Working Mother Finelli Succeeds Through Flexibility

By Marc B. Koenigsberg

At first glance, Stephanie Finelli appears as a quiet, unassuming person, but when one comes to know her, one finds her to be a quick-witted, energetic woman with the same day-to-day issues as any other working mother. As a parent to two young boys, a loving spouse of ten years, a successful attorney, and an active participant in her community, Finelli is the quintessential working mother. Through compromise, sacrifice, and simple perseverance, Finelli and her partner appear to have found a balance between their careers and motherhood.

After growing up in Massachusetts, Finelli attended the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia where she majored in English. Her mastery of the English language would later serve her well as appellate attorney. Having lived her whole life on the East Coast, Finelli decided to venture west after graduating from William and Mary. She had never been to California, but chose to pursue her legal education at King Hall School of Law at the University of California, Davis, from which she graduated in 1994. While attending law school, Finelli clerked for the Freidberg Law Corporation and Ed Freidberg, a well-respected attorney Finelli desribed as "one of the best in the country" given his vast experience in legal malpractice cases.

After graduation, Finelli began her career as an attorney with a year-long fellowship with the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation ("CJLF"), a conservative nonprofit public interest law organization. CJLF's legal program is focused entirely on the filing of amicus curiae briefs in criminal cases on appeal or habeas corpus before the United States and California Supreme Courts. Though Finelli describes herself as "socially liberal," she feels she is a little "law and order." Accordingly, Finelli found her experience with CJLF to be a worthwhile one, especially given the widespread implications of the intellectual issues with which she worked.

After her fellowship with CJLF ended, Finelli decided to return to Freidberg Law Corporation (now Freidberg and Parker) in 1996 as a law clerk and soon thereafter, as an attorney. Finelli's work at the firm was largely drafting and arguing appeals while representing plaintiffs in legal malpractice actions. Finelli found this work to be stimulating because the nature of legal malpractice cases requires the practitioner to learn new areas of law in order to prove the underlying action being sued upon. Finelli worked at Freidberg Law Corporation until deciding to open her own practice in August 2003.

After seven years with Freidberg Law Corporation, Finelli felt it was time for something different, something that afforded her more flexibility to attend to her growing family. Finelli opened her practice at 6th and J Streets in downtown Sacramento, walking distance to the Sacramento County Superior Court and the Third District Court of Appeal, and perfect for her almost exclusive state court practice. Finelli's practice consists of approximately 50 percent appellate work, many of which are family law cases, and approximately 50 percent trial level work, including personal injury and contract disputes. As a compliment to her, much of Finelli's appellate work comes by way of opposing counsel on other matters.

Finelli and her partner are parents to two young boys, ages three and five. Their family also includes two dogs and three cats. Finelli's solo practice has given her increased flexibility, however she realizes that if there is any task to perform, it is she who must do it. As an example, Finelli recounted how she had a 9:00 a.m. hearing in Redwood City on a recent Monday. Having no associate or partner to assist her, Finelli was on the road by 5:45 a.m. Luckily, Finelli is part of a two-parent household where her partner works part-time out of the home. Finelli and her partner have set up a schedule by which Finelli's partner does her work in the early morning, while Finelli feeds and clothes the children while getting herself ready for work. Finelli will drop the children off at school and preschool on her way to the office, and her partner picks them up at noon.

Finelli has learned that she and her partner are not alone in the challenges (or lack thereof) of being a family headed by two people of the same sex. Finelli is on the board of directors of Sacramento Area Rainbow Families, an organization that provides a social support network for gay and lesbian parents, to introduce children to families similar to theirs, to provide family planning resources for gay men and women who are looking to have or adopt children, and to educate the general community.

The word that continued to come up during my discussion with Finelli was "flexibility." Her solo practice and the routine she has with her partner allows Finelli to maintain an appropriate balance between her legal career and her role as a mother. Whether it is taking her older son to soccer practice, meeting with a client, taking a pet to the vet, having dinner as a family, or attending a hearing in the Bay Area, Finelli's work and home life allow her the balance and flexibility to satisfy all of these responsibilities.

After her children were born, Finelli and her partner realized that their own wants, needs and personal comfort would always "take a back seat" to those of her children. But with a gleaming smile on her face, Finelli exclaims that having children was "the best thing she ever did."

May / June 2005