1. FOR LAWYERS AT THE CUTTING EDGE
Issue 1 • 2015
Good counsel • Manifesto for change • Sales force • Flex • Law sans frontières

2. 10
36
22
40
28
46
02 INTRODUCTION
03 IN BRIEF
06 FIVE THINGS
09 EX PARTE
10 GOOD COUNSEL General counsel are
demanding clients. This is how you can
make them happy.
16 MANIFESTO FOR CHANGE When it
comes to diversity it’s time for actions
to speak louder than words.
22 SALES FORCE The competition is
tough and client loyalty is critical,
so can you make it rain?
28 FLEX In the modern world, lawyers
and their clients have to adapt to flexible
working – or face failure.
32 LAW SANS FRONTIÈRES The world is
getting smaller, and lawyers can work
from anywhere. But should they?
36 x2 Bonella Ramsay talks biotech,
business and bonding with her client,
Mary Skelly.
40 RISING STAR
42 TOP TEN: SUCCESSION PLANNING
45 EXPERT WITNESS
46 BIG IDEA
48 BYSTANDER
Cambridge Judge Business
School is the business
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provider of management
education and is
consistently ranked as
one of the world’s top
business schools.
LexisNexis combines a
deep understanding of
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withtechnologyinnovation
to help practitioners work
more productively, advise
with confidence and better
manage their organisations
in a changing legal
environment.
TheopinionsexpressedinFLUXarethoseofthecontributors
andnotnecessarilythoseofCJBS,LexisNexisorYBM.
ProducedforCJBSandLexisNexisbyYBM(www.ybm.co.uk).
Ifyouhaveanycommentsorwouldlikeanymoreinformation,
pleasecontactSarahLyonsats.lyons@jbs.cam.ac.uk.
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Commissioning editor: Steve McGrath
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Cover: Illustration by Jason Ford
A MAGAZINE FOR LAWYERS AT THE CUTTING EDGE
Issue 1 • 2015
Poweringyoursuccess:
everythingsmartlawyers
needtostayahead.
lexisnexis.co.uk/wayahead
Research & Guidance . Drafting . News & Media . Training & Development . Business Management

3. Introduction
L
aw and lawyers are on the move. From nomadic lawyering
to outsourcing, and from northshoring to the much
anticipated demise of billable hours, the next ten years
will see huge change – and opportunity – for firms and
practitioners. This is a sector in flux, and out of flux can come
interesting, innovative thinking.
What does this mean for lawyers at the cutting edge?
Uncertainty, maybe. Disruption – of business models, and
accepted norms – certainly. But we also have within our grasp
a unique opportunity to interrogate every aspect of how law
is practised. Is London the only place to be a legal superstar?
What is the right balance between working face-to-face and
working virtually? How do we give clients value? And how
do we ensure they feel that they have got value? How do we
compete with the accountants? Or in other jurisdictions?
Those who find the most innovative, effective solutions will
secure the future success of their firms. And in an environment
that can only get more competitive, those who don’t embrace
change must fall away. We live in exciting times.
Meanwhile, the Law Society predicts that the number
of female practising certificate holders will outnumber
men within the next 24 months. Diversity in the name of
meritocratic fairness is an unassailable argument, but perhaps
more compelling for the sceptics is the well-founded proposal
that diversity improves margins, productivity and creativity.
In other words, diverse teams can be more agile and
responsive. They are likely to be better able to grasp the new
and varied opportunities that the next decade presents.
And that is why I believe the most successful firms in 2030
will be those who have enthusiastically and systematically
ensured they have recruited and promoted women to the
very top of their organisations. They will be the firms who,
in 2015, decide to take a long, hard look at their culture and
working practices – and make radical change. Who recognise
that letting brilliant women leave just because they become
mothers does not make financial sense. Who realise that
mentoring, networks and coaching are just the start. Who
are seriously monitoring their pipeline of stellar lawyers.
We know that men, as well as women, want to work
differently – and that many of the best practitioners will go
to firms where they can do that. Legal services are in flux, but
the future is ours for the taking.
Sandra Dawson teaches on the Women in Law Programme
at Cambridge Judge Business School.
“Diverse teams can
be more agile and
responsive. They are
likely to be better able
to grasp the new and
varied opportunities
that the next decade
presents.”
A WORLD IN FLUX
In Brief
The state-of-the-art court complex in London may soon become a more
streamlined and specialist court for high value financial cases.
A NEW ROLE
FOR ROLLS?
T
he first speech given by
Michael Gove (as Justice
Secretary and Lord
Chancellor) at the Legatum
Institute in London in June
suggested that he has plans to
unleash a legal flux of his own.
“There are two nations in
our justice system at present,”
he said. “On the one hand, the
wealthy international class
who can, for example, choose
to settle cases in London with
the gold standard of British
justice. And then everyone
else, who has to put up with
a creaking, outdated system
to see justice done in their
own lives.”
The Lord Chancellor is
seeking a £700m investment
in the courts to make better
use of technology and speed
up trial procedures.
ONE NATION UNDER A GOVE 70%of female millennials
want international
careers
20%of current international
assignees are female
The Female Millennial:
A New Era of Talent, PwC
Houses the combined
High Court business,
property and commercial
capability of the
Chancery Division
(including Bankruptcy
and Insolvency),
the Admiralty and
Commercial Court and
the Technology and
Construction Court
Has 31 court rooms,
including three ‘super
courts’ to handle the very
largest international
and national high value
disputes and four courts
for multi-party cases
Is the largest specialist centre for the resolution of financial,
business and property litigation anywhere in the world
Full WiFi connectivity
throughout the building
In-court facilities for
parties to use their own
IT, including electronic
presentation of evidence
and cabled broadband
Chancery
Division
Admiralty &
Commercial Court
Technology &
Construction Court
Dame Sandra Dawson, Professor Emeritus
of Management Studies at the University
of Cambridge
illustration by ben kirchner
4 FLUX ISSUE 1 FLUX ISSUE 1 5

4. T
he chairman of the Social
Mobility and Child
Poverty Commission,
Alan Milburn, has accused
the professions of imposing
a “poshness test” that
effectively excludes bright
working-class kids from the
best jobs.
The Commission’s
latest study of 13 top law,
accountancy and financial
services firms revealed “a
relatively dramatic decline”
in the number of lawyers
employed within these firms
who were the first generation
in their family to go to
university. More than four
out of ten trainees (41 per
cent) appointed by leading
law firms were educated at
private schools. To put that in
context, only seven per cent
of the population is currently
educated privately.
The Commission’s
research found that some
seven out of every ten job
offers made last year to
graduates went to those
who had been to fee-paying
schools or selective state
schools. “Inevitably that ends
up excluding youngsters who
have the right sort of grades
T
he chief cause of stress in the legal
profession is having too much work
and too little time to do it in, a survey
conducted by The Lawyer has found.
Two-thirds of respondents in the
paper’s 2015 Salary Survey reported
suffering from overwork (in contrast,
only 13 per cent cited “not enough
work” as a problem).
Although a distance behind, the
second-most common cause of stress,
cited by just over a third of respondents,
was work “affecting personal life”.
Other sources of stress included
“overly demanding clients”, “poor
management” and a “lack of resources”.
Overall, men and women reported
very similar causes of stress – with a few
significant exceptions. Men reported
more stress relating to “red tape or
bureaucracy” (a cause of stress for
19.9 per cent of men and 15.7 per cent
and abilities but whose
parents do not have the
right sort of bank balances,”
said Milburn.
In the 2014 report,
titled Elitist Britain, the
Commission found that more
than seven out of ten senior
judges were educated at fee-
paying schools and a similar
proportion had studied at
Oxford or Cambridge.
Recent research by the
recruiters Laurence Simons
revealed the extent to which
top City firms relied on
just two universities for
recruiting their lawyers.
More than four out of
ten partners in City firms
(43 per cent) attended
Oxford or Cambridge and
eight out of ten partners
at Magic and Silver Circle
firms (78 per cent) attended
a Russell Group university
(including Oxbridge).
Nearly half of all new
entrants to the Bar went
to one of the two universities
(45 per cent), according to
the Bar Standards Board.
of women). In contrast, women reported
more stress in relation to “difficult or
unpleasant superiors” (a cause of stress
to 23 per cent of women, compared
to 18.4 per cent of men) and stress in
relation to “poor top-level management”
(28.9 per cent of women, compared to
24 per cent of men)
Finally women reported more stress
in relation to a “lack of support or
pastoral supervision” – a cause of stress
to 18.7 per cent of women compared to
just 13.7 per cent of men.
While reported stress levels remain
high, the study also found that there
are signs some firms are starting to take
action. Around one-third of respondents
said their firm had introduced stress
policies and initiatives; although a
further third said they were not aware of
a policy, and a final third reported their
firm had no policy.
Legal profession accused of being elitist.Overworked and too little time? You’re not alone.
ARE YOU
POSH
ENOUGH?
SALARY SURVEY
REVEALS CAUSES
OF STRESS
In BriefIn Brief
A
lack of flexibility is discouraging female lawyers
from going for partnership. Data collected
by legal recruiters Douglas Scott found that
37 per cent of all female lawyers had no partner-
level ambition. Thirty eight per cent of this group
cited a lack of flexibility and work-life balance,
while a further 31 per cent cited the stress
associated with partnership as the main reason
they would not be looking to climb the ladder.
The data also suggests that employers could
be doing more to retain ambitious female legal
professionals. Only 21 per cent of those who
aspired to partnership were confident this could
be achieved that with their current firm.
The glass ceiling, however, seemed to be less
relevant – only five per cent of women lawyers
in the survey cited this as the main reason they
thought they would not make partnership.
Kathryn Riley, managing director of Douglas
Scott, commented: “Two thirds of female lawyers
who have turned their back on the prospect of
partnership have done so because of the stress
and lack of flexibility at the top level of the legal
profession. It’s not an issue that is unique to the
legal sector, but the bottom line is that a lot of
talented people are slipping through the net.”
TIME TO FLEX
M
ore than 25 per cent of
the top fifty law firms are
now using LexisNexis’s
digital proofreading
technology LexisDraft.
According to LexisNexis’s
Mark Smith: “Firms are
really embracing technology
as a way of improving the
quality and consistency of
their documents, which is
critical to meeting clients’
increasing expectations.”
DIGI HELP
T
hesecondcohortof leading
lawyers have joined CJBS’s
Women in Law Leadership
Programme. The programme
brings together leading
business academics from the
University of Cambridge
and top professionals with
a wealth of experience in
providing strategic and
leadership advice, blending
academic and practically
based sessions.
ON THE UP
FLUX ISSUE 1 76 FLUX ISSUE 1

