Monday marked Kristina Maynard's first day back at the office in six years. Her children—ages 9, 12 and 13—wanted to commemorate the moment as she had done for them every first day of school.

Maynard had been a trusts and estates partner at Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn, where since 2004 she had worked out of Detroit-based Am Law 200 firm's office in the Motor City suburb of Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. Maynard made partner in 2010, but a year later she made the decision to leave her practice behind in order to focus on raising a family.

Now, with her three children on their way to adolescence, she's stepping back into her estate planning practice. The American Lawyer caught up with Maynard, 44, to discuss her heading back into Big Law.