A year with the Law Society Council, transferable skills & equality at home.

A year as a member of the Law Society Council

Isn’t it amazing how time flies? It’s already been a year since I was elected to the Law Society Council to represent and advocate for women solicitors.

It’s certainly a positive sign that in the last year the baton of the presidency has been passed from someone who was the sixth female, the first black office-holder and the first person of colour wrapped into one, the brilliant I. Stephanie Boyce, to the first Asian, first Muslim and seventh female president, the amazing Lubna Shuja – diversity is indisputably more than just a buzzword and it was great to discover first-hand the many exciting initiatives in place to further boost the representation of minorities in the sector.

Last year we marked the centenary of the first woman, Carrie Morrison, being admitted to the solicitors’ roll and looking back, there’s much to celebrate, including that, yes, 53% of all practising solicitors are women and 60% of new solicitors are women. When it comes to seniority, the stats couldn’t look more different! We still see that the majority of lawyers who stay the course in this profession are men; the attrition rate among women remains stubbornly high, though we have no actual figures with which to quantify this. Which is itself damning, in a way.

The legal profession therefore still needs to do a lot more to retain women and to help them return to the profession after a career break. This is what I want to help bring about during my time on the Law Society Council.?

So I’m inviting women solicitors to get in touch with me to tell me which issues you would like me to raise on the Council? What are the pressing problems and topics you feel the Law Society needs to address? Feel free to DM me if you’d prefer not to leave a public comment.?

I for sure will do everything in my power to make your voices heard!

Everywhere you go, always take your skills with you

I was given food for thought this month after I read a Raconteur article on the importance of transferable skills and began to reflect on my own career journey. It feels a little bit crazy to me that 2023 marks the 30th year of my working life. In that time, I have worn a variety of professional hats – journalist, lawyer, entrepreneur, charity founder, advocate and speaker, not to mention parent – and have always managed to put the skills, knowledge and experience gained in one role to use within the next.?

Take journalism, which is where I started out. Communication. Writing. Storytelling. Being interested in people and their stories, talking to them and getting to know them: all of these skills learned as a journalist have stood me in very good stead for my career in law, my role as a business founder and employer, and my work on our 100 Years campaigns.

And let’s not neglect the skills you acquire as a parent, especially if you work from home: multitasking, learning to focus in noisy environments, juggling competing priorities and responsibilities, and so on. All of this definitely builds resilience and amounts to a skillset that can be usefully deployed in other arenas of private and professional life. Transferable skills for the win!

Equality begins at home?

I have recently had quite a few conversations with both mothers and fathers about the topic of paternity leave in particular and parental leave in general. It’s important to shine a spotlight on the issue, not least because two weeks’ paternity leave is truly inadequate and because there is real inequality at play here.

What I often hear in these conversations is an emphasis on the need for shared parental leave, where both parents get to divide up the year’s leave currently only granted in legislation to mothers. However, I wonder if this is, in fact, the solution, as I know plenty of fathers who are the main caregivers while their partner continues working – instead, why not focus on granting parental leave on an equal basis, with fathers and mothers both receiving the same rights and opportunities to be at home with their newborn children? Then couples can decide for themselves how to structure their lives around the demands of parenting and earning.

Equality begins at home, and children deserve to be nurtured by both their parents. I think the Nordic countries are closer to getting this right, with mothers receiving 240 days’ parental leave when their child is born, and fathers then also getting the same amount of leave to care for their child as it enters its second year of life.?

This seems a very fair solution to me, and one that gets closer to meeting everyone’s needs, including those of the infant: less stigma around taking time off to parent, less disruption to both parents’ careers, and more of that vital bonding time with mum and dad for baby. Everyone wins.

This month, I am excited about…

We have now informed all the nominees of their inclusion in our Women Who Will Class of 2023 report – watch this space to find out who this year’s female leaders are.

The countdown has begun to our 8th Inspirational Women in Law Awards 2023 as part of the Next 100 Years campaign. The ceremony will take place on 8 November at the premises of Clifford Chance in London. If the previous events are anything to go by, it’s going to be a brilliant evening!?

And, speaking of inspirational women in law, I am excited to be meeting so many of them this month! On 9 November, I will have the great honour of being a keynote speaker at the Association of Women Judges Annual Conference 2023. I am especially excited about this event, not only because I sit on the Judicial Appointments Commission's advisory board and will get to meet so many of this country’s female judges, but also because one of the other keynote speakers is our new Lady Chief Justice Sue Carr – it’s a great honour to be in such august company.

There are more and more women blazing a trail in the legal profession and beyond. This month alone, Dame Sue Carr was sworn in as the first-ever woman to head up the country’s judiciary in the 800 years since the post was first established; Lady Justice Simler was appointed to the UK Supreme Court, the second woman currently sitting on the bench of the UK’s highest court and the fifth woman ever to do so; and Claudia Goldin became the first woman to win the Nobel Prize in Economics solo for her groundbreaking research into how women are disadvantaged in the labour market.

And finally, what does a role model mean to you?

One of the other things that I’m always excited about is receiving letters – especially ones from America and bearing the Ruth Bader Ginsburg (RBG) stamp. RGB is a complete inspiration to me, a woman who reached the very top of the US judicial system and stayed there for many decades. The Notorious RBG showed the world that with enough determination, anything is possible.

I hope you enjoy this month’s edition of Truth Be Told and welcome your comments and feedback.