Reflections on the ‘collecting salary while sitting on your ass’ incident

As was recently evidenced in a US-based law firm, there remain misconceptions in legal services workplaces about taking parental leave. Here, Danielle Snell — who co-founded her award-winning law firm while seven months pregnant — discusses why such biases continue to exist and what we can do to overcome them.

On this episode of The Lawyers Weekly Show, host Jerome Doraisamy welcomes back Elit Lawyers by McGirr & Snell managing director and co-founder Danielle Snell (whose firm won Boutique Law Firm of the Year at the 2022 Australian Law Awards) to discuss why certain misconceptions are such a problem for legal workplaces, the extent to which progress has been made and why cultural shifts must keep pace with policy improvements.

Ms Snell also explores how prevalent comments about choosing between one’s career and family life might be, why individual women and men need to be better at supporting each other, whether the age of coronavirus has moved the needle at all in overcoming entrenched biases, the need to be confident in one’s self and be true to one’s own journey, and the practical steps that those coming through the ranks can take to ensure their personal and vocational goals are not impeded.

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If you have any questions about what you heard today, any topics of interest you have in mind, or if you'd like to lend your voice to the show, email editor@lawyersweekly.com.au for more insights!