The Home Office: Setting it Up, Making it Work, and Managing Work/Life Demands

Office space is becoming less common as lawyers and entrepreneurs experiment with communal work spaces and home offices. “It comes down to time, money, and family,” Kelli Proia, aka the Stay@Home Attorney, said. When she began her practice, she was working part time and raising a family, and renting office space wasn’t practical. Now that she has mastered the ways of a stay at home attorney, she works from home full time. Proia spent her first eight years out of law school working as in-house intellectual property counsel at high-tech companies. When her daughter was born, she left the office ready to be a full-time mom. Missing her career, while enjoying every moment with her newborn, she set out to launch a part-time practice in 2009 from home. Now, she is working from home full time helping high-tech companies understand their intellectual property assets through IP management programs and eating dinner with her family almost every night. Legal Toolkit host Heidi Alexander chats with Proia on how to set up a home office, tips on how to be productive, and how to take full advantage of the benefits of working from home.