5. CREATING A WORLD WITHOUT POVERTY
At the beginning of the economic crisis, in 2008,
I read this book, Creating a World Without
Poverty, by the Nobel prize winner Muhammad
Yunus – and I still dip into it on a regular basis.
Bangladeshi by origin, Yunus focuses on the
importance of microcredit in allowing people to
start their own businesses. His work inspired me
to join forces with Christine Lagarde (now head
of the IMF) to draft a law in France that allowed
individuals at certain income thresholds to become
self-employed; in only a few years more than a
million people benefitted from this law. The book
has helped me to continue to do my job and at
the same encourage others to create their own
opportunities, which is very important to me.
LINDT CHOCOLATE
There is also always a treat on my desk in the shape
of a bar of Lindt dark chocolate with fleur de sel
(fine sea salt). Ever since childhood I have adored
chocolate, but now it must be this particular type,
which I discovered about five years ago. I don’t
smoke, but I think it is an addiction just as much
as cigarettes. I can share my bar easily, but subject
to certain conditions – including that there must
always be a square (or two) left for me.
SWIMMING GOGGLES
Whenever I am having a difficult time I head off
to the pool, so I always have my swimming goggles
with me. The physical exercise is good, but what
I really like is that in the water I am completely cut
off from the rest of the world. For 45 minutes there
is no BlackBerry, telephone or tablet, and I only
need to communicate with myself, and this is my
“digital detox”. Of course, I love to swim outdoors
and in Paris in winter and summer I went to a pool
in the Bois de Boulogne – heated of course! That’s
more difficult to find in London, but I still swim two
or three times a week – usually in the evening when
I really need to clear my head.
VITAMIN C TABLETS
It may sound boring, but my bottle of vitamin C
tablets, in among all my gadgets, is vital to me.
The boost they give me is an essential part of my
survival plan, to give me energy for my job and the
constant travel. I use them to help with changes in
time zone, instead of drinking a lot of coffee. It may
be psychological, but I am convinced the tablets
help – I am always in good health and so far have
never had to take a day off sick.
LAVENDER SCENT
Before I go to sleep at night I spray lavender scent
on my pillow. Even if it’s a wet and cold night in
London, the scent transports me to a sunny warm
place, so I dream of, perhaps, Provence. It’s a way
to travel without actually having to do so, and I
carry my spray with me wherever I go – though
sometimes I don’t need it and can just throw open
the window.
What gets you through the day?
Frédérique Dupuis-Toubol shares
the five treasured items that she
just can’t do without.
illustration by holly wales
Frédérique Dupuis-Toubol is executive director of Bird & Bird
in London and founder of its Paris office. She specialises in
communications and IT law, and has experience in digital
networks and technology.
FIVE
THINGS
FLUX ISSUE 1 98 FLUX ISSUE 1

6. [ADVERT]
T
he legal sector is facing
distinct challenges – not least,
changing technology, increasing
commoditisation and new entrants to
the market. And as managing partner,
I have been looking at what that means
for my firm and for the marketplace.
I think a lot of people can draft a legal
agreement. Where a firm differentiates
itself is the commercial and solution-
focused advice it can give. You need to
have a real understanding of your client’s
business and sector and where it’s
going – know what the up and coming
issues are and how the client should be
adapting or organising themselves to
address them. And we need people who
can listen and empathise with clients
to understand what they need and
develop relationships.
One good example is the education
sector: it’s a constantly changing
landscape and the law is adapting –
there are pressures, for instance, in
terms of the effects of immigration
legislation, or the increasing
consumerism of students. Increasingly
education clients are operating in a
more commercial space and not only
need specialist legal advice but also
many of the tools large businesses need
as well.
These changes make for interesting,
challenging work. We’ve recently
helped the Institute of Education merge
with University College London, and
we’ve helped 18 colleges of Cambridge
University create a first-of-its-kind
finance deal, raising £150m worth
of finance from institutional investors.
That was really innovative work, and
we’ve also been busy in our other key
sectors as well. Our lawyers enjoy
sharing knowledge and spark ideas
off each other.
We are routinely looking beyond
our borders. More and more of our
clients are operating globally and
about 20 per cent of our business is
international. We want to develop these
networks further; it is another area of
growth and opportunity for us. We form
close alliances with firms when we really
understand each other, and where we
feel confident enough to do joint pitches
and marketing.
I feel I’ve got to where I am now with
a bit of luck and a lot of hard work; my
main challenge is keeping all the plates
spinning. I enjoy the legal work so it
hasn’t felt a struggle. I’m determined to
give myself time to think strategically;
I make sure I keep my head up from
the desk, to see what’s going on
around me in the legal profession, but
also continue to talk to clients and
contacts about what’s going on in their
businesses. I will continue to do some
client-facing work – it’s important to
remain connected.
So in 2016, I will be pushing the
firm on and up. I think there are
opportunities around the sectors where
we have particular expertise: education,
health, private wealth and insurance.
We’ll continue to offer clients what they
want in terms of deep knowledge of their
sectors. But I think we’ll want to be a
little speedier to grab opportunities,
respond and adapt to change.
“A lot of people can
draft a legal agreement.
We need people
who empathise and
understand what
clients need.”
O N A N D U P
EX PARTE
Claire Clarke is managing partner of
Mills & Reeve. Her vision for 2016 is to
“take things up a gear”.
illustration by ben kirchner
When you educate girls in Africa,
this is what change looks like
My name is Fiona Mavhinga. 12 years ago, I was a newly qualified lawyer in Harare, working in a practice with one other
woman, among 13 men. 12 years before that, I was a little girl in rural Zimbabwe, waking up at 4 a.m. every morning with
my grandmother to sell vegetables on the market, trying to get enough money to pay for the food, stationery, books, and
uniform that would keep me in school. My mother traded dried fish for maize, which she sold to try and cover my school fees.
Many times we went without food. So many times my hope for an education was almost lost.
In spite of this hardship, I was determined because of the sacrifices my family was making. I remember once I told my
grandmother that I found Math hard. She replied,‘You don’t say that. You say you are going to excel.’And I did. I got the best
results in my school, and in the province. I came to know Camfed – the Campaign for Female Education – through two girls
who shared my background of poverty, and who were receiving bursaries from Camfed. Camfed in turn supported me, and
I went on to university to study law.
My story – of a girl struggling to maintain her grip on education – is the story of millions of girls around the world. So
many of my friends in my rural village lost that grip due to poverty, and their lives are so drastically different from mine
today because of one thing: an education.
As you read this, 30 million girls in sub-Saharan Africa are out of school. But there is hope: Camfed’s model of investment
in girls’education is creating young women leaders who are breaking down the barriers girls face. Together we are
transforming our communities, working with families, schools, local chiefs, district governments, and global partners.
I am among 33,111 young activists in Camfed’s unique pan-African alumni network, CAMA. Today I am leading on the
development of CAMA as we shape the future of Africa by supporting THIS generation of vulnerable children through school
and into a life of independence, leadership and advocacy.
Please join us by pledging your support to Camfed and CAMA today. The time for change is now.
To invest in girls’education, and to find out more about Fiona, the young women
of CAMA, and what makes Camfed different, join us at: camfed.org/flux
When you educate a girl
...everything changes
FLUX ISSUE 1 11

