She Shouts - the first edition

“Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much.” Helen Keller?

?Welcome to the first edition of ‘She Shouts’ - our new newsletter!??

International Women’s Day, the 8th March 2023, is our 4th birthday at She Breaks the Law. We launched our community back in 2019 with a mission: to break the law for the better.??

Since then, our voluntary community for women in legal has grown to nearly 4000 lawbreakers from all over the globe who come together to share, learn, develop and create.? We pride ourselves in providing a safe, supportive and inclusive space for women leaders to come together and collaborate on their change journeys in legal – in our LinkedIn community and at our various events and meet-ups.?

To date, our main channel of communication with you has been our community space on LinkedIn (details on this further down), but today we are proud to launch this first edition of She Shouts, our regular newsletter. By subscribing to our newsletter on here, you will receive quarterly updates summarizing lawbreaking activities and takeaways from our Global Cafes and recent meet-ups, as well as notifications about upcoming events and much more - so you don’t miss out!???

Global Café take-aways??

She Shares – inspiring stories (Jan)?

We kicked off the year with our first SBTL Global Café in Jan led by our APAC lawbreakers. We collaborated with our partners Khaitan & Co for a She Shares special event bringing you authentic stories of relatable role models. We were lucky enough to hear from two very different yet inspiring women founders - Karen Finch ( LegallyYours , ALTA - Australian Legal Technology Association ) and Meghana Srinivas ( TrustIn ) on shared challenges and how to overcome them. Key learnings included:?

??Master the ‘imposter syndrome’ – the best way to deal with imposter syndrome is to turn it into your strength. Embrace it – acknowledge it, listen to your inner voice (why do I feel this way, what’s it telling me) & use that information to fuel you. ?

??Power of the community – entrepreneurship is a lonely journey & can be difficult to navigate on your own – it's important to find your tribe and surround yourself with supportive communities. She Breaks the Law is one of these!?

??Be kind to yourself – being kind to yourself is of utmost importance – asking for help, from peers, friends, and family, is not weakness but a sign of strength. Taking regular time off work can help reorient and refocus with more energy.?

??Pay it forward – as important as it is to get a seat at the table (or rather make your own seat at the table), it is also necessary to look out for and help other women (especially juniors) to rise up.?

??Power of strong allyship – to increase funding for women-led initiatives, it’s not enough for women to support other women but we also need strong male allies, especially fellow founders to look out for and champion female founders.?

Loving your work (in a healthy way) - a Valentine’s Day special (Feb)?

Our second SBTL Global Café was led by our US lawbreakers. A Valentine’s Day, special, lawbreakers discussed what we need to do to love our jobs in a healthy way. Thoughts included:?

• Loving your work often depends on the moment but being appreciated and seeing the results of your work (including being well paid for it) plays a big part in it.?
• Leaders who set clear priorities and boundaries for their teams can make all the difference in employees setting healthy boundaries and knowing what is expected.?
• To make work more sustainable, make it as regular, process-driven, and templatized as possible, so there are as few last-minute surprises and firefighting as possible. ?
• Sometimes, you can “love” your job by accepting what you can and cannot do or control and stop trying to change things outside your control.?
• Work is a two-way street, but if you seem to be struggling alone to get things done, it is time to re-evaluate your boundaries, expectations, and whether quiet quitting or quitting for good would help.?
• When you're not feeling the love try:?
• Gratitude journaling (it can help to change your attitude, but don't expect that it will necessarily change the underlying situation)?
• Stepping away to get your creative juices flowing (running, walking, and taking cold showers can help you achieve your goals more quickly)?
• Taking on something new (learn a new skill, take a class, seek out a rotation, ask for a stretch project).?
• Maybe quitting - if it’s a toxic environment, your well-being is suffering, and you don’t see a path forward, prioritize yourself.?
• Perhaps quiet quitting IS your answer. Quiet quitting is a good and a bad thing. While "quitting" is not good for anyone, if it's more about setting boundaries, that's a good thing. Just know that it is a trade-off - prioritizing yourself and your sanity may mean that someone who is a workaholic may take over/pass you by.?

Huge shout out to the speakers and lead lawbreakers who have made these cafes?a big success! Karen Finch , Meghana Srinivas , Priya Lele , Purti Minawala , Sukyana Syed , Sameena Safdar , Florjan Osmani and Akanksha Bisen .?

Swimming in IWD ?

This International Women’s Day on 8th March, snow stopped plans for one lawbreaker Helen Burness to swim in the day for our community (honestly - there was a lot of snow outside London), but Lucie Allen from BARBRI fearlessly braved the elements to take an icy dip in the name of women in law everywhere! What absolute legend.

IWD Global Café on 23 March?

We’ll be hosting our IWD Global Cafe later in the month on 23rd March. This month, we turn to our UK lead lawbreakers and creative geniuses Noo Jones and Claire Rason to host our IWD and birthday special café to kick off a series of discussions over the coming months focused on women empowerment and issues we feel are both topical and really matter to our community, such as:?

• Breaking the glass ceiling/shifting the needle on DEI - how to drive inclusion and create change which reflects reality in the legal ecosystem?
• Owning the space created by generative AI - navigating the intersection of AI and the law and the role of ‘humans’?
• Shaping the future/examining the changing needs of clients in the digital age and delivering future client needs??

Join Nicola, Clare and Lucie Allen to close the month of International Women's Day for an opportunity to get together with other lawbreakers from across the globe and collaborate on ways to shape the future of the legal profession.??This event is for lawbreakers in our community only.

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/from-ai-to-client-needs-to-inclusion-driving-change-lawbreaker-style-tickets-564698798307??

April??

In April, we look forward to teaming up with Khaitan & Co again to host a hybrid event with a luncheon in Mumbai in addition to our online Global Café. We will be having a panel discussion on legal design with three experts from different parts of the world ( Meera Klemola , Sarah OUIS and Priya Lele ) – each sharing their unique perspective on design thinking and its impact in legal. From creating visual contracts and communications to make legal information more accessible and user-friendly, to legal service design for improving the user-experience and creating cost efficient and effective legal services, to organisation design and new business models – they will share their experience of applying design thinking principles in legal to create user-centric solutions. Whether you think legal design is just a ‘buzz word’ or you are an expert legal designer, you need to join us and our panellists on 27 April to demystify the myths and appreciate the true power of the discipline.? Register here - https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/sbtl-global-cafe-april-2023-with-khaitanco-demystifying-legal-design-tickets-570288507277 ?

May??

Coming to America! After 3 years of hiatus, we are looking to host some in-person events and meet-ups in the Bay Area in the US. Plus it’s the CLOC Global Institute between 15-18 May and we have some awesome lawbreakers leading exciting sessions (including on raising your ‘Personal Profile’) at the conference. We are also working in the background on some informal meet-ups for those planning to attend the conference. More about this as we have it.??

Joining events??

Please look on the community page for updates on our events. These are posted in there and pinned as posts according to what is coming up next.??

https://www.dhirubhai.net/groups/8732283/?

You can also follow She Breaks the Law on EventBrite.??

Our LinkedIn company page is for signposting only.?

What is She Breaks the Law??

A global community of women driving change in the legal industry.??

?We bring the learners, thinkers, followers and doers together.??

We support and empower women of all backgrounds and disciplines in their strive for change in the legal industry.?

Together we share, develop and create. Together we work towards a different kind of legal. A progressive, inclusive and collaborative legal.??

Together we break the law, for the better.?