Sole Practice and Parenthood

[Scrantonicity2]

Would love to hear from anyone who has had kids while working as a sole practitioner. I'm most interested in hearing experiences from birthing parents, but non-birthing parent experiences would also be helpful.

Were you able to take any leave? What was the impact of sleep deprivation on your practice? What would be your advice to someone who was considering being a sole practitioner and (possibly) having a baby at the same time? 

[Hegdis]

Did this. 

Beat advice is you need six months off. A year would be ideal. You think you don’t really need to right now - your friend of a friend probably says they drafted submissions to the SCC with the three week old baby in a car seat in the office - but please please budget for taking at least a six month leave. The sleep deprivation is unreal. If you are a nursing parent that goes double for you. That alone - there’s enough to stress about and adjust to without trying to make a court appearance or a filing deadline or meet with a client when you cannot recall the precise functioning of a door handle. 

Some law societies offer parental leave loans for sole practitioners - look into that too. When baby’s arrival date can be factored in, start looking for low level mindless work you can use to bring in a small income: I did some transcription work because it was possible to do with an infant strapped to my chest a couple hours a day. But anything more than that would have been beyond me. 
 

And really - the time is terrifying, draining, enchanting, surreal, mind bogglingly boring, and essential to your new little family. If you can swing it at all you want to focus on it and almost nothing else for at least those first six months. Bonding is a real thing. Becoming a family is a process. You can’t stint it without consequences down the road. 

[Mountebank]

Dad here, so YMMV.

I had a new kid during law school, while an associate, and while a sole practitioner. Law school was by far the best time to start a family.

You have the most free time, fewest financial pressures, you get accommodations for exams, AND you become eligible for bursaries. Plus you're younger so it's easier energy and sleep-wise. Honestly, it was way easier in comparison.

When my third was born, as the sole breadwinner, I took no leave at all. But, we needed the money so that's that.

Nice thing about sole practice is that you have a lot of flexibility to leave early/take days off here and there and be there for the kids on a day-to-day basis. But, it's tough in terms of long spells of leave.

But at the end of the day, your ability to take time off will depend pretty much entirely on your financial situation (both in terms of your ability to live without being paid and to rebound from any decline to your practice while you are away). So, it's a difficult question to answer in the abstract.

[Scrantonicity2]

Thank you both for these thoughtful answers. Really appreciate the insight from folks who have been through it!