Mom Life and Law

Kailey Jacomet has created a law career that fits around her priorities and her lifestyle, not a life that fits around her law practice. When she first told me that, it struck me that most of us have built lives around our law practice. We fit family, fun, passions, and hobbies in the margins around our demanding careers.

But, how do you create the life and law career that you actually want?

Kailey knew from a young age that she wanted to be a lawyer and she wanted to be a mom. Reconciling how she...

Randi Johnson is a former law firm owner, mother of two daughters, business strategist, and end of life and bereavement doula.

Before meeting Randi, I had never known you could seek support from an advocate at the end of your life in the same way you do while giving birth. Birth doulas are more commonly known, but there are professionals who train to serve people who are dying. Randi Johnson took an unconventional path away from the practice of law and law firm ownership to follow her passion to do this work. She chose fulfilling her true...

Kori Carew is the Chief Inclusion & Diversity Officer at Seyfarth Shaw, a former law firm partner and litigator, a TedX Speaker, a mother, an artist, and a force for good in this world. Kori is someone who is not afraid to tell the truth and disrupt the status quo. She is a leader in the legal industry when it comes to combating bias and fostering inclusion. 

When reading about Kori's many accomplishments, it would be easy to feel intimidated. However, Kori's warmth will immediately draw you in. She has a unique ability to reflect and get to t...

Loraine Martinez Bellamy is a public interest lawyer, mom, wife, and life & business coach. In her coaching business, she helps ambitious women get crystal clear on their dream career or business and create a master plan to obtain it. She calls herself that bold friend who helps you see where you're holding yourself back and just do the thing you want.

In this episode, we discuss Loraine's journey to coaching. She hit a point as she was turning 30, when she had achieved major goals in her career and personal life but still felt like something was missing...

Jeena Cho is a mom to a two-year-old daughter, mindfulness and meditation teacher, coach for anxious lawyers, and recovering lawyer with nearly 15 years of practice experience. Since leaving the practice of law, Jeena has focused her career on helping lawyers improve their wellbeing with stress and anxiety management through her book, speaking engagements, and one-on-one coaching.

Jeena shares details about her experience with anxiety and how it motivated her to help other lawyers.

Lawyers receive a lot of messages about wellbeing that focus on what you, the individual, can do, to improve your stress and...

Nicole Kuklok-Waldman calls herself "The Lucky Lawyer." She calls herself lucky because she has found tools to face difficult choices with clarity to truly enjoy her life and career. Nicole spent many years working in BigLaw, before shifting focus to lobbying at her own firm in Los Angeles, CA.

After the birth of her first child, Nicole realized that mindset and thought work were powerful tools to find joy, even in difficult chapters of life. In this episode, we talk about how powerful our thoughts truly are and what happens when we realize we have the power...

Kristin Bock can help you build a nonverbal advantage so you can better connect, engage, and lead others. She's a mom of three and a Certified Body Language  & Communication Specialist. She helps you tap into empathy and utilize emotional intelligence to communicate more effectively.

Kristin and I met at a virtual conference during the pandemic, and I've been fascinated with her work since.

By learning body language and nonverbal cues, you can better recognize those cues and respond effectively to others. This can help you to communicate in a way to build connections and strong r...

It can be easy to say, "I don't have time," or "I can't," when it comes to prioritizing your health. While there may be many reasons why you believe you can't eat healthy or can't exercise, Megan O'Neill is here to encourage you to break that belief barrier.

Megan O'Neill is a litigator turned health and wellness coach, personal trainer, and nutrition specialist. In this episode, Megan shares techniques that she uses with her clients to help them get started and to maintain a healthy lifestyle. 

We talk about setting realistic goals, ways to seek o...

Kelly Nolan is a lawyer mom turned entrepreneur and time management strategist.  She helps busy professional women manage their time with simple, actionable steps to calm the overwhelm.

As a patent litigator working at a big law firm, Kelly grew frustrated with how much time she wasted trying (and often failing) to slog through her never-ending to-do list and ever-full email inbox. She was stressed. She felt like she should just know how to manage it all. 

Learn about how Kelly found clarity in her own life. She started using time management strategies you can st...

It's amazing how taking action on a dream propels you to take more action, and more action. It is in pushing past the fear and taking courageous action that you will see your life transform.

This has been the biggest lesson I've learned in 50 episodes of podcasting.

This week, I share about the power of taking action, the power of storytelling, the power of building relationships with other lawyer moms online, and how taking time to pursue something that brings you joy is a powerful way to go from surviving to thriving.

Prioritizing...

