One of our favourite pieces of the year was our first cover feature of 2018, Alphas, which thanks to the tireless efforts of senior reporters Nathalie Tidman and Marco Cillario, aimed to provide a credible selection of the top female talent in City law.
It was always the plan, if the piece was well received, to build on it with an event exploring the trials, realities and rewards for women making it to the top of transactional law, not to mention providing a forum for polished operators to swap notes.
Thankfully, due to our team’s graft and the generous support of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, we are descending on The Ned on 27 November for an evening uniting more than 80 partners and general counsel. The guests are largely women, though we have invited a few token men for appearance’s sake. Everyone is, however, top of their game.
There will be a debate amid the drinking and networking chaired by my colleague Georgina Stanley, the new Legal 500 UK editor, and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer partner Natasha Good. Panellists include BT legal chief Sabine Chalmers (pictured), Funding Circle’s Lucy Vernall, CVC general counsel Lauren Livingston and Travers Smith’s Lucie Cawood.
While the guest list is heavily tilted towards partners at major firms and GCs at large companies, we are also holding open five slots for associates from major firms to get a range of experiences in the room. If you are such an associate and fancy attending, drop me a line at the email below and we’ll see what we can do on a first-come-first-served basis. Likewise, if you have any thoughts on questions we should be addressing in the debate, let me know.
Hopefully, this project will be the first of many recognising the progress women lawyers are making at the very top of the legal industry.
For more see ‘Alphas – the hunt for female deal stars (and why it’s hard to be a City woman)’ (£)
