Litigators, Pregnancy / Paternity, Trials

Should Judges Delay Trials For Pregnant Lawyers?

Women should not be forced to view their pregnancies as career stumbling blocks or reasons to leave the legal profession.

By  
on
'I may be in labor, but I've got to get to court!'

‘I may be in labor, but I’ve got to get to court!’

Annually, a great percentage of female litigators leave the legal profession during their childbearing years. Have you ever wondered what could be the cause of this mass exodus?

Perhaps it’s because of horror stories like that of solo practitioner Stacy Ehrisman-Mickle. In 2014, she was denied a continuance while on maternity leave and forced to bring her newborn to court, only to have her parenting skills questioned by the very judge who refused to postpone the hearing. The judge said Ehrisman-Mickle’s maternity leave was “no good cause” for a continuance. Perhaps it’s because of terrible tales like that of federal litigator Deborah Misir. Just one month after Ehrisman-Mickle’s story made headlines nationwide, Misir, whose pregnancy was considered high risk, requested an adjournment for a federal trial set to take place during her third trimester. Instead of agreeing to the trial delay, federal prosecutors allegedly “shouted at and insulted” Misir.

At the time, we noted that “basic human courtesy gets tossed to the wind when women lawyers become pregnant, and it’s an embarrassment to our legal profession that women continue to be treated in this way.” Two years later, one state — Florida — has proposed a rule that would require judges to grant motions for continuance for parental leave, but its progress has since been hampered. Law.com has more information on the rule:

Florida’s proposed rule has been well-received in many corners, with unanimous backing from the Florida Bar’s diversity and inclusion committee and a resolution of support from the Dade County Bar Association. But its progress has stalled amid concerns from members of Florida’s Rules of Judicial Administration Committee that the rule could impinge on judicial discretion.

“We elect or appoint judges to make decisions, not just to check off the blocks with rules,” said solo practitioner Bill Vose of Orlando, a member of the committee.

Other critics point to a risk of abuse by firms or attorneys trying to get more time on a case, and object that a rule encouraging continuances for parental leave ignores other situations that could require an attorney’s absence, such as caring for an ailing family member.

Opponents of Florida’s proposed rule say that judicial discretion should be the prevailing standard, and that a rule like this could lead to widespread abuse of the system. Some suggest that law firms might have the gall to place pregnant attorneys on specific cases, not for their career development, of course, but only to receive continuances.

It seems those adverse to Florida’s proposed rule would rather see women continue to face career setbacks by being forced to hand off their cases to colleagues than tie judges’ hands when it comes to human decency. Thankfully, there’s still hope for this rule:

Sponsored

[S]upporters of the rule are pushing for the rules committee to work with the diversity and inclusion committee to reconsider pushing the proposal to the Florida Bar board of governors.

Florida Bar President Bill Schifino is putting the question to fellow members of the bar’s executive committee next Monday. If they agree the full board of governors should discuss the idea of a joint task force between the two committees, it will be on the board’s agenda for its July 29 meeting.

“We believe it’s very important that all the stakeholders have a voice in this process,” including judges and lawyers, Schifino said Friday. “It’s a very important issue for all of our practitioners, particularly women.”

In the meantime, pregnant attorneys in America remain beholden to judges’ impulses, but they deserve so much more than the poor treatment they so often receive.

Pregnancy should not be seen as an inconvenience or an imposition upon clients, colleagues, or the court system. Women should not be forced to view their pregnancies as career stumbling blocks or reasons to leave the legal profession just because they live in one of the countries with the worst accommodations for working mothers in the world. If anything, their pregnancies should be celebrated and supported. Women have taken the bar exam while in labor. Women have given birth at their law firms. Childbirth is one of the most difficult things a woman will ever have to go through — it shouldn’t be made more difficult by the profession they’ve labored to be a part of all their lives.

Go to your state bar association and lobby for — nay, demand — a rule like the one that’s been proposed in Florida. It’s really the least your bar association can do for lawyers given the sorry state of affairs for pregnant women and new mothers in this country.

Should Judges Delay Trials for Pregnant Lawyers? [Law.com]

Sponsored

Staci Zaretsky is an editor at Above the Law. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments. Follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.

Topics

, , , , , , , , , , , ,