Claim OwnershipThe Mothers in Law
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© Copyright 2025 | All Rights Reserved | Carrie Fogliani
Description
Being a mother and lawyer is demanding, with mental exhaustion, decision fatigue and unexpected anxieties. How do you avoid burnout and find fulfillment? How can you find joy as you attempt to balance career and personal life? Discover hope, joy and comfort on The Mothers in Law podcast!
Listen to real-life stories of mothers in the legal system and learn practical approaches to elevate your daily routine and make life more fulfilling— unlocking positivity for yourself and others in your professional and personal circles.
Topics we will cover include:
- How to unlock self-sustainability and avoid burnout
- Extracting the meaning and joy from being a lawyer and a mom
- How to cope with inevitable disappointment at work and at home
- Tips for dealing with the impact managing career and family can have on your mental health
- How to build a personal roadmap to lead you do path of success in lawyering and mothering
- Rewarding self-care methods you should be trying right now not just to bring your best version of yourself at home and work
Your podcast host is Carrie Fogliani, President of General Counsel West. Working for over twenty five years with some of the nation’s leading hospital and pharmaceutical companies, her practice focuses on transactional, operations, and regulatory healthcare law.
In her law firm, Carrie offers support to ensure Mothers in Law have everything they need and deserve to perform at their best both at the office and at home. She brings to the podcast her learnings from her time talking with many awesome moms who are searching for ways to be their best selves at work and at home, something she is deeply passionate about. Carrie believes these closed-door meetings are full of golden nuggets of wisdom that could help other mothers out there, and now she brings them out to the public.
Join Carrie as she explores how to make your personal and professional journeys aligned and in tune with one another, allowing you to live the life you truly want. This is a space for community and support for lawyers trying to be mothers, mothers trying to be lawyers and anyone who is interested in learning how to manage it all. Tune in to The Mothers in Law at www.motherinlaw.life.
11 Episodes
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Achieving sustainable success is one goal every person should pursue in their life. But it is not attained just by working harder and embracing the grind. You must also know how to work smarter while keeping personal relationships deeply rooted in meaning and love. Carrie Fogliani sits down with someone who did exactly that: Amanda Hill, Founder of Hill Health Law. She shares her secrets in balancing her legal career with her role as a loving mother through perseverance, intentionality, and self-care. Amanda also discusses how to overcome life’s hardest challenges, put hard-earned wisdom into good use, and stop comparing yourself to others to finally embrace a grateful heart.Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share! https://themothersinlaw.com
Working mothers are constantly navigating the delicate balance between caring for others and caring for themselves, often while carrying invisible loads that no one sees. Dr. Dana Sumpter joins Carrie Fogliani for an honest conversation about what it really means to be a working mother today—how identity, purpose, and priorities evolve when professional life meets family life. Drawing from her research on women balancing work and motherhood during the pandemic, she sheds light on the silent pressures, the unrealistic “ideal worker” myth, and the systems that need to change. Together, they explore the path toward empathy-based leadership, sustainable workplace cultures, and a more human definition of success that honors both ambition and care.Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share! https://themothersinlaw.com
Work-life balance often feels elusive for women navigating demanding legal careers and motherhood, but Christy Crase proves it’s possible to build both with grace and intention. As Chief Legal Officer for Professional Case Management and PCM Trials, Christy reflects on her early years in M&A law, the challenges of raising two daughters while building her career, and the lessons she’s learned about letting go of perfection. She shares how motherhood reshaped her perspective, deepened her empathy as a leader, and reminded her that success doesn’t mean doing it all at once. For every lawyer-mom striving to find her footing, Christy’s story is both grounding and empowering.Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share! https://themothersinlaw.com
Career growth in law isn’t just about climbing titles, it’s about growing as a person, mentor, and parent along the way. In this inspiring part two with Sue Bunnell, she shares how embracing reflection, mentorship, and authenticity shaped her path at Wells Fargo and beyond. From helping lawyers find joy in their work to building supportive teams that value curiosity over competition, Sue reveals the habits that sustain long-term success. Through stories about raising her sons, redefining ambition, and finding balance, she reminds us that growth is never linear—it’s an evolving process of learning, leading, and showing up with purpose both at home and at work.Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share! https://themothersinlaw.com
