An enlightening and informative seminar was held at Chester University this month entitled “A celebration of the past present and future of women in law” in which six women shared their experiences and career paths in the legal profession. The aim of the seminar was to encourage and inspire the audience of mainly women, but also some men, to consider their own aspirations of working in the legal profession and what paths they could follow.
The six speakers ranged from a high court judge to one working in a large law firm with the aspiration of eventually becoming a barrister, to a solicitor who had recently started her own legal practise. One common theme that ran throughout their accounts was the difficulties they had encountered in their own personal route to success, especially in the context of trying to raise a family at the same time as forging a career in the legal profession.
One speaker, who once was working in a large corporate law firm, recalled the day when she went to tell her female boss that she was pregnant. She was met with a reply of disappointment that she had not waited until she had become a partner in the firm when her position would have been more securely established in what was then a male dominated organisation. She had in effect ruined her career prospects and may as well not return after her baby was born. The solicitor in question handed in her notice with that firm on the spot and found a new position in another relatively unknown law firm, Hillyer McKeown, run predominantly by women; that firm was eventually to become HM3 Legal in Chester where she is now a senior partner.
By having an equal, diverse and inclusive culture in their working practises, HM3 have found a successful formula in their offer of legal services by challenging the traditional way of doing things. Their strength as they see it, lies in the fact that the majority of their staff are women who, as they put it, are “BL**DY BRILLIANT LAWYERS” and bring to the table all the best characteristics that women possess – sensitivity, empathy and understanding. In addition to such pledges as friendliness, clear pricing and a commitment to excellent service.
From the two judges we heard of their different career paths. One had practised as a solicitor for ten years before taking on advocacy work then slowly progressed through the ranks as a barrister and was eventually promoted to her current position as a District Judge in 2016 in Wales. Her mantra was that: “The world’s your oyster” and that as a woman you can achieve any position in the legal profession if you work hard and take opportunities when they arise. She also emphasised that in order to achieve the highest echelons in this profession one must avoid any misfeasance, even submitting your tax returns late!
The second judge speaking had gone to Bar School immediately after graduating, taken pupillage at Gray’s Inn where she was called to the Bar in 1991 and subsequently specialised in personal injury and clinical negligence work. She was appointed as a recorder in 2009, a Queen’s Council in 2011 and then a deputy High Court Judge in 2013 and finally a Justice of the High Court in 2017. By leaping in short time from law school to advocacy in court, she felt that she had sometimes not been mature enough to handle the ‘real world’ situations that she immediately encountered; one such was comforting a young mother who had been convicted and incarcerated and was crying about how to tell her young children. She went on to say that in court work, it is imperative to get on with the clerks and your colleagues to have any success in the law.
This was endorsed by the next speaker who, after graduating went to join a firm where she spent ten years in courtroom work, where, as she put it, she ‘was sick to her stomach with nerves’ with her every appearance. Having had enough of this gruelling daily experience, she decided to set up her own firm, eventually specialising in the niche market of Wills and Trusts. She described that it had been a crazy route to her own success. At the start, without an office, she had to meet clients in a car park! She also said that without the practical support of her colleagues and even competitors (lending office space, furniture, a fax machine and telephone!) she would not have succeeded in what is now her own flourishing business.
Finally, was the still relatively young, Legal 500 winner this year - a prestigious award given to the best 500 solicitors in England. She had gone from law school to work for two years in a small practise handling general legal matters, to her rapid ascent in a large law firm where now she is a specialist in all areas of healthcare law. She found that she enjoyed advocacy work and is now aiming to become a barrister.
The head of the Law School at Chester University rounded off the proceedings with a summary of what we had heard from each of the speakers. She mused that women were expected (by men!) to wear skirts when working in courts only up until recently – trousers were banned. She also had to give up a lot of her career time to become a mother of two children and that her own career path had been as diverse as the previous speakers to achieve her own success in the legal profession. Taking opportunities as they came along was important too – ‘saying yes, then think about it after’ was another slogan heard that afternoon. She also noted that support of family and friends and having a role model to look up to was essential for women to succeed in the legal profession. On that note, as another speaker put it ‘if you can see it, you can be it’!
These women of the law certainly demonstrated that hard work, taking opportunities as they come along, with a little bit of luck thrown into the mix, means that success in the legal profession is available to women, as well as men.
By Ian Smith
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