Taylor Poncz is a law firm partner, mother to three, podcast host, and outspoken supporter of lawyer moms. In this episode, Taylor talks about how she took an unconventional path to law firm partnership. She had three kids in roughly two years (her first two are twins!), went on a reduced schedule, and put herself up for partner shortly thereafter.

She talks about the power of relationships, having the confidence to advocate for herself, and her fierce determination to make life as a lawyer and a mom work for her. Taylor also talks about her efforts to...

Nicole Clark is a litigator turned technology company CEO.

As a litigator, she saw a pain point in state court litigation. She wanted to be able to access and search state court data. She was often frustrated by sending internal emails and collecting anecdotes on judges in order to make strategic case recommendations.

She had an idea to solve this problem. She sought the help of engineers to build a platform to be able to search across state court records. While still practicing law at a law firm, she created Trellis, a comprehensive AI-powered state...

Jamie Sternberg is a trademark lawyer, mom of three, and LinkedIn networking maven. It all started with a career move to a smaller law firm, where Jamie had to develop her own book of business. She turned to networking in her local community and started speaking at events. Then, just as it did for all of us, the pandemic changed everything. Jamie turned to creative networking on LinkedIn.

In this episode, Jamie shares ways you can use LinkedIn for business development and networking.

Follow and Connect with Jamie Sternberg: 
Jamie Sternberg | LinkedIn
Jamie S...

Arivee Vargas is a certified life and high-performance coach for women professionals. She helps women shift their mindset to overcome fears, limiting beliefs, self-doubt, and other roadblocks in order to have the lives and careers they really want and deserve.  She is also a lawyer, a podcast host, an unapologetic professional and personal development nerd, and fiery Latina mama of three.

In this episode, we talk about the process Arivee went through and how she coaches her clients to own their worth in order to make transformations in their lives. 

From career transition, to motherhood, to...

Angela Han is an in-house lawyer, mom, podcast host, and life coach for lawyers. She helps her clients transform their blind spots into transformational action. In this episode, we dive into what working with a life coach looks like.

Part of it is asking yourself, " What do I need to see that I am not seeing?"

Angela shares some of her struggles that led her to changer her own life, launch her podcast, and start coaching lawyers.  She explains that if you start practicing self-love, it will feel easy to take advantage of what life p...

Jamie Spannhake is here to help you manage your mind and your time to be able to do what you truly value. It is possible to calm the chaos as a lawyer mom. Sound too good to be true? Listen in for some actionable strategies, in addition to examples from Jamie's life about how she has built the life she truly wanted. She is an example of what is possible.

Jamie is a law firm partner at a small firm, a sought-after speaker, author of The Lawyer, the Lion, & the Laundry, mom to an amazing 10-year-old daughter...

Jamie Szal is a state and local tax litigator and lawyer mom to a three year old daughter. You may recognize her from her consistent presence on LinkedIn and Above the Law. One issue she speaks and writes passionately about is her experience as a lawyer mom who is the primary breadwinner in her family.

In this episode, Jamie discusses how her love of the law and her career goals shaped her marriage, and later on, her family. With clear communication and mutual respect, Jamie and her husband made their decision for him to stay home with...

Annie Little is a real estate lawyer mom turned career coach. Annie specializes in supporting lawyers through their job searches and career transitions.

Part of navigating a career transition is the salary negotiation. We dive into the real struggles women lawyers face when approaching interview questions about past salaries, figuring out your ideal salary number, and how to make the ask with confidence. 

In this episode, we talk about Annie's journey from the practice of law to hiring her own coach to getting her coaching certification and starting her own business. She's passionate about helping l...

Do you have over six figures in law school debt? Have you ever calculated your net worth? Do you earn a sizable income but wonder where the money goes each month? These are all questions we tackle in this episode.

Up next in the Mom Life and Law Podcast series on money is Rho Thomas. She's a trademark lawyer in BigLaw, a mom of two toddlers, and a personal finance advocate.

Soon after their first son was born, Rho and her husband realized they had more than $670,000 in debt, comprised of their student loans, a...

Up next in the Mom Life and Law Podcast series on money is lawyer mom turned Certified Financial Planner and Wealth Advisor, Jennifer Belmont Jennings of Hightower Wealth Advisors.

Jennifer is a former estate planning and family law attorney, who navigated her early years of practice during the financial crisis. She gained valuable skills as an attorney but found that the stress of litigation with an infant was not the life she wanted. Working now as a wealth advisor she gets to use her skills to help her clients confidently refine their financial plans to build wealth...

Up next in the Mom Life and Law Podcast series on money is lawyer mom of twins and Accredited Financial Counselor, Jessica Medina of Jessica Medina, LLC.

