An interesting development. The firm in which I worked had back-up child care and I think it was a great idea. In fact, the firm debated whether or not to convert the back-up center to a full center and rejected the idea. This was because having a full center would mean that there would be a long waitlist and most people would not be allowed to utilize it, while having a back-up center would provide a much-needed emergency service for almost everyone in the firm. And anecdotally, there were many people who claimed that they selected the firm because of the back-up center (not just the fact that it was available, but also the fact that the firm thought it was important enough to make it available).

Christine, This is an interesting development. I know one law professor who, while an appellate law clerk, took her new born to work with her on a daily basis. She did not ask the judge--she just did it. She told me that if she did ask the judge, he would have said no.

Being an appellate clerk is perhaps the best job for bringing your child to work; all you do on most days is read and write at your desk. But I thought her choice to just show up with the baby shifted the burden in interesting ways--kind of like possession is 90% of the what really matter in property law. The judge ended up really warming to the situation.

I always thought this was a interesting self-help anecdote. bh

I wonder how many law schools/universities with law schools actually offer on-campus child care. It seems to me that I've read lots of blogs about whether the importance of blogging, or whether requiring laterals to visit has a differential gender impact -- but lack of on-campus childcare might dwarf those other policies in terms of differential gender impact. That is, if we can generalize from the experience that dads are more likely than moms to use the gym's childcare and then go to the courthouse next door.

I've worked at three universities that had on-site daycare, and it was full at all three. I never made it off the waiting list at any of them. The day care centers serve students, faculty and staff, and at least at Marquette students had a priority. I have never heard about recruiting someone by guaranteeing them a slot, but it might work!

Is this an indication that the firm is family-friendly or that it wants to eliminate any family-based excuses for you not to be at work? I would have thought with technology the way it is most lawyers could do at least 75% of what they normally do while at home on an occasional day.