If you’re a woman and a lawyer, recent figures on equality may have made you question whether or not you’re in the right profession.
Yes there are many exciting legal vacancies on s1jobs, but how can you guarantee you’ll be treated on a par with men in the same positions?
As it stands, women make up only 22 per cent of sheriffs and 26 per cent of senators of the college of justice, and there is a gender-based pay gap.
Well, the good news is strong steps are now being taken to put an end to historic discrimination, including a new initiative that has just been launched aimed at cracking the profession’s glass ceiling.
The Leadership Foundation for Women Lawyers is backed by some of Scotland’s most eminent legal professionals and its founding member is former head of Edinburgh Law School, Professor Lesley McAra.
She says: “It is vital that the legal profession reflects the society which it serves.
“For more than 30 years there has been gender parity among graduating students but this has not translated into gender parity in the top echelons of the profession. In spite of best efforts, too many talented women are leaving the profession.”
There are, of course, many leading lights in law who are female and very publically pushing the envelope, such as human rights lawyer Amal Clooney.
Legal practices in Scotland, too, have already learned to harness the talents of the profession’s brightest women.
Among them is Shepherd and Wedderburn, where a number of the firm’s female partners and solicitors have been endorsed as the recognised authorities in their practice areas, and appointed to key roles in national trade bodies.
One of them is Emma Carmichael, who is the new chair of the Association of Women in Property in Central Scotland. Another is Leigh Herd, one of Shepherd and Wedderburn’s specialist construction disputes lawyers, who had been confirmed as Honorary Secretary and Treasurer of the Scottish branch of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.
Partner Patricia Hawthorn has just entered her third year of office as chair of Scottish Renewables, a role to which she was elected in 2015. Meanwhile Yvonne Brady, head of the firm’s top-ranked Corporate Restructuring and Insolvency Partners has been recognised as the most experienced recover lawyer in Scotland, while her colleague Gillian Carty has been described as “exceptional”.
So, if you’re young, female and a lawyer but still questioning your choice of career, perhaps these leading lawyers can act as your role models and give you the drive to continue to build your profile in the industry.
For all the latest Legal vacancies visit s1jobs.com