Lawyer Makes Motherhood Look Easy

Deborah Noonan didn't plan on having a big family. "But I didn't plan on having a small one, either," she says. Whatever her plans, the Norwalk-based attorney ended up with a super-sized brood. Deborah and her husband Dan are the proud parents of seven children, three girls and four boys, ranging in age from 7 to 18. Now that they know what having a full house is like, they wouldn't have it any other way. "I would have had more," says Deborah. "But I was getting too old."

Deborah doesn't look old, nor does she look like a mother of seven. Maybe she stays young because she's managed to strike that elusive balance between being a mom and having a career, a stressful endeavor that can take years off of other mothers' lives. After spending 11 years as a stay-at-home mom, Deborah started her own practice as a family lawyer specializing in divorce mediation.

"I consider myself very fortunate," she says. "I can make my own hours and spend probably 80% of my work time in my home office. So I can go on field trips if I want to, and teach art appreciation to second graders. This assuages some of the mommy guilt."

Deborah also credits her "wonderfully helpful husband" Dan with helping everything to run smoothly. "He's very hands-on, and he has the patience of Job, whereas I'm more Type A," she says. "Last night I made an evening appointment, and he had to get the kids to seven different activities all starting within 15 minutes of each other!" With interests from soccer to violin to baseball to field hockey, there are endless lessons and practice sessions on the Noonan kids' schedule. That's fine with Deborah. She's particularly aware of the fleeting nature of childhood now that her eldest, Emily, will be going off to college in the fall. "I'm really going to miss her," she says. Deborah vividly remembers the day Emily was born. "I was doing criminal appellate work in New York City, and I loved it.  I was actually sad about having to take maternity leave, because I thought I was going to miss my colleagues. Then Emily was born and I was like, 'What was I thinking? I don't want to go back!' I just fell in love with her." 

Deborah still calls her youngest, 7-year-old Caroline, her "baby." She takes comfort in the fact that even as her own kids grow up and move on, she'll always be able to help children through her work as a mediator. 

"Kids just want their parents to stop fighting," she says. "It's not divorce that hurts kids, it's the way you get divorced." 

Luckily, that's something the Noonan clan will most likely never have to worry about. 

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