7. GO
OD
Claire Carless
(General counsel,
Siemens):
“Our lawyers are
close to the businesses
they support, which
underpins the need
to really understand
the business model
and our products and
projects.”
COUNSEL
General counsel are demanding clients.
FLUX speaks to GCs at some of the
largest companies to find out how you
can make them happy.
words by catherine baksi
photography by julian anderson

8. S
he hires your firm, but she could
just as easily move on to someone
else. And in the interim – while
she is focused on her main job of
fundamentally transforming how
in-house legal teams support the
business – she will decide how much
she wants to pay you. Want to be a
success? Work out how to make your
general counsel happy – and keep her
that way.
Of course, keeping a client happy
starts with understanding their world.
And Claire Carless, general counsel
at Siemens, says that the key is to
recognise that the general counsel role
is undergoing huge change. “The change
is driven by greater regulation, business
demand for increased speed to market,
a constant drive for efficiency and
continuous improvement, and the need
Roche, points out. “General counsel
are developing additional competencies
such as strategic agility, commercial
awareness and pragmatism,” she says.
“I am constantly challenged to find
new ways for both me and my team to
develop and demonstrate these skills.
And we have increased the value we
add by becoming more visible – through
our communication, networking and
successful business partnering – and
that has meant that we are involved in
projects much earlier and are then able
to shape the outcome from the outset.
“As a legal team, we are uniquely
placed with a helicopter view of the
company and have been able to capitalise
on this, enhancing the quality of the
advice that we provide.”
The real value general counsel bring
to companies is not, as many believe,
for more understanding of the business
to support better decision making,”
she says. “But it is right that we should
be doing these things and constantly
adapting the general counsel role and
the role of the legal function to move
with the external market and our own
organisations.”
At Siemens, this means that lawyers
are very close to the businesses they
support, often sitting on management
teams and encouraged to give a view
rather than sit on the fence. “This
is really valued by the organisation
and underpins the need to really
understand the business model and
our products and projects.”
Another major shift is the move away
from relying purely on strong technical
ability, as Funke Abimbola, managing
counsel at pharmaceutical company
primarily about troubleshooting, says
Denise Nurse, chief executive officer
and co-founder of Halebury. “Their
real value is helping the business shape
strategies in the first place. That means
they have to be brought in early, and
that can only happen if they have the
confidence of the business.”
Nurse points out that a general
counsel’s legal knowledge is a given, and
that the role is now all about strategy,
leadership and communication. “They
are in a privileged position and work
across the departments. If they are
good at their job, they listen and see
what goes on in the business, so that they
can give good guidance and counsel and
are valued by the business. The reality
is that general counsel now have to do
more for less – they have to be smarter,
and delivery is at the top if the agenda.”
Funke Abimbola
(Managing counsel,
Roche):
“Our general counsel
have become more
visible, meaning we
are involved in projects
much earlier and are
then able to shape the
outcome from the
outset.”
Joanna Day
(Director of legal
services, Santander):
“We are always happy
to provide knowledge
of our business, but in
return we want sound,
pragmatic advice and
no sitting on the fence.”
FLUX ISSUE 1 1514 FLUX ISSUE 1

9. Denise Nurse
(Co-founder, Halebury):
“The reality is that
general counsel now
have to do more for
less – they have to be
smarter, and delivery
is at the top of the
agenda.”
But what does all this mean when
it comes to the general counsel’s
relationship with external law firms?
“Ideally, your relationship with any
external supplier should be a
partnership, since both have common
objectives,” says Nurse. “It is important
that the firm understands the business
objectives and is aligned with them.
“Good communication is vital,
but perhaps the biggest issue is
transparency, particularly in terms of
the fee structure. Hourly rate, fixed
fees, volume deals – whatever method
you use, there should be no surprises.
You need to have regular conversations
about it and have a clear idea of what
your legal spend is and why.”
As Abimbola puts it, the external
law firm should be “an extension of my
own in-house legal team” with a keen
awareness of the internal pressures
and dynamics that it has to contend
with. But, she adds, this requires clear
two-way communication, with general
counsel themselves playing a pivotal
role in relaying information to law firms.
Relationship management
While some firms are good at
understanding what in-house teams
want and delivering it with appropriate
extras, others fall short. Those missing
the mark, says Carless, operate “as
if they are entitled to get work from
us, and are extremely inefficient and
arrogant in both the service they provide
and the way they try and charge for it.
There is a long way to make law firms
really customer-centric organisations.”
For Joanna Day, director of legal
services for Santander Corporate
Banking, external firms have to be
willing to invest in a meaningful
relationship with the business that
instructs them. “We are always happy
to provide knowledge of our business,”
problems. There is definitely something
to the view that women are good at
multi-tasking, and in the fast-pace
business environment we currently
work in, that is of huge value,” she adds.
Carless agrees. “General counsel
should always attend executive and
board meetings, whether as company
secretary, director or general counsel.
Whether they should also be a director
is less relevant in my view,” she says.
“In a formal sense, being a director
gives a clear remit and responsibility
to engage on all topics, but it may also
create a limitation on the lawyer’s ability
to act as an adviser. It may also bring
with it a responsibility some may not
want. Having said that, I think that
general counsel and other senior lawyers
should take on more non-executive roles
she says, “but in return we want sound,
pragmatic advice and no sitting on
the fence.”
An essential part of that, states Day,
is relationship management. “We don’t
want to pay for additional partners
to attend meetings on projects simply
becausetheyaretherelationshipmanager
and we pay for them. Relationship
management is an art and the
relationship manager needs to know all
that is happening within his firm for that
particular client – not just within their
speciality – and be co-ordinated with
client contact. There is nothing more
frustrating than seeing many different
partners on relationship management
from the same firm at different times.”
And if a traditional set-up doesn’t
deliver? The real threat may well come
from firms able to offer a completely
different level of flexibility. “In-sourcing
companies – such as Axiom, Lawyers
on Demand and Eversheds Agile – have
an increasing role to play in the market,”
says Carless. “With increased pressure
on internal resources (both people and
budgets), having access to flexible
resources to meet peaks in demand will,
I believe, increasingly become the norm.”
On board
Is the next logical step a seat on the
board? General counsel themselves do
not see it as essential, and much hangs on
the organisation concerned. “If a general
counsel is regarded as a trusted adviser,
they will be included in discussions
around business strategy and they do not
need a place on the board in order to have
a profile,” says Day. “If an adviser truly
gives sound, pragmatic advice then the
profile will follow.
“Women, in particular, bring a
different voice and experience,” she says,
“and have a different and more practical
way of looking at things and solving
– they generally have a great skill set
and a lot to add to a board.”
Traditionally, general counsel and
in-house lawyering has been seen as a
good option for women – and the culture
of in-house law continues to have a much
better record on diversity than law as a
whole. So how important is diversity to
general counsel?
Carless is clear: “If organisations
don’t value and support their female
employees, they are closing off what is
already a limited talent pool by 50 per
cent, and not getting the benefit of
richer discussion and stronger decision-
making,” she says. “It’s great that there
is now much more conversation and
focus on diversity and inclusion, but we
need to translate that into real change.
Diversity is a business imperative.”
“There is a long way to go
to make law firms really
customer-centric.”
FLUX ISSUE 1 1716 FLUX ISSUE 1

