'My Mom, the Lawyer' explores women's work and personal lives through the eyes of their children
As Michelle Browning Coughlin, of counsel at ND Galli Law in Louisville, Kentucky, was raising her two daughters, she wanted her kids to understand what lawyers do. She worried that children only knew the type of lawyers who commonly appeared in courtrooms on television shows.
One sleepless night, she became inspired, sketching out the idea for the children’s book My Mom, the Lawyer. It’s told from the points of view of several children whose moms work in various capacities—ranging from corporate lawyers to judges to politicians to military attorneys. The vignettes explain what Mom does, along with providing role models.
In this episode of The Modern Law Library podcast, the ABA Journal’s Julianne Hill talks with Browning Coughlin, who is a member of the ABA Commission on Women in the Profession and is the founder of MothersEsquire, a nonprofit that advocates for gender equity, motherhood and caregiver issues.
Browning Coughlin discusses her process in writing and designing the picture book and talks about her creative choice to use images without distinct facial features.
While directed at young children, Browning Coughlin says the book also speaks to lawyers who are moms, letting them know that being both can be a busy but fulfilling life.
In This Podcast:
Michelle Browning Coughlin
Michelle Browning Coughlin works as of counsel at ND Galli Law in Louisville, Kentucky, a woman-owned IP law firm. Browning Coughlin is the founder of MothersEsquire, a nonprofit that advocates for gender equity, motherhood and caregiver issues. In November 2019, she authored the children’s book My Mom, the Lawyer and donated all proceeds of the book to MothersEsquire to support its advocacy initiatives. In 2020, Browning Coughlin was appointed to the ABA Commission on Women in the Profession, and she has also worked as an adjunct professor of gender law and policy at the University of Louisville Louis D. Brandeis School of Law and the Northern Kentucky University Salmon P. Chase college of law. She and her husband, Craig, along with their two teenage daughters, live in Louisville, Kentucky.
