Partner Advises Women Law Grads to Value Adversity, Get Real About Balance
Andrews Kurth partner Kathleen Wu wishes someone would have told her at her law school graduation in 1985 to get real about work-life balance.
It’s possible to have work and a family, Wu advises women law grads in a Texas Lawyer article. But there will be sacrifices.
“Recent grads shouldn’t get their hearts set on ‘having it all,’ ” Wu says. “The practice of law is demanding—exceedingly so. It is next to impossible to balance a full-time legal career with marriage, children and regular trips to the gym. It’s no coincidence that the two women most recently nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court—now-Justice Sonia Sotomayor and nominee/U.S. Solicitor General Elena Kagan—are unmarried and childless.”
Wu also advises women to trumpet their career successes—a practice that can come in handy at bonus time. She also says grads should be grateful about graduating in a bad economy because it will teach creativity and resilience that can pay off in later years.
