Patricia Trendacosta is the managing shareholder of the Los Angeles financial services law firm Frandzel Robins Bloom & Csato, a position she has held for 10 years. She’s also general counsel for the Western Independent Bankers Association. Before joining Frandzel, Ms. Trendacosta was vice president and manager of government relations and compliance for Union Bank of California. We spoke to Trendacosta about the sacrifices that came with the decision to pursue a demanding career, and her quirky morning routine.

Question: How do you achieve work/life balance?

Answer: I think in different points in your career, the demands are different. The work/life balance comes towards the end of the cycle, not the beginning. If you start out at a firm at 24 years old and you decide to shoot for the highest level of economic achievement, it requires certain sacrifices, including time with your family. I made the decision that I wanted to succeed. It entailed things like working until 2 or 3 in the morning on last minute negotiations. I remember a time when my family was throwing a birthday dinner for me and I stayed here until 1 in the morning to finish out a transaction. My family didn’t resent me for it. They understood my erratic hours. I think you can balance maintaining relationships with family without being there 24/7. From time to time, I regret that I didn’t hear my children’s first words or see their first steps. I was lucky that my husband had some flexibility in his schedule, so someone was always there for sports games, to cheer them on.

Do young lawyers at your firm face the same expectations?

Our firm allows our associates to make quality-of-life decisions. So if they hit minimum hours and they decide that being home with their kids is important, they do have that flexibility. Now, will they make equity partner? Maybe, maybe not. Most of the lawyers who have consciously decided that being an equity partner is what they really want, they know there is a certain demanding lifestyle that goes along with it.

How is your work/life balance different at this stage of your career?

At my level, I have to do occasional 12 hour days but much less frequently than when I was a young lawyer. Unfortunately, now my kids are grown. But it does give me the flexibility to spend time with them now that they are older.

Describe your morning routine.

I wake up around 4 a.m. I get ready for work, and then I have three dogs, two cats, and a parrot, so I spend the early mornings tending to them. I have this quirky thing: I cook their food. I poach chicken. They get vegetables. When the kids were babies, I did the same thing. I made baby food. So, that’s a two hours process and then I leave for work.

Are there points in your day where you make time for yourself?

Not every day. But now that I’m at the level I’m at, I don’t have to work weekends, so now I go to the farmer’s markets and buy produce for the week. That’s enjoyable to me. You get to know the farmers. I have my own social group there, so I spend a couple hours catching up on community gossip. I go to the Hollywood market on Sundays when I’m here, and then the Santa Barbara market if we are at our house there. I love to cook. I think that a lot of lawyers have no hobbies and when they retire, what then? It’s important to seek out other things.