10. W
hy are there so few women at the
top of the legal profession? Just
one in five partners in top-20 firms
is a woman, and just eight hold senior
management roles in the top 50 firms,
despite the fact that more women enter
the profession than men. FLUX asked
four senior lawyers for their take on the
challenges and solutions.
Janet Legrand
Partner, DLA Piper
Janet Legrand was the first woman to be
elected to the DLA Piper board, as well as
the first woman in any leadership position
in the global firm. She was senior partner
and chairman of the firm’s board from
2009-12.
The lightbulb moment for me
was, as a senior partner at the firm,
reading the McKinsey Women Matter
research in 2007. The basic thesis was
that companies that have two or more
women on their board or at senior
executive level were empirically more
successful. It also observed that if you
put the same job description to a man
and a woman equally well-qualified for
a role, the chances are the woman would
look at it and think: ‘I don’t know if I
can do that.’ Whereas a man would be
thinking: ‘I can do that, but the money
isn’t good enough.’
One would have thought that by the
time we reached 2015 things would be
rather different – but they are not. We
have now reached a stage where women
have recognised that this is not where
they want to be. The way that firms
are organised was established a long
time ago, and the status quo works for
a large chunk of people. It takes effort
to intervene through structural changes
to try and change the way things have
always been.
But taking control of your own career
is important. When you’re at a school,
you work very hard, you get good results
and people tell you you’re doing very
well. There is cause and effect. In the
world of work there can be a tendency
to work hard, keep your head down, and
expect somebody to notice and promote
you. But the reality is that people do not
necessarily notice you unless you engage.
If you have ambition for leadership
then engage with your line manager.
Men are better at flagging up those
issues; they tend to be better at
engaging, and maybe that is because the
bulk of leadership in law firms is male.
I was encouraged by my managing
partner to stand for election [to the DLA
board in 1999]. I had a very clear game
plan – I wanted to do it, but just not
then. The timing was terrible. I had two
small children, one was only 18 months,
and my mother had just had a heart
attack. However once the idea was put in
my mind I decided to go for it. You have
to seize the day.
When I had my first child, I turned
to the partnership deed to look for the
maternity provisions and there weren’t
any. I was the first equity partner to have
children. My husband gave up work and
became the primary carer. It is striking
the number of women in my generation
where that is the case.
That has helped me succeed because
you can automatically put 120 per cent
into the work, but it is not an approach
that is sustainable, fair or appropriate
for everyone. What firms are struggling
with now is a generation where both
partners in a relationship have a
career that they want to continue and
where they want to have a more equal
involvement in childcare.”
MANIFESTO
FOR
CHANGEThe business case for diversity is
unassailable, but now is the time for
actions to speak louder than words.
words by william ham bevan
FLUX ISSUE 1 19

11. Linda Jones
Head of employment law, Pinsent Masons
Linda Jones leads Project Sky, a
programme established to deliver a better
gender balance in the partnership and
leadership team, with a target of 30 per
cent female partners and a first milestone
of 25 per cent by 1 May 2018.
There are a number of factors
inhibiting women’s progress to the top.
We spend a lot of time talking to our
clients about gender diversity and when
you look across the entire spectrum we
see similar issues. In addition, some
of our clients find it difficult to attract
female talent in the first place – for
example, in the infrastructure and
energy sectors – which is a problem law
firms don’t have.
And for me, diversity is a pressing
talent issue. Our intake was 50-50
men and women when I joined the firm
back in 1992, so there is nothing new
about having lots of women in the law.
But now, 23 years later, we still don’t
have anything like parity at senior
levels. That is why we need to make
interventions.
One issue about the legal profession
which is probably more of a problem
[than it is for other areas of business]
is “presenteesism”, the “long hours”
culture and the perceived need to be
available for clients 24 hours a day.
Relationship partners could probably
do a lot more – talking to clients about
what they actually want, rather than
making assumptions. It might well be
that in some types of work there is a need
for somebody to be there all the time;
but we need to challenge the assumption
of technology is that you can work
seamlessly from home.
I have a two year-old and a four year-
old, and I’m lucky that my husband
works from home. I think it is becoming
more common for men to do at least half
of the family support rather than the old
traditional way. He is more able to juggle
his work than I am. He will be the first
line of call if anything was to happen –
for example, if a child is ill.
That means I have to really invest in
any other time I have with my children.
For instance, the other day I was taking
my four year-old son to school in a taxi.
The cab driver, a woman, was listening
to our conversation and said that my son
was very lucky to have a mother like me.
I thanked her but had to point out that
that was my only “quality time” for the
two of us that day.
that that is always the case. And actually
when we talk to clients, they tell us that
they like agile working.
So it’s important that we stop making
assumptions about what clients want
and actually ask them: the answer might
be surprising. We shouldn’t assume that
they think presence in the office equates
to work being done, and we need to start
thinking that it might be possible for
people to work in a more agile way and
for people to be more productive than
if they are stuck in front of a desk.
Project Sky started in 2013 when
19.5 per cent of our partners were
women. We have got to the position
where it’s 22 per cent of partners, and
have set ourselves a target of 25 per cent
by May 2018. When you have a firm of
more than 300 partners, that is quite
a challenge.
Of 29 new partners [in the latest
round of appointments], 38 per cent
were female and that’s the largest
proportion to date. It is the result of a
sustained campaign to raise this as a
business issue. We have many talented
women and we need to create an
environment where they can progress.
Elizabeth Lang
Partner, Bird & Bird
Elizabeth Lang is a partner in Bird &
Bird’s international employment group.
She is the firm’s diversity partner and
involved in its social mobility programmes
including Pioneer and PRIME.
Some lawyers see partnership as an
“all or nothing” situation. So they think
if you are going to be a partner, it means
giving up all your time. Ironically, from
personal experience, I would say being
a partner gives you more flexibility.
It is demanding but you do have the
autonomy because you’re running your
own practice.
We run a “buddy” scheme at Bird
& Bird which started in Sweden
(introduced by the Stockholm managing
partner and board member Katarina
Åhlberg) in recognition that there
are times in one’s professional career
when both men and women have family
commitments. It is a way of lawyers
teaming up on a formal basis with more
junior associates to provide continuity
to ensure that the client gets what
they need, on time, and to enable you,
the lawyer, to keep high-quality work
alongside having a family.
We also have a very advanced state
of agile working. There is absolutely
no issue when people want to work
from home. We think that the younger
generation of lawyers expect that
flexibility now.
We do have a high percentage
of women in management roles:
30 per cent of our international board;
20 per cent of our non-executive board;
and 24 per cent of our heads of country
Helen Burton
Partner, Ashurst
Helen Burton joined Ashurst as a partner
in 2001, helped set up the firm’s diversity
committee in 2005 and its women’s
network in 2008. She has two young
children.
I’m not sure that the law is any
worse than any other profession. I am
a banking lawyer, and looking at the
banking industry, maybe we are in a
better place than they are.
Nonetheless, there are not enough
women at the senior end of law firms –
about 18 per cent of Ashurst partners
are women.
We merged with an Australian firm
about 18 months ago and their senior
partner, Mary Padbury, is now our
deputy chair for the global firm. Having
someone in such a senior position as
a champion for women really helps. A
key issue for women in law firms is the
importance of role models.
In areas where there are a lot of
senior women – in other words, more
than just one or two token women
– [the increasing representation of
women] tends to become a self-fulfilling
prophecy. And, likewise, in areas where
there aren’t a lot of senior women, other
women may be tempted to think: “I am
just going to leave.”
The long hours culture is less
prevalent today, but there is still an
element of it. There are still some people
who think that if you aren’t in the office,
you aren’t working. I tend to go home
at least once or twice a week to put
my children to bed. Then I will work
from home. One of the great benefits
are women. However, 54 per cent
of our trainees are female, so there is
a reduction as people get into more
senior positions.
We’ve just had our first application
from a male senior associate who
is taking shared parental leave. An
increasing number of very competent
and ambitious associates want to be
able to balance their working and family
lives, both men and women.
But we need more role models.
Female associates want to see that you
can be a parent and [a partner] in a law
firm. My youngest child is now 12 years-
old. I worked part time for 10 years and
tried different combinations of part-
time working but always managed to do
good-quality work and maintain client
relationships. I didn’t feel there was any
barrier for my career.
“Firms need to be aware of
being more representative
of society, not just promoting
in their own image. A richer
range of perspectives makes
for better decision-making.”
Janet Legrand
“Ultimately we are a service
industry and we have to deliver
a service to our clients, but
I am sure there is scope for
working together to change
things and to be bolder.”
Helen Burton
“Stop making assumptions
about what clients want
and actually ask them; don’t
assume that they think
presence in the office equates
to work being done.”
Linda Jones
“There is an incentive on the
law firms to work efficiently
and to get the work done
profitably. That is good for
women and good for lawyers –
if you get your costings right.”
Elizabeth Lang
FLUX ISSUE 1 21

12. CHANGE.NOW.Weareasectorinflux.
Thosewhoseizetheopportunityin2015
willsharethespoilsin2030.
1.DIVERSITYMATTERS.Thebusinesscaseisoverwhelming.
2.OUTCOMES,NOTHOURS.Clientswantquality,not timesheets.
3.FOCUSONTHEPIPELINE.You’vetrainedthem.Makesure youkeepthem.
4.EMBEDTHECULTURE.Rolemodels,coaching,nomen-onlygolf.
5.FLEXYOURMUSCLES.Flexibleworkisthewayforward.

