Balancing a Legal Career and Motherhood: A Conversation with Paige Gajic

In the high-pressure, demanding world of law, it’s rare to find mothers who navigate both a legal career and the responsibilities of parenthood. We recently sat down with Paige Gajic, Senior Associate in the Commercial Dispute Resolution team at Freeths, to hear about her remarkable journey as a young mother in this field. Paige’s story is a powerful testament to resilience and the reality of balancing family life with professional aspirations in one of the most competitive careers out there.

Can you tell us about your son and how you managed when you found out you were pregnant?

So, my son, he'll be 9 in February. He was a surprise one. I was in my break just between second and final year of my LLB Law degree. As I say, he wasn't planned, he was a surprise, and me and my partner had been together 6 months at that point. So not very long at all.

I'll never forget the day that I told my my dad. He said, “what about your degree?” And I said “it's fine. We'll make it work. We'll get it done.”  I had one year left, following which I obviously had to tell university and figure out how that was going to look, because I was due in the February.

I was only 20 so it was a very big moment in my life, and a lot of questions were asked- Was it the right time? How was I going to manage? Did I need to defer? And ultimately myself and my now husband made the decision that we were going to try and make it work. We knew we wanted children eventually. It just came a lot sooner than expected. Then came the point when I told the University.

How did the University respond when you told them?

It wasn't a very positive conversation. There was a lot of “Are you sure? Can you manage? Your grades will suffer. Your relationship with your baby might suffer.” -And that really threw me, and I just thought “How on earth am I having this conversation with another woman who I knew had her own two children?” That for me was red rag to the bull.

It sounds like they gave you an ultimatum between your child and your degree.

Yeah, that’s how it felt. This was a tutor that had already taught me the year before, who knew me, knew my work ethic, and probably should have given a lot more encouragement than she did. I had felt so relieved that it was someone that I knew and then, when I walked into that conversation, it was completely not what I expected.

Where did you go from there? How did you get through it and what were your experiences through the latter part of university?

So, I concealed it, baggy jumpers, get to the seminars, get in and get out. I knew after the Christmas break that I likely wouldn’t be going back because of my due date. All the lectures were recorded, and I continued learning online until my son was born. 
 
 There wasn’t a lot of support at that point, and I didn’t feel like I could go out and receive help after that initial conversation. It was difficult. I was navigating something completely new, as was my partner. My family supported me, but they hadn’t been to university, so I had to forge my own path and figure out what I was going to do. The university gave me extra time during my exams as I was breastfeeding, a 30minute break, but that was it. That was the extent of the help.

What happened next, did you go straight into a training contract?

I was working part time in hospitality alongside my university and raising my son. I applied for three legal roles to get legal experience which would hopefully lead to a training contract. Safe to say that didn’t go very well to be honest.

In the first two interviews I mentioned I had a baby, and I didn’t get it. In the third interview I decided I wouldn’t mention it and, hey presto, I got the job. It felt very relevant.

At what stage did you mention you had a young family?

Around a week in. I was working in a small branch office, a regional firm, which was all ladies with older children. I dropped it in that my child was one and he was at nursery. I knew they would know what it was like to balance work and a family, and I think, in hindsight, if I had mentioned it in that particular interview, it may not have affected my chances of getting the job.

What has been your experience in juggling a full-time job, raising a family and working your way up in the industry?

Parenting is hard, saying that is an understatement. But juggling that with a legal career which is probably one of the hardest jobs we can do, that elevates the difficulty substantially. That can’t be understated at all. I think it is possible to balance both. I’m saying this with a good support network, I think if I was a single parent perspective that would take it to a whole new level again.

When I was working as a paralegal, the nursery fees were more than my mortgage, my partner and I had to split the workdays with him working across the weekends otherwise it would have financially crippled us. It’s expensive in money and time and there are so many factors falling into the decision making for many women.

There’s going to be mothers and parents who are facing a similar decision who may read this, what advice would you give to those people?

That’s a complicated question! There’s no perfect formula. Self-care is a necessity, it’s not selfish, its mandatory. You can’t pour from an empty cup, to coin a phrase. It’s critical for a high functioning parent and a high functioning lawyer. Get those sleep hours in wherever you can.

Finding a routine that works for you and setting your priorities. I already had my son when I entered my career so when it came to scheduling and planning my diary, it was always him first. Now I have a 2-year-old as well, I’m back there a little bit.

Small achievable goals, things you want to work towards that are realistic. I never wanted to be a lawyer who was travelling here and there, I can’t be jumping on a flight doing cross-jurisdictional work when I’ve got two kids at home, it’s not viable.

So, if you want that level of career, it’s probably a different conversation but it is definitely possible to have a successful legal career. I’m working at a great firm now; I took the jump not too long ago and I’m finding whilst lots of people said ‘Are you sure? That’s a bigger firm, they’re going to expect more from you, your targets are going to be higher.’ And yes, whilst that’s true, the infrastructure is in place to make my work more seamless and I’m still managing to maintain that balance. For example, when the children are poorly, I can work from home.

There is this mentality that things haven’t progressed in the way they have in some firms. I think there are some firms where this isn’t the case for working mothers but the two firms I have worked at, this hasn’t been the case. Focusing on the culture of the firm might be the best way to approach it.

Looking back, what advice would you give to that Paige at University when she found out she was pregnant?

Do exactly what you did. Trust your gut and do it. If that’s where your mind is and that’s where your heart is, go for it. And don’t let that person stand in your way because only you know what you’re capable of.

Thank you very much for joining us, we hope this episode is helpful for those who may find themselves in a similar position, maybe they find out they have a child on the way, maybe they’re considering starting a family. What we do know is, it is possible.

Thank you for having me. If there is anyone in that situation, they are absolutely welcome to reach out to me on LinkedIn and I’m happy to have a chat always.

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Find the full interview with Paige here.