03/08/2023
Dechert’s Global Women’s Initiative (GWI) empowers women lawyers to succeed by fostering an environment with opportunities for development, advancement and leadership within the firm.
For International Women’s Day, we sat down with partners and GWI members Judith Seddon (Trial, Investigations and Securities; London); Kathleen (Kate) Mylod (Global Finance, New York) and Nicole Macarchuk (Corporate, San Francisco), each of whom joined the firm in the past year, to discuss this year’s IWD theme of “embracing equity.”
Question: In your experience, what challenges exist to achieving equity in the legal sector?
Kate: The challenge exists of embracing flexible ways to encourage and enable women to achieve success both professionally (i.e. on the job) and personally (i.e. at home/outside of work). This challenge is not unique to private practice, or the legal sector generally.
Judith: The principal challenges remain the age-old challenges – in particular ensuring that, regardless of personal circumstances, women are given the same opportunities as men in the work they do and in their career progression.
Question: What steps do you feel could be taken to increase equity for women in the industry?
Kate: For both the legal and the commercial real estate industries, many steps can be taken to increase equity for women. Two in particular that I am keen on are:
1. Allowing for flexible, creative, practical work options for everyone (not just women). As lawyers, we are service providers selling our intellect and our time. We can do that at any time of day, and from nearly any location. While the default rule for an organization may be to be present in the office (and I am a big proponent of being in office!), allowing for practical variations of remote/hybrid status and part-time flex enables attorneys and other professionals to adapt to where they are in their personal, familial and professional lives, as those lives shift over time. And, if everyone is able to partake of this practical flexibility, then doing so is less stigmatized for one group when compared to others.
2. Encouraging and supporting both mentorship and sponsorship for women at all levels – new entrants to the industry, rising leaders, and established leaders. That mentorship and sponsorship should not come solely from women, but a mixture of women and men (and women should be mentoring and sponsoring men, too).
Judith: We have already come a long way by clients exerting pressure on law firms to put forward diverse legal teams. However, I think the time has come to translate some of that pressure into concrete requirements so that there is a real business incentive for law firms to ensure women are integral to the client offering.
Nicole: Be an advocate for yourself and for other women, and continue to have open communication regarding obstacles for equity and how to overcome them.
For more from Judith, Kathleen and Nicole, visit the link below. http://bit.ly/3mAXLao
