Gabriella Pomare is a highly respected family law specialist and Partner in a leading Sydney firm, known for her strategic expertise and compassionate client care. With a career spanning over a decade and numerous accolades—including recognition as a 2024 Australasian Leading Female Lawyer—Gabriella brings both legal excellence and human insight to every matter she handles. In this article, she reflects on the ongoing juggle between law firm leadership and motherhood.
Let me paint this picture for you. You have had to rush out of the office at 2.00pm to do the school pick up. It’s 3.50pm and you have a 4.00pm appearance before a Justice of Division 1 of the FCFCOA. The appearance is for a big and pretty important matter. All parties and practitioners have joined the line. Your dad/babysitter/senior partner of your firm promised to be home in time to watch your 4-year-old and 4-month-old so you could do the appearance from home in peace. It gets to 3.55pm and grandpa is still a no show. 3.57pm. You put the baby into the pram in another room. You tell your 4-year-old who is refusing to watch TV in the living room to be quiet and sit under the desk while mummy has a work meeting.
Next thing you know, the associate calls her Honour onto the bench — one knock, two knocks, three. There pops my 4-year old’s head onto the camera screen saying hello to everyone. Needless to say, I died. I immediately turned off the camera, but in the shock of it all left on the microphone. Screaming “Teddy, get out now!”, I see the ICL’s eyes open wide. Damn, I thought to myself, I’ve left the microphone on. Seconds later, a text arrives from my client “do you need help babysitting this afternoon”. A slow and painful death ensues.
Pregnancy, motherhood and partnership don’t naturally go hand in hand. Clients worry you won’t be available, staff wonder who’ll guide them, and internally, the pressure builds. Being both a lawyer and a mum is a constant juggle—but it’s also incredibly rewarding.
There are days you feel like you’re failing at both. That’s why I believe in work-life blend, not balance. Family is my priority, but work is also a part of who I am. I want my children to see that. As Katie Couric said, “Get rid of the guilt…When you’re at one place, don’t feel bad you’re not at the other.”
Running a firm, mentoring juniors, and meeting court deadlines while parenting can feel impossible. But I’ve learned to embrace the challenge. Even a few quality hours outside work can build beautiful memories—though it often means early mornings, late nights, and working with little ones at my feet.
Yes, there’s a constant pull—to be at assemblies, help with homework, show up for both your clients and your kids. Some days I want nothing more than squishy toes in bed and slow mornings. Other days, I crave the courtroom, a well-run mediation, or the satisfaction of empowering someone through their separation.
When I returned to work months after my son was born, he played under my desk while I counselled clients. Five years later, I was responding to emails from my hospital bed after giving birth to my daughter. People questioned me both times. But they didn’t see the moments in between—the cuddles, the story time, the feeding, the baths. I was doing both. Because we can. These last few months have taught me to embrace the impossible and take hold of challenges. I’ve learned that a few hours before or after work still allows you to build incredible bonds and memories.
The expectations on working mothers—both external and internal—can be overwhelming. We’re not just trying to be good lawyers or parents, but good partners too. Most nights, we collapse by 8 p.m. wondering if we’ve done enough in any of those roles.
So, how do we do it all? How do we keep a law firm running, build a great culture, and still be there for drop-offs, Easter hat parades, and bedtime stories?
Here are my five key rules for running a successful family law firm—and being present for the moments that matter most.
1. Take leadership of the firm.
You need to ensure that you are keeping the business running and not just sitting at your desk servicing clients. This means having a marketing strategy, being on top of staffing and financial management, and taking responsibility for client development and relationships. Much of this can be automated, so once you set up a system that works for you and your firm, automate what works and have systems in place to ensure the ongoing smooth sailing of your practices. A successful firm needs a strong leader — you can do it, mum. Just as you are the one managing every family member’s to-do list each week, you can also manage the way your firm operates, and you can do it well.
2. Maintain a good culture within your firm.
I have said a few times that the last thing I want within my firm is toxicity. As soon as I sense something feels unsettled within my staff, I try to take action and address the problem. I don’t have staff members. I have family. I truly value each staff member’s unique role within our firm and am grateful for each of their skills and attributes.
As a partner, I am not just responsible for my own individual success, but also for fostering and maintaining a healthy, positive and inclusive environment for my staff that encourages their success and, in turn, the success of the firm. This often means putting lots of extra time into junior lawyers, promoting teamwork and maintaining balance within the firm.
3. Build and maintain client relationships and a referral network.
Without good clients and referrers, a firm cannot flourish. As a partner, your role isn’t only to run cases but to bring in new clients and manage existing ones. We need to touch base and maintain communication with clients we have delegated to our junior lawyers and ensure client satisfaction. By being present and communicative, you stand out from other lawyers in other firms. The one thing clients tell me they value is my approachability. It is with this that I foster the best client long-term relationships and referral network. Most of my work, and indeed the firm’s, comes from word of mouth from previous clients.
Taking the time to make a client feel heard, valued and prioritised is almost my most important role when my partner hat is on. It’s not that different to being a mum, right? Your children also want you to make them feel valued. They want time with you and to feel special. So, apply how you do this at home to how you might be able to do it better at the office.
4. Maintaining my own professional development.
The law, and practice management, is a constantly evolving world. Being a good leader and partner of a firm means growing and developing our knowledge and staying up to date with trends, new case law and what clients want. I need to stay educated and ensure my staff keep learning. Learning never stops in the world of the law. At the same time, to continue my professional development, I spend time writing articles, being involved in events and networking. This too is such a big part of maintaining a growing firm.
5. Having an ongoing work-life blend.
Running a law firm is exhausting. Almost as exhausting as being a mum. So, how do we do both roles, and at the same time? With long hours and high expectations placed on us, balancing it all can seem impossible. The good thing about being a partner is that there is the flexibility to work when you want (most of the time) and manage your workload as it best suits you. This means early mornings and late nights on the computer for me — as that suits my lifestyle and my needs. For others, it is having a day off once a week or maybe working mostly from home. It might mean having to schedule in social time with your staff and cross out days for school events — but I think being organised is the key to maintaining that blend and balance.
From my perspective, working lawyer mums and law firm partners show the greatest resilience and strength. There is no perfect balance, and some days are better than others, but by doing things one step at a time and maintaining focus, leaning on your support networks and being smart with how you plan your time, you can do it all. Find comfort in fluidity, automate systems where possible, encourage a good culture and happy staff, and your firm will succeed.