For many lawyer moms, learning self-compassion is the key to surviving a profession that demands perfection. Sue Bunnell, Assistant General Counsel and Executive Director at Wells Fargo, professor, nonprofit leader, and proud mom of two grown sons, opens up about redefining ambition, setting boundaries, and practicing kindness toward yourself in both law and motherhood. She shares how “lowercase ambition,” energy audits, and transparent parenting shaped her path, proving that you can lead with strength while still protecting your well-being. Her story is a candid, practical guide for mothers in law who want to thrive without burning out.Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share! https://themothersinlaw.com
Working mom guilt is something so many lawyer-mothers carry silently, and in part two of this heartfelt conversation, Suzanne Leslie, founder of the Leslie Law Firm, shares the moment her son’s words freed her from years of self-blame. She reflects on how guilt shaped her parenting, what it took to finally let it go, and why giving children space to fail is essential to their growth. Suzanne also discusses the lessons she’s brought into her firm—from mentoring younger women attorneys to creating a culture where parents don’t have to apologize for family responsibilities. Her story offers both comfort and clarity for lawyer-moms learning to lead with balance, resilience, and grace.Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share! https://themothersinlaw.com
Being a mother and a lawyer is challenging enough, but doing it as the breadwinner takes an entirely different kind of courage. Suzanne Leslie, founder of Leslie Law Firm and once the “baby of the class” at Western State Law School, reveals how she built a thriving personal injury practice while raising two children and supporting an artist husband. In this conversation, she shares how she navigated a male-dominated firm with no female mentors, relied on family support to survive what she calls the “hamster wheel” of work and parenting, and focused on quality rather than quantity of time with her kids. Her story offers a practical blueprint for any lawyer-mom stepping into the breadwinner role and still wanting a meaningful family life.Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share! https://themothersinlaw.com
Balancing family life and a demanding legal career requires more than ambition; it calls for learning how to set boundaries in a law career that protects time, energy, and values. Terri Wagner Cammarano, Chief Legal Officer at Cedars-Sinai, built her path from law firm partner to the C-suite while raising children, and she speaks candidly about the strategies that made it possible. She describes how she learned to say no without sacrificing opportunities, how she reshaped her leadership style to support other women lawyers, and why mentorship matters at every stage. Terri also shares mistakes she made along the way and the practical habits that help her stay grounded. This conversation offers mothers in law a clear, relatable roadmap for advancing their careers while preserving balance and authenticity.Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share! https://themothersinlaw.com
Walking away from a prestigious law career isn’t easy, but Linda Klein reveals how leaving Paul Hastings after just 11 months opened the door to a more meaningful life. From chasing deadlines so grueling that an accident felt like relief, to mourning her mother’s passing and discovering her purpose in healthcare, Linda shares the pivots that shaped her path. She reflects on creating wellness programs at City of Hope, choosing to stay home with her twin daughters, and later finding purpose in leading bereavement support groups. With candor and warmth, Linda shows how resilience, grief, and joy can coexist—and how redefining success can lead to a more fulfilling journey.Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share! https://motherinlaw.life
Balancing part-time law and full-time motherhood is no small feat, and attorney and author Kara Kinney Cartwright gets candid about the wins, struggles, and lessons along the way. From returning to work just six weeks postpartum to navigating unpredictable hospital counsel demands during 9/11, Kara shares how she built resilience, found champions for workplace flexibility, and created her own “Cartwright rule” for earning trust. She opens up about parenting with humor, writing her book Just Don’t Be An Assh*le as a parting gift to her sons, and finding healing through her upcoming book on grief after losing her husband. With wit, honesty, and compassion, Kara reveals what it really takes to keep showing up as both lawyer and mom.Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share! https://motherinlaw.life
Balancing motherhood and a professional career is indeed an overwhelming duty. Mothers often feel guilt over their shortcomings to their children, and it often puts their mental health at risk. But with the proper support and the right mindset, they can make this demanding task more manageable and meaningful. For the podcast’s inaugural episode, Carrie Fogliani sits down with Jeannine Taylor, Deputy General Counsel for Keck Medicine of the University of Southern California, who shares how she balances a legal career and her many responsibilities as a mother. She offers valuable insights into overcoming her biggest professional challenges by tapping into her own village and embracing the “get to” approach. This conversation is for every mom out there who wants to achieve both professional success and personal fulfillment.Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share! http://motherinlaw.life
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