Top Law Schools

I'm a 6th corporate associate at a major international firm. I just found out I'm pregnant (due early August). I am planning to wait to tell my firm I'm pregnant until after the first week of February, which is when we are usually paid bonuses. I haven't taken a single day off in 2020 (my practice was busy as usual through the pandemic), and I'm feeling extremely burnt out and would like to take a week off in early January. However, I'm somewhat apprehensive with how it will be perceived to (1) take time off right after the holidays, and (2) take time off right before I give notice of my pregnancy. My concern is if I don't take vacation until I give notice, will it look even worse for me to take time off before my maternity leave once everyone knows I'm pregnant (and will be going on leave soon). Is that considered taboo? Thoughts? Thanks!

Can you put the vacation on your calendar now, and make sure the partners and other folks that you commonly work with are aware of it now? At least, that if that is how vacations commonly work at firms I'm familiar with. That way you can take your "already scheduled" vacation, rather than asking for vacation and then a few weeks later telling the firm about maternity. Sorry you've got to stress about this.

I know somebody that followed a very similar fact pattern and was able to pull it off without rustling any feathers (though she was also already well-respected).

In early January, she confirmed with partners that she would take a full two-week vacation in early/mid February. Then, in early/mid March, she shared that she was pregnant, with a due date in early August. She was able to pull it off without any issue AND only blow her hours for that single year!

One thing that probably helped is that she had shared a specific reason for wanting to take the vacation exactly when she did -- i.e. she explained that she would be going to XYZ place, where ABC thing was happening on the date that she visited. I'm sure that wasn't necessary, but in retrospect it probably wouldn't hurt if you could come up with some rationale for the where and why.

First, congratulations on the exciting news!

A mentor told me when I was a new junior associate: Take care of yourself, because no one else will take care of you! Get into the habit of taking time off early because it only gets harder to do so as you advance in your career. A year with no vacation is not a sustainable way to live and it does not matter what practice group you're in or how busy your firm or group was. You can't be your best self at work if you don't regularly take meaningful time away. Taking a vacation in January after a year of no vacation should have zero impact on your decision to utilize parental leave in August, not least because mothering a child, while a precious experience, is not a "vacation".

One benefit of working at a big-law firm is that there is almost always someone else who can capably cover you (and if there isn't, then you should devote more effort to training, delegating, recruiting and otherwise involving others in your projects).

I'm a senior associate in a very busy group. Since my first year I've taken a minimum of 4 weeks off a year. I've taken two parental leaves since starting, always utilizing the benefit to the fullest amount (4 weeks back when I started and 12 weeks for our most recent child). I am always very grateful for the coverage, but I am absolutely unapologetic about my time off and encourage the junior associates I work with to do the same.
Good luck to you!

Honestly you should just take the vacation and the maternity leave and this should be a non-issue. I think if you just put the vacation on the calendar now it's fine...your maternity leave isn't for another 7-8 months so your firm needs to get over it if they're upset by this (and if they are, I'd consider moving firms but I guess maybe all firms in biglaw are even worse than I think they are, which isn't saying much).