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Revolutionary Arrangement Will Allow Federal Law Clerk To Take Parental Leave During Clerkship

Far too many law clerks have been forced to choose between their careers and their families. That ends today.

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Here at Above the Law, we frequently write about parental leave programs for associates at Biglaw firms, but we’ve never had the opportunity to write about parental leave programs for law clerks within the federal judiciary. To our knowledge, federal clerks are usually forced to extensively plan for pregnancies and adoptions so that they’ll occur before their clerkships begin or after they’ve concluded. Why’s that? Generally speaking, federal term clerks do not receive formal parental leave, and if a judge is kind enough to allow parental leave off the books, employment is not extended to account for the law clerk’s time spent away from chambers due to hiring plan timelines. Clerks must often choose between their careers and their families.

That ends today.

One law clerk is about to take part in a revolutionary program that will not only allow her to take formal parental leave during her federal clerkship, but will also allow one of the associates at her firm to stand in for her at her clerkship while she’s recovering from childbirth and bonding with her newborn.

Rachel Tuchman

Meet Rachel Tuchman. Rachel, a 2017 graduate of Yale Law, is an associate at Kaplan & Company (which will soon be known as Kaplan, Hecker & Fink), the litigation boutique that was founded by the legendary Roberta Kaplan last summer. Tuchman, who is expecting her first child, will be leaving the firm for a time and clerking for Judge Nicholas Garaufis of the Eastern District of New York.

Concerned that no parental leave was built into the clerkship, Kaplan contacted Judge Garaufis and made him an offer he couldn’t refuse: Seguin Strohmeier, another associate at the firm — one who then went through the regular hiring and interview process for a federal clerkship — would fill in for Tuchman for three months so that his chambers wouldn’t be understaffed, allowing her to take leave time and later return to finish out her clerkship. Kaplan is thrilled Judge Garaufis said yes:

A judicial clerkship is an important stepping stone in the career of a young litigator, providing crucial hands-on experience as well as relationships that remain important throughout one’s career. At Kaplan & Co., we were delighted to be able to invent a new way to do this so that Rachel can clerk for Judge Garaufis and at the same time start a family, without having to sacrifice anything with respect to her career. Not surprisingly, Judge Garaufis demonstrated what a mensch he is by enthusiastically embracing our plan. Both Rachel and Seguin are exceptional lawyers — Judge Garaufis will benefit from their intelligence, talent, and dedication, just as they will greatly benefit from their clerkships with him. And we, in turn, cannot wait for them to return to our Firm at the conclusion of their clerkships.

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Tuchman couldn’t be happier that she’ll be able to take maternity leave during her clerkship without facing any undue repercussions in her professional or personal life:

I’ve always felt incredibly fortunate to be at a firm where every lawyer can succeed, regardless of circumstance, in large part because of our progressive family leave policies and an ethos of work-life balance. But, when I told the firm I was pregnant, I was truly amazed at how they went a big step further to ensure that even after I had left the firm, my clerkship and career success would not be impeded by having a child. The partners made sure that my Judge would have the necessary support by offering him the opportunity to work with an amazing associate so that I could take the time I needed with my family. It is especially impressive in a boutique litigation firm, where I know the loss of one associate makes a huge difference. This experience has demonstrated to me why I am so lucky to start my career at a women-led firm that not only works to ensure women’s equality through our #TimesUp work, but it puts its money where its mouth is.

Seguin Strohmeier

Strohmeier, a 2016 graduate of Yale Law, who will be clerking for Judge Garaufis during Tuchman’s maternity leave, said that she’s “extremely excited about the opportunity to clerk for Judge Garaufis and grateful that the firm is so supportive of me, and of Rachel,” and she she “feel[s] very lucky to work at a flexible and progressive law firm, where the partners are invested in the professional development and personal success of all of their associates and staff.”

Professor Suzanne Goldberg, the director of the Center for Gender and Sexuality Law and the Sexuality and Gender Law Clinic at Columbia Law School, offered further perspective on the uniqueness of the plan that was arranged for Tuchman by Roberta Kaplan and her partners at Kaplan & Co. “For too many years, there has been an implicit rule that any woman considering clerking should avoid getting pregnant before starting the job. Yet as we all know, life does not always match up perfectly to our work calendars,” she noted. “Finding ways to create short-term clerkship coverage with law firm associates and others who are in the early stages of their careers can create valuable benefits both for judges and for lawyers interested in clerking but unable to dedicate a full year to the experience.”

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We here at Above the Law would like to congratulate Rachel Tuchman, Seguin Strohmeier, and Kaplan & Company on arranging what seems to be the perfect plan that will allow an incoming federal clerk to take a proper maternity leave during her clerkship without having to give up a single thing professionally in the process. This is groundbreaking, and we can only hope that more firms will consider helping their associates who are heading to clerkships in the same way.

Staci ZaretskyStaci Zaretsky has been an editor at Above the Law since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.

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