What's the question? Six weeks isn't a huge amount of time. Take the kids for two weeks and you take a two week vacation or take the kids and work over there

Seems like there should be a path to doing this, given you’ll have more than a year to plan for it. Are you a solo practice or do you have someone you can lean on while you’re out?

I work at a small firm, and when my wife had our son it was just me and my business partner. We banked extra cash in advance, ramped down my partner’s workload and cross-trained him on my clients, I checked in on matters a couple times a week while I was out. That meant I got to take 3 months’ paid paternity leave (2 six week blocks), partner didn’t have to slay himself, I still got my monthly draw.

If you’re a solo, i know there are solo networks out there where people can link up and find coverage. Obviously you need to trust whoever is covering to (1) not screw it up, and (2) not poach the clients.

I don’t think you need to set aside your career for a six week assignment. Block off your. calendar far in advance for a week on the front, one on the end and if possible one in the middle. Fly back a couple of times if necessary to keep the practice running.

You can field phone calls, email, research, draft and file court filings remotely with no issue. You wouldn’t be able to meet with clients in person or appear personally in court, but that should be manageable for 6 weeks. Arrange for colleagues to help out with routine appearances that can’t be bumped. You will probably take an income hit because of the inability to meet with potential new clients in person, but there’s no need to shutter the practice.

FWIW the above is what I did when we were supposed to spend a month in Siberia.
About 10 years ago. I stayed the first 10 days when there were events transpiring I needed to be present for, flew home for about a week when there was nothing going on but a bullshit waiting period, and flew back for the last bit. It wasn’t ideal from a practice perspective, but it worked.

Not sure of your question..

It's a different discussion if the Madrid trip is over the summer or Holidays where kids will be out of school or if it will be during school time.

Also, age of kids matters in missing school...younger...probably minimal impact and easier to work around. Lat middle/high-school it could be challenging and the school may not want to work with you on making exceptions to work around it.

Are you able to do your legal work remote? or take a slight sebatical? 6 weeks is not a huge amount of time, depending on your work situation.

However you are probably over estimating how big the learning experience will be for the kids to spend 6 weeks in another country, especially a nice big western/modern country like Spain. Enjoyable? Absolutely. Educational...in the grand scheme of things, probably not much, especially the younger they are. So make sure you're being honest with the reasons on your justification.


ETA: Sorry, i see you posted the kids age. I missed it....

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My kids 3/5

Both have lived in three countries for various lengths of time

Probably moving to a fourth shortly, and if the plan works out a fifth within the next 66 months

Six weeks should be doable depending on what you can do with your diary

Obvious solution seems to be to front load and back load your work as much as possible

If it was conveyancing type work, in the UK, I've never met the lawyers who have bought and sold my properties in the last ten years. They could have been in Khartoum for all it mattered to me

Can you do any work remotely?
Can you reduce office hours and have a locum staff office to meet people and communicate with you daily?
As it's not tax time for an accountant, how busy are you at that time of year, how much of that work can you pull forwards to before the trip and delay until afterwards

100% I'd make it happenid ask the school she's teaching at about local kids day camps, so even if you can't go for all, your kids could go for it and go to camps when you're not there

I'd also look to fly. What's your nearest airport, do they fly direct, if so, its 7-9 hours depending on which coast, do three day weeks, go Wednesday night back for monday afternoon.

I used to do weekend trips from dubai to London. Its six hours, work on plane

We did twice for a year at a time living in Germany and Spain. However, my wife and I both have very flexible jobs and had zero debt. It didn't cost us anything in terms of our careers but we planned it well in advance of leaving and we both continued to work about 1/4 of normal hours. Kids were 3 and 7 the first time and 9 and 13 the second time. Lots of fun. I remember swimming in the ocean in Spain in October on the first day that it snowed in MA. Kids had traveled enough that they went to Europe on their own at 13 and 17.

thanks everyone. good perspective. that's what i wanted/needed. i appreciate it.

Are you able to work remotely and homeschool the kids (if it’s during the school year) for the whole period?

If I were in your shoes, I’d try to stay there for the whole 6 weeks with the kids as it’ll be an unforgettable learning experience for the whole family. The kids will never forget it and it’ll expand their perspective and understanding of other cultures/the world forever.

With technology nowadays so many things can be done remotely, however if you need to attend court cases is there anyone that can go in your place during that period?