TELSTRA IN-HOUSE counsel Jessica Alder says she’s met many female lawyers who would relish the opportunity to have a job-share arrangement, but such opportunities are not common or an accepted norm in Hong Kong. Her job-share partner, Lucy Walker, says despite overwhelming benefits for firms, clients and lawyers, her expectation is “that there may be some reluctance to the idea of job-sharing among lawyers in private practice due to the difficulties in managing budgets and billables.” The Sydney-based in-house counsel started a legal job-share arrangement with Alder six months ago, after Walker returned to work following maternity leave after the birth of her third child. “I had worked with Jess before going on maternity leave on various projects and felt that we would be a good match for a job-share due to our complementary working styles,” says Walker. “Jess was happy to give the job-share a try and six months in we both agree that it
has allowed us to achieve a balance between work and family life.” Having previously worked part-time, Walker says the job-share has been by far the best arrangement in terms of managing to
working during Jess’s half of the week, I do have time to reconsider and refresh my thinking about complex matters I may have been working on. I can then discuss those ideas with Jess when I return to the office.
“There is a lot of research that shows how productive thinking-time away from the office desk can be” Lucy Walker balance family life while maintaining a good client base with quality work.
Job-share benefits Walker points out that while the advantages for the working mum are self-evident there are also advantages for employers. “There is a lot of research that shows how productive thinking-time away from the office desk can be. While I’m not technically
“Hopefully there will be more examples of job-share arrangements in both in-house legal environments and in external firms as organisations become aware of the benefits it can offer to both employees and employers.” If anything job-sharing helps minimise the contact a lawyer needs to have with clients on non-working days, she says. But critical to the women’s success has been the widespread support from their clients, the
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