My husband and I often joke that our girls can be anything that they want when they grow up except a lawyer or a stripper – and we’re willing to bend on stripper.
Yep, we’re lawyers. Both of us. We practice together. We each started out at firms, me at a small boutique tax firm in Haddonfield, NJ, and Chris at Dechert, the largest law firm in the City of Philadelphia. We each moved around a bit – me to a trust company in Delaware, then to a Center City tax firm and Chris to Reed Smith. Through a series of events, we opened our own law firm, The Erb Law Firm, PC, with offices now in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. We have five attorneys on staff.
Managing my own firm is the best job I have ever had. I have great clients for the most part (one or two who are wacky, one of which was actually committed, which keeps things lively). I choose who I wish to represent and on what terms, which is how we keep the firm the way we want it to be. I don’t do PI or med mal, or represent clients with obviously bad character. I want to be able to sleep at night.
I also choose who I hire – which is HUGE. You can’t like your job and hate the people you work with. It’s impossible. So, I have surrounded myself with people that I like and respect. Another key part of working at our firm involves my girls. I take them to work with me. To work at my firm, you have to tolerate my kids – you don’t necessarily have to like them but you have to tolerate them. I like having my girls close to me, they are very young and I personally don’t like the idea of having them in daycare five days a week at a young age (not a judgment on those who do, just my own preference). My oldest goes to preschool three days per week during the school year. She is "home" for the summer which means she stays with me at the office.
I created a play area at the office. It’s big, it has two windows, a TV, table, crayons and toys. I can hear what’s going on from my desk and, of course, since Katie can’t sit still anyway, she constantly wanders by.
It’s a great arrangement. I feel more productive when I am not worried about how the girls are doing and I have become more than adept at multi-tasking.
I like that my girls have the opportunity to see me in an office setting, being a professional. As someone who did not have professional role models growing up, I want my girls to see me working – and liking what I do. They may not become lawyers themselves (and we hope that they don’t!) but they will have options. I can’t wait to see what they become!
