Image
via
Getty)
Ed.
note:
This
is
the
latest
installment
in
a
series
of
posts
on
motherhood
in
the
legal
profession,
in
partnership
with
our
friends
at MothersEsquire.
Welcome
Jamie
Szal
back
to
our
pages.
Click
here
if
you’d
like
to
donate
to
MothersEsquire.
We’re
coming
up
on
the
February
bar
exam.
Every
single
bar
exam,
MothersEsquire
fields
cries
for
help
from
test
takers
around
the
country,
needing
the
strength
of
our
support
and
experience
advocating
to
secure
the
accommodations
necessary
to
be
a
successful
test
taker
while
lactating.
OH!
THE
PLACES
I’VE
PUMPED!
Congratulations!
I
birthed
une
bébé
Who
fed
like
an
alien
All
the
damn
long
day.
Those
brains
in
my
head
Repurposed
themselves
From
sorting
out
Torts
To
detangling
pump
hose.
As
I
sat
down,
alone,
to
hook
up
my
pump
In,
once
again,
another
gross
dump.
I’ve
pumped
standing
up!
I’ve
pumped
sitting
down!
Believe
it,
I’ve
even
pumped
moving
around.
I’m
in
the
Mile-High
Pump
Club!
Now
that
was
some
fun
Of
course
it
happened
while
squashed
into
one
Teeny
middle
seat,
next
to
some
large
chum.
I
pumped
while
in
cars,
traveling
at
speed,
My
shirttails
flip-flapping.
My
nip-slips
unheeded,
As
I
zipped
through
the
drive-thru
for
coffee
I
need.
That’ll
be
the
Venti
Triple
Shot,
Extra
Whipped
Cream!
During
a
quick
break
from
depos,
with
no
room
to
hide
I
ran
to
my
car,
parked
outside
To
the
back
seat
I
clambered
so
I
had
some
space
To
pump
milk
quick-quick,
my
blazer
hiding
my
face.
In
line
at
SCOTUS
was
quite
the
feat,
as
moving
meant
giving
away
my
seat.
My
savior?
My
poncho,
which
covered
up
My
Madonna-Cone-Bra
look
while
I
stood
hooked
up.
While
taking
the
bar
exam
crammed
in
a
room
With
thousands
of
other
test
takers,
next
to
whom
I
pushed
past
my
pumping
time,
and
as
such
I
leaked.
The
dude
sitting
next
to
me?
Oh
yes.
He
peeked.
The
test
examiners
told
me
I
had
no
right
To
take
a
break
in
a
space
to
pump
out
of
sight.
I’ve
balanced
in
bathrooms,
like
a
mad
game
of
Twister,
While
trying
to
block
the
auto-flush
sensor.
The
whole
time
I
prayed
the
bottles
wouldn’t
dip
Into
the
toilet.
Heaven
knows
I
didn’t
want
my
baby
to
sip
shit.
You
see,
that’s
what
pumping
in
bathrooms
really
means.
Contaminants
flying,
nasty
invisible
things.
That
land
in
the
precious
milk
I
just
pumped
While
contorting
myself
in
those
nasty,
old
dumps.
I’m
sorry
to
say
so
but,
sadly,
it’s
true
that
most
pumping
places
were
public
or
open
to
view.
It
makes
a
big
difference
to
people
who
pump
to
do
so
in
clean,
private
spaces.
Not
in
dumps.
This
fun
poem
includes
actual
places
mother
attorneys
have
pumped
while
managing
their
legal
careers.
I
hope
my
tongue-in-cheek
approach
has
got
you
thinking
of
either
your
own
pumping
experiences,
or
the
ways
this
affects
your
colleagues.
Bar
exam
test
takers
need:
-
Secure,
private,
sanitary
space
to
pump
—
not
the
wide-open
exam
room,
a
closet,
a
bathroom,
or
a
locker
room. -
Place
to
store
pump
parts
and
expressed
milk.
The
exam
is
eight-plus
hours
per
day,
and
did
you
know
expressed
milk
goes
bad
after
four
hours? -
Time
to
pump
and
clean
up
that
does
not
eat
into
test
taking
time.
Did
you
know
it
takes
15
to
20
minutes
to
fully
pump?
And
pumping
parents
need
to
do
so
every
3
to
4
hours
or
risk
serious
infection?
Bar
exam
test
takers
who
need
to
pump
aren’t
looking
for
extra
time
—
they
just
don’t
want
to
have
significantly
less
time
and
flash
their
ta-tas
to
their
future
colleagues.
What
can
you
do
to
help?
There
is
a
resolution
up
for
vote
at
the
ABA
Mid
Year
meeting
on
February
14
that
would
require
bar
examiners
across
the
country
to
adopt
policies
for
adequate
accommodations
for
test
takers.
Please
show
your
support
by
encouraging
your
ABA
Delegates
to
vote
in
approval
of
this
vital
resolution.
Let’s
work
together
to
remove
one
bar
to
the
bar.
Can
we
count
on
you?
Jamie
Szal
is
an
attorney
at
Brann
&
Isaacson,
where
her
practice
focuses
on
assisting
businesses
in
all
aspects
of
state
and
local
tax
controversy,
from
audits
and
administrative
proceedings
through
civil
litigation.
Jamie
actively
volunteers
with
the
alumni
network
and
Women’s
Leadership
Council
of
her
alma
mater,
Trinity
College,
as
well
as
actively
participates
in
MothersEsquire,
the
Women’s
Law
Section
of
the
Maine
State
Bar
Association,
and
serves
on
the
board
of
a
dental-services
non-profit
in
Maine.
Outside
of
work,
Jamie
enjoys
raising
her
fiercely
independent,
impish
daughter;
singing;
and
hiking
around
Maine
with
her
husband,
daughter,
and
dogs.