Have you had an inflection point in your life, where you knew you had to make a change? That moment came for Jessica Medina when she had to decide whether to put herself up for partner. Jessica practiced for eight years as a BigLaw litigation associate, before taking a position in the Division of Enforcement at the SEC. After practicing for nearly 14 years, she realized she needed to make a...

Up next in the Mom Life and Law Podcast series on money is Senior Partner & Wealth Advisor, Kristin Brandli Printon of Moxie Wealth Management.

Her goal is to motivate and educate women so that they can make better financial decisions with clarity and confidence. Money isn't the ultimate goal. Instead, the goal is to learn how to use money to design your best life. Kristin believes that having deep discussions about your goals will frame your financial plan. What is your why? What do you want your life to look like? As a wealth advisor, Kristin is...

For the rest of the month of May, the episodes on the Mom Life and Law Podcast are going to be all about money, from how we think about it, to the goals we set, to some practical guidance on what to do, to what to consider when hiring money professionals, to negotiation, to getting intentional, when things may have been on auto-pilot for quite some time.

Up first is Jacquette Timmons. Jacquette is a Financial Behaviorist, and the President & CEO of Sterling Investment Management, Inc. She focuses on the human side of money, where...

Estelle Winsett is a lawyer mom, a professional development director at an Am Law 200 firm, and a empowering force for other women lawyers. 

Estelle practiced in employment defense litigation before utilizing her law degree in a non-traditional way. She served as legal recruiter and then as Dean of Career Services at the University of Memphis School of Law. Estelle then joined Butler Snow as the firm's first Director of Professional Development, where she created a professional development department to help the firm's attorneys reach their fullest potential.

In her spare time, she is a personal s...

Laura Yaeger is a trial lawyer, a mom of twins, a leader in mass torts litigation, a legal consultant, a role model for women lawyers everywhere.

Laura leads by example. She supports her network fiercely and helps other lawyers build confidence with her collaborative leadership style. She is the current chair of American Association for Justice’s Women’s Trial Lawyer Caucus, co-founder and past chair of the AAJ’s LGBT Caucus, is on the AAJ Board of Governors, and is a member of the AAJ Executive Committee.

Laura founded Yaeger Law, P.L.L.C. on...

How do you relax? How do you de-stress? How do you calm the overwhelm? If you are struggling, you are not alone. In this episode, hear from a dynamic lawyer mom who has shares some evidence-based strategies she uses herself and with her coaching clients.

Marcia Narine Weldon is a lawyer, a mom, a law professor, a success coach, general counsel of a sustainable startup and of a boutique law firm, a business consultant, and a blogger on corporate law and sustainability. She's also a speed reader, which helps her get everything done!

Through her...

Sara Williams is a is a trial lawyer, a mentor, a thought leader, a mother, a wife, a law professor, and a fierce supporter of other women. More than any role she plays, she is an example of a woman authentically walking in her purpose. 

I had the pleasure of crossing paths with Sara at trial lawyer events, law professor conferences, and in Facebook groups for lawyer moms. Before we became friends, I admired her warmth and her confidence.

Sara is not afraid to speak up when it is needed and to encourage other women t...

Does feeding yourself and your family feel like just one task too many on your long to-do list? Does figuring out dinner each night stress you out? Do you wish that you had a way to get a meal on the table with ease (and one that your kids will actually eat!)?

Celestina Brunetti is here with simple solutions to help you get a meal on the table with ease.

She's a professional chef and registered dietician. In her work in restaurants, hospitals, and as a personal chef, she found that many people didn't know...

Ari Alvarez is on a mission to help diverse attorneys advance in their careers. She is a partner at Holland & Knight, a certified career coach, and a certified life coach. She is also the host of the Legally Balanced Podcast.

Through the Legally Balanced Podcast, Ari provides practical, bite-sized nuggets of career and business development advice for diverse attorneys, much of which was the advice she wished she knew when she was on her path to partnership. Her goal is to give diverse lawyers an edge, by sharing what she has learned in her 25 years of practice. <...

Imagine you're on maternity leave, bathing your newborn baby in the sink, and you get a multiple calls from your boss. He needs to be briefed on an issue before a meeting the next day. He then gets mad and berates you for not picking up those calls, all while you're on unpaid maternity leave. That's just what happened to Melissa Caballero Alton during maternity leave with her first son.

She decided enough was enough. She left her firm and started her own when her first son was only 2.5 months old.

She doesn't...

