Legal Squawk Is Born Over Baby in Office

Lawyer Diane J. Marlowe has spent 11 years fighting for women’s rights, but now Marlowe is facing her own possible legal action as she battles for the right to care for her 1-month-old daughter at her workplace.

Two weeks ago, Marlowe set up a crib in her office at the Women’s Law Center and began bringing Jennifer to work. However, the landlord, represented by Tishman West Management Corp., said other tenants have complained that Jennifer’s presence compromises the professional atmosphere of the executive suites, the top two floors of a 10-story office building near The City Shopping Center, which are rented mostly to attorneys and accountants.

Marlowe was notified in a hand-delivered letter Thursday that using her office as a “nursery” violates the lease.

To Marlowe, the office is not a nursery, it’s a law office that has added a crib.

Marlowe said that she keeps the door to her office tightly shut and that no one has complained directly to her about having children at the office.

In fact, several women from nearby offices have commented positively, she said.

“I don’t walk around holding a baby” in the hallways, Marlowe said. “It’s not something I make a big production out of.”

Marlowe and her husband, lawyer Richard C. Gilbert, have their practice in a three-room corner suite on a floor lined with dozens of offices. They have just rented an adjoining room to create a work space for their paralegal and the baby.

Gary Mull, Tishman West building manager, said there have been no complaints of noise or other disturbance but that “several offices have felt an impact or concern” over the unprofessional appearance created by having an infant at the office.

Marlowe’s lease agreement includes a section called “Professional Conduct,” which states that if “more than 50% of the co-tenants feel that (the conduct in question) reflects unfavorably on them or the suite,” the landlord may terminate the lease.

“Tishman West is not trying to take an anti-child or anti-infant or anti-day care stand,” Mull said. “But we have had complaints.”

He added that Tishman West will be creating a day-care center for employees at The City but that it will most likely be at a different site.

Marlowe and Mull met late Friday but were unable to settle the conflict. Mull said the issue will be considered by Tishman West’s legal department.

Friday afternoon, Jennifer napped in her blue portable crib while the phone rang and her mother talked about the conflict.

Marlowe, 38, one the founders of the Women’s Law Center, worked at home when her first child was born six years ago. She ran an office, complete with secretary, out of her Mission Viejo home for three years.

But now her practice, which consists mostly of family-law cases, is so large that she cannot work at home, she said.

Marlowe said she believes that having Jennifer at the office is her only option.

“I want to be with her, and it’s not acceptable to me for her to be in the care of someone else,” Marlowe said.

Cases of employers who will not supply a child-care facility for their workers are common, Marlowe said.