Ann Israel is the legal profession's Dear Abby. A New York legal recruiter since 1979, Ann is a past president of the National Association of Legal Search Consultants. Advice for the Lawlorn is updated every week.

Q: I've enjoyed reading and gained tremendous help from your advice and wisdom to others. Thank you, truly. Now, I hope you don't mind, but I'd like to please ask you a question.

I'm a devoutly religious person who's interested in working for a national law firm. I'm wondering, can a person of faith have a career as a "big law" firm attorney as well as freely practice his/her religion? Obviously, in this day and age no one would be overtly intolerant of any religion, but I realize there may be more subtle situations that might crop up that I'd have to confront, whereas others might not be as concerned, or that simply might affect me differently. For example, if I needed one day per week off for religious observance, would that be a problem (not necessarily so much regarding whether or not I would complete my work -- I definitely would be more than willing to put in as much time as necessary and work during the other six days -- but as far as "face time")? I'd appreciate your thoughts regarding the issue of "religion in the workplace/law firms."

Many thanks,
Moses was a lawyer

Dear Moses: First of all, I believe that the First Amendment establishes your rights to freely practice your religion while at the same time take on a career. It would be difficult -- although I am sure that it goes on -- for any employer to find reasons to hold you back in your career because you need to observe certain religious bylaws and guidelines that cause you to take time off from work ... as long as your work is done in a satisfactory manner and in the appropriate time frame.

Your question tells us that you are in Los Angeles and I am going to tell you right away that working in a BigLaw firm -- particularly in big cities such as Los Angeles, Chicago and New York -- you are not going to run into any problems with taking off one day per week for religious observance, especially when you are willing to work as much as necessary the other six days of the week to make up for that one day. The "face time" that you are going to miss for that one day is not going to hurt your career.

Here is where a potential problem can arise, and I have to tell you that I have run into the situation a number of times: Be honest and up front about your situation and don't wait until after you have been hired and start working to discuss this with your employer, because I believe that is when it can become an issue.

When the interviewing process is well on its way and you are confident that you are a strong contender for a job offer, sit down with one of the interviewers that you feel is part of the decision-making process. Let him or her know that you are very interested in this position and that you are committed to making this a career choice. However, you need to let him/her know that due to your religious affiliation, it will be necessary for you to take one day off every week. However, you are also willing to work six days a week to make up for this day off and you can guarantee that your work product will not suffer.

I believe that waiting until after you are hired to tell an employer about this is duplicitous. You should want this to be a condition of your employment rather than something that you keep hidden until after you are employed. I am interested in hearing from the readers of this column as to your opinions on this matter and I will print those opinions in a column later on.

As you become more senior in your practice, these kinds of situations become more and more trivial. The larger your practice becomes, the less important your "face time" will matter. And, I can assure you that, for example, in New York alone there are so many religious attorneys who must leave their firms before sundown on Fridays and do not work on Saturdays, and they have made partner. Trust me when I tell you that there are far greater issues to worry about that are deal-breakers in your career than this. As I always advise, just be the best you can be -- on those other six days! Best wishes!

Sincerely,
Ann M. Israel
President, Ann Israel & Associates