13. The competition has never
been tougher, and client
loyalty is business-critical.
So, can you make it rain?
words by grania langdon-down
illustration by olivier kugler
SALES FORCE
24 FLUX ISSUE 1

14. Milliken has been focussing on the idea that
everyone at Macfarlanes has an important role to
play in client service. One project that she has been
working on is a series of partner-led, discussion-
based workshops covering all aspects of client
service delivery, and which have deliberately
included not just fee-earners but also secretaries,
professional support lawyers and the business
services teams.
“It’s about building relationships where there
is a good fit, not being a pushy sales person,” says
Amanda Grace, head of client development at
Wragge Lawrence Graham & Co. “It’s a drive
to put the client first and understand what they
want.” But while that sounds straightforward,
Grace stresses it can be a long game. “It may be
that the potential client is perfectly happy with
their existing provider. We are not going to upset
that relationship or over-invest in trying to shake
the incumbent off. But a good rainmaker will stay
in touch with the prospect’s business, so when
they are looking to review their panel or want a
fresh pair of eyes, we are front of mind. That is real
rainmaker territory and the stuff on which we build
solid client bases.”
Grace’s personal mantra is to be in direct touch
with clients every week. She puts ideas on service
delivery in front of a client panel and has developed
an in-house lawyer network called ThinkHouse.
The network includes a range of practical services
and resources with the promise “you name it and
we’ll cover it”.
A recent session run in London and
Birmingham, for instance, picked up on the 2014
Katherine Milliken, head of client service at
Macfarlanes, has seen rainmakers in action from
both sides of the fence, starting her legal career at a
magic circle firm before spending 10 years in-house
at Inchcape, latterly as general counsel. When she
joined Macfarlanes in 2013 as its first head of client
service, she brought with her frontline experience
of what worked, and what didn’t.
Some lawyers would stick too obviously to the
training manual when talking to you, she says.
“Others would meet up for lunch and there would
be an awkward pause at the point they made
their pitch before they felt they could then relax
and chat. One of the best ways to market yourself
is not to be too overtly in ‘sell’ mode but to be
committed, proactive and attentive – and deliver
what you promise.”
nce upon a time, in a land far away, lawyers
did not think about marketing. They did
not concern themselves with social media.
And they rarely considered the impact of business
development. But those days have gone. In 2015,
the rainmaker is queen. So what does it take to sell
yourself – and your firm – convincingly?
“When I started, our business development
campaigns were mainly implemented by our
partner group but that was about it,” says Julie
Mortimer, marketing and business development
director at Mills & Reeve. “But there is such value
in our trainees and junior lawyers. They network
in a different way and are very savvy about social
media. As soon as they have been to an event they
will be sending out LinkedIn invites and we do see
work being won as a result.”
FLUX ISSUE 1 27

15. work and deepen their relationships with existing
clients. Encouraged by the positive feedback from
the initial roll-out to 20 per cent of the firm’s key
clients, the next stage is to offer it to more clients.
“We are doing this for two reasons,” she
says. “We want clients to view us as insightful,
innovative and influential. But it is also absolutely
on message with what clients need and goes beyond
traditional law firm offerings by helping our clients
become business leaders.”
“At an individual level, social media – if used
correctly – can be your most powerful marketing
tool,” says Wheeler, whose firm’s Supporting
Innovation campaign, involving dozens of partners
in multiple countries was awarded Most Innovative
Use of Social Media at this year’s MPF Awards
for Management Excellence. “Our social media
channels are the biggest drivers of traffic towards
our website, and a core part of the firm’s social
media strategy is encouraging lawyers to be active
with their personal profiles on these platforms,”
she says.
Keeping LinkedIn and Twitter feeds and blogs
updated alongside a busy day job means a lot of
plate spinning and there is a risk of getting it
wrong, acknowledges Mortimer. Mills & Reeve
has a social media policy that everyone is expected
to read, “and then we police it,” she says. “We
constantly monitor any mention of the firm and are
very clear about how our staff should use Facebook,
for instance, which we don’t use as a business tool.
But I wouldn’t want to be without LinkedIn or
Twitter – that is what our clients are using and we
have to reflect that.”
Perhaps that is the key: whatever the tool,
rainmakers put their clients at the centre of
strategy. As Milliken says: “The big gestures are
important but you also have to make sure you
don’t forget the human touch.”
Grania Langdon-Down is a freelance legal journalist
report Transforming Government’s Contract
Management, where the National Audit Office
reported that a high proportion of contract
management was weak with, in some cases, a
material risk of overbilling. It gave public service
providers and commissioners an overview of the key
phases of the contract lifecycle, identified practical
steps and contractual steps to minimise risks. “Any
session we run is based on what clients tell us they
want to hear about, and we do video snippets for
those who cannot attend,” Grace explains.
Joanne Wheeler, a partner at Bird & Bird and
one of the leading practitioners in the cutting-
edge field of satellite law, says that demonstrating
your interest and understanding of your client
and their sector is key. “Expertise shows itself by
being proactive – not just reactive to instructions.
One needs to be involved and be interested, if not
passionate, about the subject,” she says. “As an
industry develops, and the range of applications
begins to be understood, it is important to
understand the implications, the business
potential, and the laws and regulations which
may be relevant. This can be a wide remit. One
needs to be at industry and regulators’ meetings
and workshops – be ‘within the tent’.”
Jo Witham, head of client relationship
management at Olswang, agrees, and says
presenting your firm positively is all about finding
ways to stand in your clients’ shoes. One of her
first projects after joining Olswang three years ago
(from Clifford Chance, where she was global head
of client focus) was to talk to general counsel about
what they wanted from the firm. She then used that
feedback to craft a client relationship campaign,
which she branded Instinctive Understanding.
It is a “toolkit” of relationship investment, she
explains, which provides strategy development,
personal networks and training. A year on, she
has trained 80 per cent of Olswang’s partners in
how they can use the kit when they pitch for new
“It’s all about
finding ways to
stand in your
client’s shoes.”
Stonewall’s Diversity Champions programme is Britain’s leading best-practice employers’
forum for sexual orientation and gender identity equality, diversity and inclusion. We currently
work with 750 members across public, private and third sectors to help them create inclusive
and accepting environments for almost a quarter of the UK workforce.
To become a Diversity Champion or for more information, contact James Haq-Myles at
james.haq-myles@stonewall.org.uk or call on 020 7593 3487.
people
perform
better
when they
can be
themselves
FLUX ISSUE 1 29