Tovah Kopan is a mom of three boys, a recovering lawyer, legal technology consultant, podcast host, non-profit co-founder, activist, and outspoken supporter of all women. With her podcast co-host and fellow lawyer mom, Rielly Karsh, Tovah encourages women to build an intentional life, filled with purpose, meaning, and courage through a weekly message on the We Go Boldly Podcast.

In this episode, we dive into why Tovah was inspired to start a podcast that unpacks society's expectations of women and the importance of authenticity. We then examine how she has experienced the power of joy in the...

Melanie Lippman is an image consultant, personal branding expert, and confidence coach for women lawyers. 

Are you tired of the clothes in your closet, many of which you haven't worn for most of the pandemic? Back when you had to go into the office, did you spend several minutes each morning standing in your closet, trying to decide what to wear? Do you dread buying clothes because you don't feel like it's easy to find things that flatter your figure?

Melanie Lippman works with women lawyers to stop the stress and overwhelm of getting dressed t...

Sue Bunnell is currently a Senior Vice President and Managing Counsel at Wells Fargo, where she has been for over 20 years in a variety of legal roles. She currently leads a team handling information security, technology, renewable energy, physical security, property management, construction, and a wide-ranging vendor transactional practice in support of the company’s over 6000 locations in 33 countries worldwide. As you can imagine, she has been quite busy during the pandemic, serving as a guiding voice on Wells Fargo’s COVID-19 and pandemic response activities to keep essential workers and customers safe in Wells Fargo’s facilities. 

Sue...

Judge Rosemarie Aquilina has faced sexism and gendered norms with the fierce determination to use her own voice and to chart her own path. In this episode, Judge Aquilina details her journey through formative experiences that shaped her into the woman and the judge she is today. She is a mom of 5, judge, author, law professor, retired military JAG officer, and motivational speaker. Through it all, she has used her strength to speak out, not only for herself, but also for other women.

Connect with and Follow Judge Aquilina at:
www.rosemarieaquilina.com
...

Claire E. Parsons is a law firm partner, mother of two daughters, published author, and passionate advocate of mindfulness meditation. At a low point in her life and career, she began a mindfulness practice. Claire shares how it transformed her life, her motherhood journey, and her legal career. Claire completed the 160-hour online meditation teacher certification program with The Mindfulness Center, to refine her understanding of the science of mindfulness and its practical applications. Claire enjoys writing and teaching about her experience with mindfulness in her practical, and often humorous voice, to help others in the legal profession take...

Heather Chauvin is a woman wise beyond her years. She is a mom of three boys, former social worker, author, leadership coach, podcast host, TEDx speaker, and so much more. Heather helps ambitious, overwhelmed women conquer their fears and become leaders at work and home. Heather uses a signature approach to help her clients create and enjoy sustainability, profitability, and ease in business and in life.

She is the host of the Mom Is In Control Podcast where she reveals her most vulnerable truths about womanhood, marriage, parenting, living through stage 4 cancer, and running a successful business...

It's amazing how you can make meaningful connections online, if you're open to the possibility. 

Talar Herculian Coursey has never met a stranger. I met Talar on LinkedIn during the pandemic. We found out we had a few friends in common, all of whom were also women each of us had me online. Talar is a pro at making meaningful connections and supporting others. It shows up in her work as General Counsel for Vista Ford, in the books she's authored and co-authored, and in her work to support a charity close to her heart, the Society f...

Several years into her law practice, Aman Costigan came to the realization that she didn't want lose all the parts of her identity as a person in order to be a good lawyer. In fact, when she followed the teachings of her yoga practice, she found freedom to start showing up authentically. Part of showing up authentically was sharing her love of yoga with other lawyers.

As a partner at a law firm in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, Aman practices as independent counsel for tribunals deciding professional disciplinary actions. Her job can certainly be stressful. Aman shares how...

Do you dream a life and a career that actually work for you? Are you craving connection with other women who understand what you’re going through right now? Are you frustrated by the lack of diversity and the low number of women in leadership positions in the law? Moms get shit done. If not us, if not now, then when?

Mom Life and Law LIVE is a leadership summit for lawyer moms, taking place virtually on Friday, May 7, 2021.

When powerful women gather, we make meaningful connections that help us in business and in...

Megan shares her takeaways from four months of interviewing badass women on the Mom Life and Law Podcast. While on a mission to help lawyer moms thrive, Megan's interviews reveal a common theme: we are all seeking purpose and fulfilment in our lives. The women who have shared their stories and experiences on the podcast have shown us all great examples of what is possible when we pursue our purpose.

Mom Life and Law is a podcast for lawyer moms who are expected to mother as if they have no job and lawyer as if they have...