Filling Your Cup with Erin Lecocq

11/29/21 • 33 min

This week on Maximum Mom your host Elise Buie joined Erin Lecocq. Erin started law school when her daughter was 7 weeks old. Her husband at the time called law school "a hobby," so she was lucky to find support in friends she met at school. She stayed home with her baby during the day and went to class at night. Three and a half years later, she graduated law school cum laude with her daughter holding her hand. During her last year in school, she took a clinic helping incarcerated parents with their child welfare cases and knew immediately that was the kind of law she wanted to practice. A friend and Erin started a firm so they could get a contract with the Office of Public Defense, and learned more and worked harder during that time than she thought possible. It was also during this time that her marriage fell apart, and because she was told she "chose her career over her child," she ended up having to leave the job she loved to follow her ex and her daughter to New Mexico so she could have 50/50 custody. After the stress of that time, she decided she needed a break from child welfare, and ended up working for the NM Office of the Attorney General doing civil litigation where she gets to practice in state and federal court, and in the courts of appeals. She loves the new challenges that come with this work, and is thrilled she gets to spend so much time with her (now 9 year-old!!) daughter.

7:33 finding time for creative outlets
9:45 incarcerated parents
10:50 starting a firm to get a contract
18:08 inequity
20:28 vicarious trauma
25:30 an empty cup
28:35 injustice

Watch the interview here.

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7:33 finding time for creative outlets
9:45 incarcerated parents
10:50 starting a firm to get a contract
18:08 inequity
20:28 vicarious trauma
25:30 an empty cup
28:35 injustice

Watch the interview here.

Subscribe to Maximum Mom on your favorite podcast player so you never miss an episode!
Sign up for the Maximum Mom newsletter!

Previous Episode

Opportunity for Growth with Jennifer Hargrave

This week on Maximum Mom your host Elise Buie joined Jennifer Hargrave and talk all things grief, teens and self-reflection.

Jennifer is the owner of Hargrave Family Law . She helps good people end broken marriages. When facing divorce, people need to know they have options. Divorce does not have to end in disaster. The best divorces are ones where both partners are empowered to make decisions - not where fear is the operating force. Building a business is very similar.

Jennifer recently lost her mother to cancer. She died four months from the date of diagnosis. Walking through this period of tremendous personal loss has strengthened her fortitude to help people find the blessings in the midst of very dark circumstances.

3:20 the teen years
10:50 having other things to fill you up
16:32 opportunity for growth
18:25 when your responsibilities shift

Watch the interview here.

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Next Episode

Being a Mom & Special Ed Attorney with Frances Shefter

Being a Mom and Special Ed Attorney with Frances Shefter

This week on Maximum Mom, your host Elise Buie joined Frances Shefter.

Frances started her professional career as a regular education teacher. She always had an interest in special education and decided to obtain her master's in special education. After 7 years in the classroom, she became the special education coordinator at an alternative middle and high school. After 2 years in that position, Frances realized that she was not making the difference she wanted to make. Having always been interested in law, her next natural step was law school. After a stint in Florida practicing family law, she moved back to the Maryland area. Frances was a contract attorney in DC when she learned about DC Superior Court's CCAN panel. On her second attempt, she was accepted on the panel as a special education attorney. Around the same time, she met her now husband. Shortly after she got married, they started fertility treatment and she stopped being a contract attorney and started focusing on her law firm. She had her first daughter and continued building her firm while being a new mommy. 2 years later, she got baby fever and was back at the fertility clinic getting pregnant with her second daughter. She moved her office out of the house and into an actual office. Her special education law firm is now growing to help more families have a Stress-Free IEP experience while still being present as a mommy for her daughters.

4:40 the juggle is real
11:30 navigating SpEd services
10:50 Zoom school impact
18:03 kids and their strengths
21:53 mom guilt
25:07 quality time
29:36 life fulfillment

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