan 28, 2018 11:47 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: I'm a female and I'll be 29 when I graduate...
I don't foresee your age being an issue, especially since you will still be relatively quite young (speaking in terms of professionals in general). Not to mention it would be an illegal form of discrimination for someone to not hire you based on age (and I believe the same is true of pregnancy status). Of course, the fact that something is illegal doesn't nec mean that it couldn't happen.
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