Lawyers - do you alter your PQE to account for p/t?

[Mandy21]

I qualified in 2002 and was full time until 2005 when I had my first period of mat leave. I went back in 2006 (after 9 mths mat leave + accrued holiday) 3 days per wk. Changed my contract at that point to a 3 day week.

Had 2nd period of mat leave in 2009 (9 mths again + holiday) returned on the same 3 day per week contract.

If you've done something similar, had mat leave and had periods of p/t hrs, do you count your PQE differently. Would you say I'm 11yrs PQE, or 9.5 (disallowing mat leave)? Would you only count your part time yrs as 3/5?

I've worked for the same firm throughout so its never been an issue but wondering how its viewedin other firms.

Whilst I accept that if you have had time out for maternity leave etc you may have less on the job legal experience than someone who has not, I think the point here is that maternity leave should not automatically mean a reduction in PQE.

I really don't think that it is as black and white as saying maternity leave = less legal experience = reduction in PQE. If your performance is at your actual PQE (as set out in whatever obscure competency document your firm publishes on its intranet) then there you should stay.

Also, I think it is worth mentioning that just because you are at home with children does not mean you stop developing as a person (or as a lawyer). I am I much more confident with colleagues and with clients than I was pre-children. I have a totally different perspective which I am sure makes me a better lawyer (certainly a more efficient one!). "experience " in the law is about so much more than hours at a desk and I think how "senior" you are as a lawyer depends on so so much more than hours at the coal face - it's also about how you interact with clients, how you act as a member of a team and how you manage and support more junior colleagues, all skills I think can be honed very nicely indeed outside of an office environment and what better experience of dealing with partner meltdowns than dealing with a tantrum prone toddler

Seriously though, I had 2 full years of maternity leave but in that time I worked incredibly hard to stay up to date in my (fairly niche ) specialism. I have managed to come back in and perform at a level equivalent to my PQE, according to the partners I work for and as against the competences they use as a reference. All I am asking for is that I be rewarded on the basis of my performance. If I have to describe this with reference to the out-dated PQE system then so be it - 6 PQE, no reduction because of maternity leave.

That seems to me to be entirely reasonable.

Its obviously a bug bear (quite rightly!) for some people, including me! I think the date you qualified isn't really relevant at all, but its the only measure that the majority of law firms seem to use

Just wait until you're wanting to hide it, in case people think you are too old....because it's massively long real PQE.

I am really horrified at the suggestion that someone should reduce their PQE because they work part time?! I can see that if (for example) you had some significant time out - by which I mean more than a mat leave year, a career break for example - then your firm may charge you out at a lower PQE to reflect the fact you've been out for a couple of years - but because you work PT?! As previous poster mentioned, I think this would be discrimination!