Top Law Schools

I have some questions about parental leave.

I'm looking at NALP and different firms parental leave benefits.

Some of them are like Female 16, Male 4, some are Female 12, Male 12, some are primary caregiver 12, secondary caregiver 4.

Couple questions about this:
1. Does female male literally mean female male, or is it functionally primary/secondary caregiver (and they assume that there are no breadwinning women)?
2. Do any firms allow staggering of parental leave? e.g. primary caregiver takes 12 weeks, after those 12 weeks secondary caregiver gets 4 weeks (this is assuming both partners are not working at same firm).
3. When a firm says 16 weeks for paid parental leave, do they really mean it? If someone is not aiming for partner but wants to stay for 5 years, will that result in getting pushed out? In bad references? What if one has three kids? Four?
4. Is there a difference between big firms and lit boutiques for how taking parental leave is viewed?
5. Any other useful info on the realities of parental leave would be helpful.

Thanks!

Anonymous User wrote:1. Does female male literally mean female male, or is it functionally primary/secondary caregiver (and they assume that there are no breadwinning women)?

The person giving birth is generally the one who gets the longer leave. You'd have to dig into the specific firm policies for the details (note that the particulars of these policies are usually not available until you've been hired).

Anonymous User wrote:2. Do any firms allow staggering of parental leave? e.g. primary caregiver takes 12 weeks, after those 12 weeks secondary caregiver gets 4 weeks (this is assuming both partners are not working at same firm).

Yes, this is what many couples do.

Anonymous User wrote:3. When a firm says 16 weeks for paid parental leave, do they really mean it? If someone is not aiming for partner but wants to stay for 5 years, will that result in getting pushed out? In bad references? What if one has three kids? Four?

Most firms do mean it. Allowing for various unpleasant personalities that may be encountered in law practice now and again, taking maternity leave should not get one pushed out or result in bad references, regardless of the number of children. That said, for obvious reasons, I wouldn't go around advertising that you're only planning to stay for X number of years.

Anonymous User wrote:4. Is there a difference between big firms and lit boutiques for how taking parental leave is viewed?

Firms have their idiosyncrasies, but I think most will at least attempt to respect maternity leave. Larger firms will likely have more of a buffer to redistribute the work of the person on leave, but since there is ample forewarning of an impending maternity leave, firms regardless of size should have sufficient time to arrange work assignments in advance.