Somebody at the University of California, Hastings Law School, thought it would be a really good idea to have a Center for WorkLife Law.  As is the wont of such novel approaches, it invented its very own wrong.

Family Responsibilities Discrimination (FRD) is employment discrimination against workers based on their family caregiving responsibilities. Pregnant women, mothers and fathers of young children, and employees with aging parents or sick spouses or partners may encounter FRD. They may be rejected for hire, passed over for promotion, demoted, harassed, or terminated — despite good performance — simply because their employers make personnel decisions based on stereotypical notions of how they will or should act given their family responsibilities.

The thrust of its director, Joan Williams, is set forth in her new book, Reshaping the Work-Family Debate: Why Men and Class Matter.  Williams, as discussed in an interview at the Careerist, seeks to lead the charge for work/life balance for the beta male.

But are men really complaining about the all-or-nothing workplace? How do you know they care about this issue?  
Men come up to me to talk about it all the time

But aren’t those men a self-selected bunch?
There’s a groundswell of men who are interested in the issue. And a growing number of younger men who are insistent on more work/life balance, who want more involvement in their children’s lives.

Let me see if I follow: There are men who would rather spend time with their children than work.  Not entirely shocking.  I know men who would rather play golf than work too, but Work/Golf balance isn’t nearly as catchy. 

Speaking of expectations, you make an interesting point in your book that white- collar men prove their masculinity by working long hours at the office, rather than getting dirty and sweaty like their blue-collar brothers. So is asking men to slow down and share the housework threatening the male ego?
Newsweek recently had an article that was a response to “The End of Men” [an article about the rise of women in the workplace] in The Atlantic. [Newsweek] used the term “re-imagining masculinity,” which I wouldn’t use. Our idea of a successful man is not someone who’s wearing a Snugly. So long as we define success as constant devotion to work, change will be difficult.

So us manly lawyer men do it to prove our masculinity because people will laugh at us if we wear a snugly?  Oddly enough, it’s not my idea that a successful man doesn’t wear a Snugly, though a man with reasonably sound judgment will only wear it inside the home or when attending classes at Hastings.

Do you ever get pushback from lawyers about your ideas to change the workplace?
The more traditional ones will sometimes say, “This is la-la land.” But the younger ones have a different view; there’s already a generation war in the law firms.

There’s a pretty good reason for that, Joan.  You see, nowhere in your interview do you mention, no less consider, what lawyers do.  We represent clients.  Clients put their lives and livelihoods in our hands and trust that we will care for them.  They walk out of our offices confident that there is a lawyer who will be responsible for doing everything possible to protect their interests.

There’s little new about the desire of the young set for work/life balance.  We would all love to have plenty of time available to do the things that make us happy, whether that means watching junior’s little league game or swilling that last beer.  Ironically, most of the young lawyers who “have a different view” don’t have children in need of their masculine devotion, so they can fill that spare work/life balance time with happy hour and maybe a quickie with a coed.  But if they don’t start young, the next thing you know is they get used to hard work and never come home for the excellent dinner Suzie prepared for his pleasure.

But what are you gonna do about the clients, Joan?  Who takes care of them when lawyers leave the office at 5 to make it home for dinner?

What’s striking is that this misconceived approach to professional responsibility has an actual home at Hastings Law School.  It’s like a shelter for beta males, a place where they can be surrounded by empathetic and understanding women who empower them to don their Snuglies.  “Oh yes, you are just as masculine as the lawyer who works all hours.  You are every bit as successful, and look dashing in the leopard skin print.”

This makes one point abundantly, and unfortunately, clear.  Hastings Law School is teaching its students that their career in the law exists for their own convenience and pleasure.  No need to work too hard, little boys, to prove your a man?  The trick is the tie-in to masculinity.  This has nothing whatsoever to do with masculinity or proof of success.  It has to do with the responsibility that comes with being a lawyer.

Think I’m being harsh?  Put this on your website:

I’m an experienced, aggressive lawyer, and I will be there for you.*

* Unless it interferes with a little league game, house cleaning, shopping, happy hour, a TV show I really like, the release of a cool new video game, or is after 5:00 p.m. or before 10:00 a.m.  And don’t even think of me working on weekends or holidays, whether secular or celebrated by any religion of more than ten people.

Let me know how it works out for you, you manly man, you.  And yes, that Snugly does make your butt look fat.

There’s a great solution available to all men who reject the idea that work comes first.  Don’t become a lawyer.