Juggling Law School and Motherhood: One Woman’s Story

A day after Ethan’s doctor’s appointment, the thirty-minute drive home to Durham seems longer than usual. McCool is anxious to see how her son is doing. When Schutte took Ethan in to have the rash on his leg examined, the doctor explained that the seven-year-old had shingles—an uncomfortable skin rash that isn’t contagious so long as it isn’t touched.

McCool sent him to school but with the caveat that Schutte would visit him at lunch to make sure he was doing all right. McCool worried much of the day about whether or not she had ultimately made the right decision.

Upon McCool’s arrival, Ethan is contentedly reading a Captain Underpants book on the couch and Schutte debriefs McCool on the status of the unwell. The original plan for the evening was to attend a multi-cultural night at Ethan’s school, but the family instead opts for a local Mexican restaurant for a more low-key evening.

Schutte says he thinks that it is the restaurant with the dinosaur shaped chicken nuggets. He hopes so. After a rough thirty minutes of administering medicine, Ethan could use a little comfort food.

Schutte and McCool are thinking about adding to their family as they would like to have a least one more child. With Ethan already seven, the age gap is only going to get bigger.

“We’re actually open to having a baby any day. That’d be great if I was pregnant right now!” McCool says. “It’s not really something that I spread around the law school because I think people would probably look at me cross-eyed… ‘Would you seriously have a baby during law school?’”

Far from crazy, McCool says it’s familiar. After all, she’s had a baby while in school before.

“I’ve never actually tried to have a kid while I’m working. I’m not really sure what that would be like,” she muses. “I know I can handle having a kid in school—I’ve done it before, so why not?”

McCool also explains that she’s a working mom through and through and doesn’t plan to take time off after law school.

“I am a better mother because I do not stay home with my children,” she explains. “I need that sort of other outside personal sense of accomplishment. And those people who are stay-at-home moms, I completely am just in awe of them. I don’t know how they do it. It’s got to be the hardest thing in the whole world.”

For McCool, the biggest upcoming trial is passing the Bar next year. Nearly two months of studying for one exam will be a challenge, but she has made it this far and expects to make it all the way.

Once at the restaurant, food is ordered and arrives. Schutte looks over to inspect the chicken nuggets on Ethan’s plate and smiles as a perfectly formed chicken stegosaurus stares back.