I've been reading this thread with great interest. It's fascinating to me how women can catch heck for both staying home and working - it seems like a "darned if you do, darned if you don't" situation. I don't have children yet, but I definitely want them, and I'm also becoming a lawyer - I graduate in May. I'm already working (pretty typical for the profession) and have had several people ask what I do, then when I respond, answer "but who is going to raise your children?"
It's amazing that people think they should get an opinion on whether you stay home or not (or be allowed to pass judgment). Like a lot of other posters mentioned, the childcare costs can be overwhelming. My mom worked until she had enough children (there are 3 of us) that all of her salary was going to childcare expenses, so she decided to just stay home. She says she worked harder when we were all living at home than she ever did in her job. Plus...I absolutely loved having her at home. She quit working when I was in middle school, and I thought it was the best thing ever.
My boyfriend is also an attorney but he's a writer primarily, and would eventually like to teach creative writing full time. We've already decided that if we're lucky enough to have kids, we want them to have a stay at home parent, and he really wants to be the one to do it. I'm crossing my fingers that it works out, because I know that'd probably be the happiest situation for us (I love love love my job; him, not so much!)