Here’s some news that will surprise few attorneys: Big Law isn’t conducive for working parents who want to be involved in their family’s everyday lives. Evan Goodman, our Lead Dad of the Week from Washington, D.C., challenged this notion but ultimately was forced to figure out a way to still practice corporate law at a high level and be a father and husband.
Evan and his wife met at New York University Law School and had the types of desirable offers those prestigious law school graduates expect – big law for him; fellowships and clerkships for her.
Their careers were going well. When his wife was pregnant with their first child in 2019, he reached out to a senior female attorney at his firm who was supposed to help new parents figure out law and life.
“I called her, and she said I have two kids in middle school, and we have a nanny who takes them to school and makes their lunches and then takes them to their activities. And we have an au pair at night who eats dinner with them,” he remembers. “That was it. I thought this is crazy! I need more involvement.”
He decided to do something radical when his first child was born: he took his full paternity leave. “Four days after I was back in the office, it was Covid,” he said. “For the next three years we juggled care and work. I took more of the care during the workday because I could do my work in the afternoons.”
Their second child was born in 2022. “When I came off of that leave, it was a very different environment,” he said. “Five months after leave, I got the best written review of my career. But because of the slowdown in corporate law and my focus at home I got a verbal request that I should start looking elsewhere. My last day was seven months after that.”
He had been the higher earner, but he said he was prepared for the change. Plus, his wife – who works for the Washington, D.C., attorney general – enjoyed her job more.
“In 2020, it felt like I could be the Lead Dad and be in big law because of unique global circumstances – I was remote, everyone was remote, no one cared if a kid was on my lap or I took a conference call at the zoo,” he said. “But in terms of the normal world, being asked to look elsewhere doesn’t feel good. Every client I’d worked with was happy. What upset the partners more wasn’t that I missed some small thing, but that I didn’t respond to an email in 15 minutes.”
Today, Evan runs his own corporate law practice and remains the Lead Dad for their two children. He has advice for other lawyer parents. “There are paths other than Big Law. It’s hard to see that when you’re in Big Law. There are ways to do this, even as a transactional lawyer that is remote and pays well.”
Welcome, Evan, to The Company of Dads!