16. FL E XSome new firms
are finding ways to
ensure that a lawyer’s
professional life leaves
room for their personal
life. But Jon Robins
finds out how lawyers,
and their clients, have
to adapt to flexible
working.
photography by
marcus ginns
A
fewyearsback, Washington-based
lawyerMaria Simon was watching
hertwo-yearoldson playing.“Jack
wasinthecornerjustfooling around
by himself. I asked him why he wasn’t
playing with his friends and he said:
‘Mom, I have to finish these emails’. I
realised hewasmimicking mybehaviour
– which just wasn’t what I wanted.”
Simon is a partner at the six woman
strong Geller Law Group which is built
upon“anear-evangelicaldetermination”,
as she puts it, to show that parents can
“nurture their professional ambitions
while being fully present in their
children’s lives”.
Flexibility is key to the approach
of a legal practice that was set up by co-
partner Rebecca Geller. The firm does
not have a physical office and so, if their
lawyers need space, then a room is hired
by the hour. “We want to be able to do
interesting legal work but we want to
do that on our own terms,” says Simon.
Simon and Geller describe
themselves as “militantly against”
the traditional law firm model where,
as Simon puts it, “you must be in the
office and there must be ‘face time’
with senior partners”.
“People are tethered to their iPhones
and BlackBerries these days,” she
both sides of the Atlantic. In 2013
women accounted for 16.5 per cent of
law partners in US firms (the National
Association for Law Placement).
When Halebury launched in the
UK in 2007 it was instantly labelled
an “alternative” law firm. Founding
partner Janvi Patel and business partner
Denise Nurse, who both started their
legal careers at City firm Charles
Russell, drew on their experience as
in-house counsel, to focus on what
clients’ valued.
Halebury do not have a physical
office – instead the firm’s lawyers, who
tend to be very experienced (on average
continues. “But that same technology
has also allowed us to expand and have
a really flexible working environment.
You don’t necessarily need to be in the
office every day.”
Despite the liberating potential of
technological innovation, a stubborn
culture of “presenteeism” is one of
the main factors contributing to the
dearth of women in senior management
positions in law firms. More women
than men are entering the legal
profession but fewer than one in five
of partners in the top 20 firms are
women (19 per cent, according to The
Lawyer’s Top 200). It is the same story
15 years post-qualification), are often
based at the offices of their corporate
clients, enabling them to build highly
effective relationships.
“I don’t want our team to sit with me,”
says Patel. “I want them to sit with the
client, because that is where they will add
the most value and collect information
most effectively.” She also points out that
the flexible approach is also a much more
cost-effective way to work – another
factor guaranteed to please clients.
And at Halebury, this client-centric
focus has a further impact: it enables
lawyers to design ways of working – and
living – that suit them, as Patel herself
demonstrates. While the firm’s business
is largely in the UK, Patel – the firm’s
chairwoman – lives in Los Angeles.
“I wake up at 4 o’clock in the morning
to try and hit London hours and fly back
every four or five weeks and do a week in
London,” she says.
However, flexibility – by definition –
can never be a one-size-fits-all solution.
Alison Dennis leads Fieldfisher’s life
sciences practice and is on the firm’s
executive committee. She argues that
there are limits as to how much you can
change the practices of City lawyers.
“As soon as you start doing deals and
handling litigation – in other words,
FLUX ISSUE 1 3130 FLUX ISSUE 1

17. primarily what commercial law firms
do, as distinct from the advisory work
– then there are transactions that
[need to be completed] and deadlines
that have to be hit. However, the
combination of connectivity and
technology offers opportunities for
firms to think creatively about how
people can be brought together to
meet those deadlines.”
It is a point echoed by Simon.
“The demands of a litigation-based
practice are much more stringent and
rigid. There are always court deadlines.
It’s the nature of the beast,” she says.
She joined Geller Law from such
a firm. “I really did love my last job –
but it was an entirely federal court
practice. So I had a lot of West Coast
cases, with a time difference and a small
baby. I remember having a hearing
starting at 4pm in Los Angeles – that is
7pm on the East Coast, and if you have
a small child you’re missing bedtime.”
But she adds: “That is the beauty of
technology – you can be on the phone
in Washington and in court in LA.”
Apart from the increasing demand
to clock up billable hours, one of the
big barriers for lawyers with family
as effective as possible with the tools
we have, and social media is a large
part of our marketing and business
development work.”
The firm has a strong and lively
presence on social networking sites
such as Twitter and LinkedIn. “I have
probably attended two events in the
year, other than the ones I am speaking
at. The bulk of our business has been
created and marketed via technology,”
she adds.
The challenges for working families
are evident. “If you look at what most
fee earners have to do in private practice
commitments to making significant
progress in City firms is the need to
network and bring in new clients. Can
flexible firms be as effective? Patel,
who has a six year-old and four year-old
twins, concedes that networking and
client acquisition is traditionally about
face-to-face networking.
“There is something of a traditional
approach to networking: drinks, events
in the evenings etc,” she says. “I just do
not have the bandwidth for that.
“For a start I live in LA, but also
childcare finishes at 6 or 7pm,”
continues Patel. “So we try and be
to reach partner level – six or seven
billable hours a day, plus all the business
development, marketing, training and
administration – you quickly run out
of time before you have to go home and
pick up the kids,” says Patel. “Women in
the industry need to think of different,
more efficient ways of operating, and
social media is great.”
Sometimes flexibility means setting
limits. Simon recalls a defining moment
at her old firm when the other side’s
counsel pointed out she was emailing
while in labour. “It is so easy to be
constantly on your phone,” she says.
“If we do not set those limits for
ourselves in the technological
environment that we’re raising our
children in, it is very easy to let them
think that being in front of the screen
all the time is completely normal.”
Dennis agrees. “Every Apple device
that comes out is expected to be smaller,
smarter and faster. People expect that
from their lawyers as well. Law firms
can try and rethink the way that they
provide advice, but there are situations
in which firms’ options for providing
flexible working solutions are limited by
client needs.”
“We try and be
as effective as
possible with the
tools we have.”
“Women need to
think of different,
more efficient ways
of operating.”
FLUX ISSUE 1 3332 FLUX ISSUE 1

18. L
aw is undergoing the greatest
geographic shift in perhaps the last
30 years. Business that used to be
conducted in London or New York now
takes place anywhere around the globe:
across borders and across timezones.
Anywhere, in fact, as long as clients feel
they are getting a good service.
It makes sense. Global firms want to
cut costs, operate more efficiently across
international time zones and provide
tip-top client service. Consequently,
the focus has shifted to how, rather
than where, the best work is done. Elia
Montorio, a corporate partner at DLA
Piper, attributes that shift to the greater
connectivity enabled by an increasingly
online world.
“While law firms have continued
to grow both locally and globally,
technologyhasmadethebusinessworlda
smaller place,” she says. And that smaller
world, she points out, provides greater
opportunities for lawyers to work as
part of international teams, and enables
firms to offer more flexibility in terms
of resourcing and pricing to their clients.
According to Alexandrine
Armstrong-Cerfontaine, head of the
Luxembourg office at King & Wood
Mallesons, working without borders
and across international jurisdictions is
possible not just because of technology
but also because the “key principles of
the mechanics” of deals and associated
documents have become standardised.
“There are local differences of course,
but the main concepts are universally
agreed, so it has become less important
that you remain in a particular
jurisdiction to practice,” she says.
The world is getting
smaller. Lawyers
today can work from
almost anywhere.
But should they?
And what are the
implications for
clients? Catherine
Baksi investigates.
illustration by
allan sanders
LAWSANSFRONTIÈRES
FLUX ISSUE 1 3534 FLUX ISSUE 1

