From growing up in a Barnsley mining community to making the tea as a junior lawyer, Greenberg Traurig’s Kathryn Garbett reflects on a shifting landscape for women in law over her rise to City partner Continue reading “‘As the only woman in the room, I would be asked to pour the tea’ – how legal life has changed for women”
In recent years the Legal 500 has made a concerted push to boost female representation across our rankings, dedicating much effort to identifying the best women at all levels of seniority, from rising stars to Hall of Famers.
But as UK editor Georgina Stanley said five years ago, we were always going to need the help of law firms to do this, given the central role that law firm submissions and peer recommendations play in our research. Thankfully, that help has been more than forthcoming from many firms, enabling us to consistently increase the proportion of women in our UK rankings, which are now 42% female. Continue reading “Female empowerment – which firms are best at championing women?”
Milbank’s Lisa O’Neill, Andrea Hamilton and Lara Watt on developments in the M&A market as well as the strength of their team
Reflecting on the M&A landscape over the last few years, Lisa O’Neill, partner and co-head of the corporate group in Milbank’s London office, was struck by the scale of change driven by global events. ‘The Covid-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine, the inflationary environment and impact on lending, the proliferation of foreign investment controls and foreign subsidies regulations, an increasing focus on ESG – the list goes on. These macro-economic and policy developments have affected the market significantly and driven increasing client need for top-tier advice within the more complex landscape,’ she explains. ‘In addition, within the legal sector there are increased demands for broader inclusion among practitioners and greater DEI efforts overall; this change is also being reflected in the M&A community.’ Continue reading “Sponsored briefing: Reviewing the M&A landscape”
Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) has quadrupled the number of female partners in its London corporate team since 2017, with women comprising 45% of all new partners joining the team since then.
‘We knew we had a problem and we knew it was business critical to fix it,’ says Mike Flockhart, HSF’s London-based global co-head of corporate. Mike credits his fellow global co-head, Melbourne-based Carolyn Pugsley, as an important catalyst for change. ‘Carolyn brought different perspectives to the global leadership team, and was inspirational to a generation of female talent who were looking for leadership. Here we had a successful female partner, managing a career and family and being very authentic about her experience.’ Mike also notes the role that senior male leaders like James Palmer and Stephen Wilkinson played: ‘They were uncompromising about the need to change, and the need to prioritise the development and support of female talent.’ Continue reading “Sponsored briefing: Gender equity becomes key focus”
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer is the first of the Magic Circle to share its pay gap statistics for 2021. Despite steady improvements, the firm acknowledges there is still much more to be done.
The report revealed that on average men are paid 52% more hourly than women, on a median basis the difference is 13%. This is a modest improvement from a 55% mean and 17% median gap in 2020.
As the world watches the battle rage in Ukraine, talking about gender inequality risks coming across as somewhat trite. But with women and children making up the overwhelming majority of the more than one million people displaced by the invasion so far, this year’s International Women’s Day has a pointed resonance. Everyone suffers during war, but women and girls are notoriously vulnerable to its impact, both physically and economically. The images of those flooding out of Ukraine to seek sanctuary elsewhere only serves to highlight this.
We’ve therefore taken the decision to still mark International Women’s Day and its #BreakTheBias message, as gender equality still needs to be fought for across all industries, including law and politics, and progress made still needs to be celebrated. Continue reading “‘Get the credit you deserve’ – top female partners on breaking biases and inspiring role models”
