By the time solicitor Glenys Arden gave birth to her third child she had the whole thing down to a fine art.

She was in court the day her baby arrived, and back at work two weeks later.

Then all Ms Arden's careful planning began to unravel.

The baby developed a health problem which meant her taking an unscheduled two-year career break while she looked after him.

'All the maternity planning in the world doesn't prepare a mum for that,' she says.Luckily Ms Arden, past-chairwoman of the Association of Women Solicitors (AWS), has had experience of both planned and unplanned breaks.

She admits it is far easier to engineer a smooth re-entry to the profession if the career break was anticipated.There are huge benefits to be gained from an enforced spell awa y from the daily grind of lawyering, she says.

'A break can be very positive, it gives you the opportunity to pause, to consider where you are going and what you want.

It is surprising how few people who have remained at work will have done that.' Ms Arden says the keys to making a successful comeback are training, information resources and networking.

'It is vital to use the time constructively to broaden your experience and develop your interests,' she says.Ms Arden lists some of the numerous ad-hoc law-related activities that can often be fitted in around other commitments -- many of which she has done herself.

These include acting as an agent for the Crown Prosecution Service, acting as a Solicitors Complaints Bureau investigating officer, becoming part-time chairwoman of a tribunal and volunteering for work at a citizens advice bureau or charity.But however much a woman solicitor is re-energised by her break and whatever new interests she has developed, getting back into employment may still be difficult.

In reality, time out is more likely to be seen as time to be made up rather than as a positive advantage.Jane Whitaker, a partner at City firm Macfarlanes and a former AWS chairwoman, says: 'If a woman has time off, she does have to bear in mind that it may put her promotional prospects back a little.

I would hope, however, that it would only hold things up for a while, and then her opportunities would be the same as her other colleagues, so long as she is prepared to juggle her work and home commitments.'If the mood of delegates at a recent conference on 'Getting back to work' is anything to go by, women and men returners do not underestimate the difficulties they face as they re-enter the job market.

Peter Brindley, head of the professional development unit at the College of Law which runs the course, warns delegates not to set their sights too high.

'They need to be realistic.

But don't turn realism into diffidence, caution or downright negativity,' he says.According to a survey by recruitment consultants Daniels Bates, many women in the profession are still distinctly negative about the likely impact on their prospects of having children.

Nearly 73% of the 378 women questioned said their career was being or would be held back by having children.One reason for this lack of optimism may be the general level of gloominess about women lawyers' prospects whether they have children or not.

Some 64% said they did not believe women lawyers were given equal opportunities, and 60% said their promotional prospects were worse than those of their male colleagues.In any event, according to Clare McGlynn, vice-chairwoman of the Young Women Lawyers Group (YWLG), it may be counter-productive to argue for special arrangements for women with children.

Such an approach merely perpetuates the belief that childcare is solely the responsibility of the woman in a relationship, she says.She may have a point.

Male lawyers are never expected to juggle family and career commitments in the way that women are.

It is unlikely, for instance, that Law Society President Martin Mears, who says it is 'entirely right that women should put their families first', has ever been asked how he manages to combine his professional and presidential duties with being father of seven children.But, as the number of men attending the College of Law returner course demonstrated, it is not only women with children who sometimes want or need to take a career break.

Law Society Presidents, for example, have to spend much of their time in office away from their firms as Rodger Pannone, one of Mr Mears' predecessors, found to his cost.

After his year-long stint as President he discovered there was not quite as much of his firm left to return to as he might have liked because a number of key partners had left.