19. “As a result, it’s really not that unusual
for clients in one jurisdiction to never
actually meet their lawyers who are
operating in another.”
But while jurisdictional boundaries
may be of declining importance, the firm
believes in exposing its lawyers to various
worldwide locations through cultural
and transfer programmes. “This gives
our lawyers added value – understanding
a market means you have to be in that
market for a time,” says Armstrong-
Cerfontaine. “It’s a real asset.”
Most of the lawyers in Armstrong-
Cerfontaine’s office speak at least three
languages, and it offers language lessons
to all lawyers, including Mandarin
for the boss at 7.30 in the morning.
“Practising in a more virtual, cross-
border world requires a change in
mindset and greater flexibility on the
part of lawyers,” she says. “But the
effect on them is generally thought to be
positive and leaves the lawyers’ sense of
self undiminished and even bolstered.”
The rise of nearshoring
It is clear that the looser geographical
way of working alters the organisation
of firms. Montorio, who is based in
Manchester, explains that her firm
“markets its services by sector, not
geography or practice group”, with its
UK offices “seamlessly operating as
a single team from which the lawyers
with the most appropriate skills for each
matter are selected.
“There are some specific situations
where a deal needs to be led out
of London, but that is increasingly
unusual these days,” she says, stressing
that big deals no longer have to be done
in the main global financial centres
such as London or New York, and citing
a recent €7.2bn deal for Vodafone that
the firm acted on which was led from
its office in Madrid. “For someone like
me, based outside of London, the firm’s
approach has a really positive effect,”
she says. “You recognise yourself as
being part of a global law firm, providing
first-rate service to multi-national
clients wherever in the world they
happen to be based, not just focused on
your immediate local area.”
Of course this greater
“relocationism” is nothing new. The
reduction of geographical restrictions
resulted first of all in offshoring, farming
out back-office services and routine, as
well as commoditised work, to foreign
shores, led by the likes of the City firms
Lovells (now Hogan Lovells), Clifford
Chance and Allen & Overy. Work was
outsourced or offshored to countries
as far afield as India, New Zealand, the
Philippines and South Africa, either
to legal outsourcing providers or firms’
own offshore centres.
After that came “near” or “north”
shoring – either bringing work and
services back from overseas to the UK
or shifting it out of the expensive capital
and south-east to northern cities such
as Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow
and Northern Ireland’s Belfast – or, in
the case of top-50 national firm Mills &
Reeve, Norwich.
Kicking off the nearshoring trend
were Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF)
and Allen & Overy, who both opened
offices in Belfast in 2011. According
to Libby Jackson, global head of
alternative legal services at HSF,
nearshore has proved a great way
to demonstrate to clients that they
think creatively about their needs.
“By unpacking the legal work and the
processes involved using the nearshore
model, we can ensure that the right
work is done in the right place, with the
right combination of legal experience
and skills – together delivering a high
quality service at the right price.”
Jackson believes that globalisation is
the next step in the evolution of this part
of the legal market. “Thinking globally
in this space is now inevitable. This is
driven by the need to ensure the legal
products and services that we offer are
relevant to all the markets around the
world that our clients operate in.”
Beware the virtual world
However, while firms – and lawyers
– see the benefits of cutting the ties
of geography, many caution against
descending into a purely virtual world,
where lawyers interact with others
only by means of various technological
wizardry. “There has definitely been
a shift in how law is practised, but I
wouldn’t want it to go further than it
has done already,” says Bridget Barker,
head of the investment management
team at Macfarlanes.
Strong teams have long been at the
heart of outstanding law, and beyond a
certain size, collaboration across virtual
teams is notoriously hard to manage.
“It would be disastrous if people just
spent all their time staring at a computer
screen and never got to see colleagues or
clients,” Barker says.
It is not simply a management issue.
Barker says that a virtual world may
hinder the development of people skills;
vital in a good lawyer.
“One of the sad things about how law
is practised now is the large number of
conference calls and volume of email
traffic, instead of face-to-face chats and
meetings,” she says. “Email is quite a
blunt instrument – you can pick up an
awful lot through body language and
facial expression. It is important to
have a core at the office and have the
opportunity to talk to each other and
relate to each other – to exchange ideas
and discuss issues that may be common
to everyone.”
But what do clients think of all this?
Lawyers generally agree that so long
as the work is done to the same high
quality and that clients are able to get
hold of the lawyers and receive a swift
response from them, the lawyer’s
location is unimportant.
As Montorio puts it: “For clients,
expertise and cost are king, and in
my experience they are not overly
concerned about where their lawyers
are based. Of far greater importance
is that they are provided with high
quality advice that is completed on
time, done well and is cost effective.”
Power tools
for lawyers.
FLUX ISSUE 1 37

20. X
2
The best lawyers know
that special relationships
aren’t just for nation states.
Bonella Ramsay and
Mary Skelly talk to
Kate Hilpern about biotech,
business and bonding.
photography by alun callender

21. Then there’s the fact that both
women are skilled, empathising types
who “click”, says Ramsay, adding that
her focus on personally supporting
Skelly – “whether that means getting
a quick answer about something on
jurisdiction or speaking to a colleague
just to get their understanding on this
or that” – is significant. “I challenge
her on things regularly,” adds Ramsay.
“I think that’s important.”
“That inquisitive, challenging
relationship can be incredibly helpful
in giving me a fresh perspective. I think
it also helps that probably my biggest
strength is that I know what I don’t
know. And I also know I desperately
need people who do know.”
The two women, who chat with the
ease, reflection and humour of lifelong
friends, originally met in 2008, when
Microbide was in its infancy and under
all the usual financial pressures that
entails. Both women admit to having
been blown away by the pace of the
sector since then.
“The speed at which success can be
achieved in this industry really stunned
me,” remarks Ramsay, who – since
leading the Life Sciences Sector – has
adopted a number of innovative best
practices to ensure and maintain the
high levels of trust and quality that
underpin successful cross-border and
business development. One example is
a financial tool for the sector, which is
now being adopted by the firm for other
global sectors.
Not surprisingly, the fast pace of
change led to some hairy moments
along the way. “IP is king in this
industry, so like many other companies
in this sector, we’ve had to navigate
our way through some particularly
tricky times.”
Acknowledging that it’s very much
“a team sport every step of the way”,
Ramsay points out that she welcomes
calls with good news as well as bad news,
although she notes that may be quite rare.
As Skelly adds: “I really, really
believe that when interacting with your
principal attorney in this industry,
you have to keep them abreast of the
positives and not always just bring
them a problem.”
There’s nothing new about biotech
as a specialist area for lawyers, points
out Ramsay, but because it has grown so
quickly, it is drawing in a bigger volume
of lawyers than ever and the kind of
expertise required is changing more
rapidly than ever too.
“In the early days, it was mostly
about scrambling for funding and patent
prosecution, then later it was also about
being bought. Now, however, as more
companies get close to market, there’s
a wider expertise that’s required to deal
with complex law issues, and I’m seeing
more and more lawyers say, ‘Hey, this is
an industry we need to be focusing on.’”
But to shine, she believes, these
lawyers need more than just specialist
legal knowledge of biotech. “It’s an
understanding of the whole industry
that I think is so vital. As biotech moves
along its trajectory – it takes a long time
to get these products to market – you
need a lawyer to understand the players
and what specific issues your client
is facing and to be able to empathise
with that and provide support on a
long-term basis. So, yes, it’s very much
about specialisation, but it’s also about
understanding the wider industry. The
working relationship Mary and I have
really demonstrates that.”
Biotech, agrees Skelly, is like an
amoeba. “It’s always evolving, reshaping
and growing and the attorneys have
to be able to tack, grow and encourage
along with the company.”
In Ramsay and Skelly’s case, there
have been cultural divides to overcome
too. “Bonnie is English and I’m Irish
and that’s powerful in itself because it
means that in order for this to work, we
have to overcome distance and culture –
although we actually have a rather good
time at it,” she smiles.
“How can one not fall in love with
the Irish?” laughs Ramsay. “There’s
this incredible stamina. And being able
to take a knock and carry on is relevant
here because as much as I support her,
she supports me too. I go to her with
questions and value her input.”
The sense of equality is clear, as is
the loyalty. “Microbide has kept DLA
Piper at the very heart of our growth and
maturation, developing and morphing
as we grow, and that remains the same,”
says Skelly.
A lot of smaller companies look at
DLA Piper and assume they’re out of
reach, acknowledges Ramsay. “They
think they can’t go there. But, being
a full service firm, most things are just
one call away.”
“O
urs is by no means a typical
attorney-client relationship,”
says Mary Skelly, chief executive
officer of Microbide Limited, about
her lawyer Bonella Ramsay. Few in the
biotech sector are, points out Ramsay,
who is global co-chair of DLA Piper’s
Global Life Sciences Sector, although
she agrees that this one has evolved into
a particularly close working relationship
that both women say remains key to
their business success today.
“The client relationship is critical
when it comes to anticipating client
needs in the biotech sector because, as
a lawyer, you’re involved in helping to
shape their whole strategy – a strategy
that has global vision, aspiration and
reach, even among small companies like
Microbide,” explains Ramsay.
Skelly explains that she lets Ramsay
know everything that’s going on, both
within the company and with her as
a chief executive – the stresses, the
joys, the new learnings, and how they
all transform and impact not only on
Microbide, but the markets they work
in. “We work so seamlessly, in fact, that
it has evolved into a deep understanding
and friendship and I believe that is
essential to our success.”
Ramsay agrees. “All this means
I understand what the problems are
and can think quickly to solve them.
I also think it’s relevant that we share
such a deep passion for the industry.
I’m not a scientist – I’m a philosophy
graduate and a transactional lawyer
by background – but I’m fascinated
by the sector. It’s a privilege to work
with clients whose work might change
people’s lives, and our environment.”
“I think it’s relevant that we
share such a deep passion
for the industry. I’m a
transactional lawyer, not a
scientist, but I’m fascinated
by the sector.”
(Above left)
Mary Skelly
(CEO, Microbide):
As the company’s
“chef, cook and
bottle washer” Mary
welcomes the chance to
share her experiences
with her principal
international attorney.
(Above right)
Bonella Ramsay
(Co-chair, Global Life
Sciences , DLA Piper):
Revenues in DLA’s
life sciences sector have
grown to more than
£100m duing the seven
years Bonella has been
in charge.
FLUX ISSUE 1 4140 FLUX ISSUE 1

