Formed initially as a task force and made into a standing committee in 2006, the Work /Life Balance Committee has worked to advance professional and personal life integration as an accepted norm of our state’s legal culture. The committee has taken direct action to eliminate express and implicit bias associated with working professionals’ needs to manage the competing demands of career, family, personal and societal obligations in the intense and often stressful field of law.

The committee maintains a Web page on the OBA Web site devoted to work/ life balance issues. The Web page offers a host of information to help attorneys accomplish professional development and growth while also achieving fulfillment in their personal lives. The information provided includes sample work/life balance employment policies and practices, practical advice on work/life balance issues, and substantive articles related to this topic. In addition, the ever-growing number of web resources on work/life balance issues are cataloged.

The committee is frequently requested to speak on various work/life balance topics at CLE programs offered throughout the state. The committee also helps facilitate a culture of work/life balance by hosting CLE programs on leading issues in this area. One of the committee’s former programs featured as a speaker, Jessica DeGroot, founder of Third Path Institute. Ms. DeGroot is an innovator in the field of work/life balance and her work was recently featured in an article by New York Times writer and author, Lisa Belkin. In October of this year the committee sponsored CLE programs in Tulsa and Oklahoma City that addressed a range of issues addressing health and fitness, financial planning, the importance of civic and pro bono activities and law practice management. The committee has also planned a work/life balance CLE track for the 2008 Annual Meeting. In addition to speaking at CLE programs, members of the committee are frequently asked to speak at local chapters of the American Inns of Court and at the state’s law schools.

The committee is also involved in the promotion of health awareness. The committee sponsored a Fun Walk at the OBA 2007 annual meeting. Proceeds raised from the Fun Walk benefitted the Lawyers Helping Lawyers Foundation.

A significant accomplishment this year for the committee was its contributions to a special issue of the Oklahoma Bar Journal which featured articles covering a range of work/life balance issues including national and local law firm practice trends, EEOC regulatory trends affecting employee rights in the area of work/life balance, parenting tips for working professionals, and how to maintain physical and mental health and well-being.

The committee thanks President Conger for making work/life balance a platform issue during his year as OBA president. In addition, the committee thanks the OBA staff for their continued commitment and dedication to and support of the committee’s goals and objectives.

Melanie Jester,
Chairperson