Each year on the 8th March, International Women’s Day is celebrated.
International Women’s Day is an opportunity for everyone around the world to celebrate women, raise awareness of equality issues, remember those who fought for women’s rights and celebrate the females who continue to inspire and empower today.
Strong women have helped to shape the legal industry into what it is today, with women now accounting for 61% of solicitors in the UK. However, only 35% of those women are able to reach the top and make partners at their law firms. These figures have risen drastically over the last decade, however the gap at the top for female lawyers is still prevalent, particularly in small and mid-size law firms.
Lamb Brooks, however, are very pleased to buck the trend with 73% of the Partnership being women. 8 female lawyers and 3 male lawyers make up the leadership team at Lamb Brooks.
Not only does the firm have a strong female partnership, but it also has women placed in senior roles and key positions across the business. The Office Manager, Head of Marketing, Head of HR, Head of Accounts and the Compliance Officer are all women, helping to smoothly run the business behind the scenes.
We have 4 female trainee solicitors with the firm, who are all undertaking their training contracts to become qualified solicitors in the next 18 months.
Our reception team are all women, being the first point of call and welcoming presence for anyone visiting the office and throughout the firm we have women heading up 6 of the 9 different legal departments as well as making up the support teams of assistants, legal secretaries and paralegals.
Lamb Brooks recruited 17 females in 2022 and has already welcomed 4 new female faces to the firm this year.
The leadership team at Lamb Brooks are proud to offer women a flexible working environment, that takes into consideration their responsibilities outside of the workplace but also allows them to progress and develop their careers without anything holding them back.
The Lamb Brooks Partnership (top left to bottom right) Alec Brooks, Victoria Pettit-Mills, Sue Squires, Clare Galvani, Janine Pendry Clark, Sheena Aston, Susan Sear, Rob Parker, Andrew Lowe and Rupeena Shoker. (+ Hayley Emmerson currently on maternity leave)
Brief History of Women in Law
Looking back over the history of women in law, it is quite incredible to compare it to a progressive firm such as Lamb Brooks.
- Women were not allowed to be awarded degrees until 1978 when only 9 women were admitted to the University of London.
- Women had to take a ‘special exam for women’ rather than sitting the same examinations as men.
- Eliza Orme was the first woman to earn a law degree in England in 1888, however she had to practice unofficially and was blocked from becoming a Solicitor or Barrister.
- In was only 101 years ago, in 1922 when the first female solicitor was admitted to the roll in England.
- In 1892 the first female Indian national obtained a postgraduate degree and was the first women to study law at Oxford University, however she did not receive her degree until 30 years later when the laws barring women from practising were changed in 1923.
- Ivy Williams was the first women to be called to the English Bar in 1922, with Helena Norman becoming the first woman to practice as a Barrister.
- Stella Thomas became the first West African women to be called to the Bar in 1933.
- Elizabeth Lane became the first female High Court Judge in 1965.
- In 1979 Margaret Thatcher became the first female Prime Minister of the UK.
- In 1991 Baroness Scotland of Asthal became the first black women to be appointed to Queens Counsel. She was also 35 years old, making her the youngest person in 200 years to take silk.