22. R I S I N G
S T A RLaura Scaife is a digital native – and an expert
on the interface between law and social media.
Sarah Woodward meets a practitioner working
on the cutting edge of tech law.
photography by marcus ginns
F
rom her CV, it’s hard to believe that
Laura Scaife, self-labelled “data
privacy, cyber and social media
specialist”, is only 28. Author of the
Handbook of Social Media and the
Law, her LinkedIn profile is positively
frightening, stuffed as it is with
publications, TV appearances and
media interviews on top of her day job
as an associate at international law firm
Addleshaw Goddard.
How does she find the time to be so
prolific? “I don’t see it as work – I am
fascinated by the interaction between the
law and society. I studied Aristotle and
was particularly struck by the phrase ‘law
is reason free from passion’. It seemed
to me that as technology was developing,
increasingly passionate views were
forming part of the legal debate that
could potentially inform the law.”
Laura regards her youth as a positive
advantage, for she came of age alongside
Facebook and then Twitter. While she
was at Durham University, studying on
an academic scholarship, she watched
both gathering pace and realised that
their increasingly widespread use among
her peers was raising legal questions that
– at that point – had no answers.
“The first case where I became aware
of the potential of social media in the
courts was one of car fraud,” she says.
“The accused was shown not to have
been around as there was a picture of
him on Facebook on holiday patting a
dolphin. There was some regulation, but
little or no guidance as to how the legal
system could address the increasing
prevalence of social media in cases.”
Scaife’s interest was sparked.
Today, as well as writing extensively
on the subject for the specialist and
mainstream press, she has been called
to produce recommendations for the
policy-making sector.
In the future she wants to be more
involvedwithdefiningthelegalregulation
of modern technology, as well as to be
recognised internationally as a leader in
her field.
“I am a product of social media
myself. Through Twitter and LinkedIn
I was able to reach out to people across
the world, which is incredible,” she
says. “My father always told me that
if I wanted to know something I should
go out there and find it out. I feel very
fortunate to be writing at a time when
the internet has made that much easier,
which has given me such fantastic
research resources.”
Amidst all this whirl of activity,
Laura is careful to remind herself
“it’s good sometimes to be a part of the
audience rather than being on the stage”.
She takes time out to just spend time
with her friends (“and yes we do meet,
we’re careful not to let the technology
takeover”), plays tennis, runs around
Windsor Park, goes rollerblading and
paints both oils and watercolours.
A keen appreciator of art and fashion
whenever she gets the chance, she goes
to the National Gallery, V&A or the
Courtauld Institute. “I could look at
Two Dancers on the Stage by Degas
for hours,” she says. “I’ve always really
admired former Vogue editor and
curator Diana Vreeland, too. She was
a real trailblazer – we can learn a lot
from Diana’s strength and tenacity.”
Her favourite book is Mindfulness: 25
Ways To Live In The Moment Through
Art by Christophe André. “It’s a really
beautiful book and I was drawn to it
because everything is so immediate, so
‘right now’ – it’s important to step back
from time to time.”
But only from time to time it seems.
Having approached a publisher herself
for her first book, she is now working on
two more, one of which, very topically,
is on social media and terrorism.
State educated and from a small town
near Liverpool, Laura believes firmly
that everyone should be encouraged
to find their voice regardless of
background, wealth, age or gender.
“I tell everyone you can achieve anything
you want if you have passion and
determination. Diversity is, after all, the
art of thinking independently together!”
“You can achieve
anything you want if
you have passion and
determination.
Diversity is the art of
thinking independently
together.”
FLUX ISSUE 1 43

23. CHOOSE THE RIGHT SUCCESSOR
Monica Burch (MB): Keep a track
of your staff’s successes and how they
achieved them, but also note their
failures and how they responded to and
learned from them. Take them out of
their comfort zone – that way you learn
in plenty of time if they really are the
right person to take over.
KEEP IT GOING
CJ: Succession planning is a rolling
discipline – it’s not just a one-off
plan to prepare for one individual’s
departure, it’s about developing a
constant level of preparation. Regular
meetings, reviews, appraisals and
communication all prevent shocks.
KNOWLEDGE IS POWER
CJ: All of us carry at least some
knowledgeinourheads – information
thatisunwrittenbecause we “justknow”
it. But because it’s in our heads, an
employerisindangeroflosingitwhen
weleave.Get asmuchofthe important
stuff written down as possible.
FIND THE MISSING LINK
CJ: Succession planning is a good
opportunity to look at your team’s
overall skill set and identify if anything
is lacking. The potential successors
you have identified may not have all the
skills you need, so take steps to see how
you might make up that shortfall, either
by training or further recruitment.
OWN THE PLAN
MB: HR initiatives can sometimes be
viewed sceptically or not taken seriously
so it’s vital that senior partners shape
the plan and then own it. HR will be
the ones to make it work, but that won’t
happen unless the company’s bosses
own, support and advocate it.
IT’S GOOD TO TALK
CJ: Whether it’s a temporary or
permanent departure, communication
is key. Everyone on maternity leave
or on long-term sick, for example, has
a mentor who stays in touch. It makes
people feel valued – and it helps the
company to plan.
GET INTO TRAINING
MB: If you have someone with potential,
give them the appropriate skills to step
up. Offer them opportunities to do the
job, perhaps by getting them to work
alongside partners. That way, by the
time the succession comes the step-
up won’t be a big shock to them, the
company or the client.
PLAN TO SUCCEED
Caitlin Jenkins (CJ): All our partners
attend regular “five-year workshops”
which enable them to step back and
look at where they want to be in five
years’ time. Whether they want to
step up, retire or continue as they are,
ongoing open discussions keeps the
company prepared for any scenario.
KEEP THE CUSTOMER SATISFIED
CJ: Knowing your client is vital. If you
plan to make any personnel changes,
for instance, make sure you talk to the
client who will be affected, since they
may have specific needs. It continues
that sense of an ongoing partnership
between you and them.
HAVE A PLAN B
MB: With the best will in the world,
the best plans can go awry. Potential
successors may not work out; others may
leave suddenly. Make sure you’ve always
got a practical, workable alternative that
you can implement immediately – even
if it’s only a short term one.
S U C C E S S I O N
P L A N N I N G
TOP TEN
Leadership is all about strategy
and planning. Monica Burch,
senior partner at Addleshaw
Goddard, and Caitlin Jenkins,
partner at Mills & Reeve, reveal
the secrets of their succession.
words by peter taylor-whiffen
illustration by hanna melin
FLUX ISSUE 1 4544 FLUX ISSUE 1

24. I
wholeheartedly believe in diversity.
I had a mother who worked and a
grandmother who firmly believed in
educating women, and I believe that if
you give women the opportunity, they
will demonstrate how valuable they
are. Firms combat diversity challenges
in different ways – some with quotas
or targets, others with mentoring or
sponsorship to give women the tools
they need.
I think you have to manufacture
change from the top down so it can
slowly reach a critical mass. When
you start getting a more equal split of
men and women in meetings and in
boardrooms, then all of a sudden you
have a different dynamic.
At Ashurst, I’ve helped set up
mentoring schemes for women, mixing
junior and senior associates from
different departments – all of whom
have chosen to be there. You need
to engage with mentoring to reap the
benefits, but those benefits are real:
confidence, and a support network
within the firm. It’s really hard to
get it right and we need to review and
revamp regularly.
Working women need to share more
knowledge, ideas and our networks with
each other so that we can all be pulling
more women up the ladder together.
With support I see my future in the next
five years as a partner at Ashurst, likely
in one of our many global offices, but
still remaining closely connected with
my London colleagues and therefore in a
position to mentor, coach and ultimately
sponsor other Ashurst women towards
success in their careers.
Of course I do think our industry is
changing. At my firm slightly more than
a quarter of our executive committee
are women and we now have four strong
senior female partners on the board,
including Angela Pearson who has
supported and mentored me throughout
my time at Ashurst. We’ve also been
looking at the broader picture both
within and outside the firm: actively
promoting women, and putting on and
attending events with clients.
But one of our big challenges is
engaging men in gender diversity issues
and trying to help them understand
some of the hurdles we face. While we as
a firm and a profession are now hosting
many gender diversity events, most of
the time all the attendees are women and
we are therefore just re-educating the
educated. We need to cross the barrier
and go further, and one idea we are
working on is a “bring a date” initiative:
if everyone is tasked with just getting
one man to attend then that could really
get bums on seats and perhaps break
down the barriers some men have about
being one of few male attendees present.
I think the recipe for career success
for women is not very different to that
for men: it comes down to three things:
sponsorship – someone to fight your
corner and put you forward in meetings;
mentoring – not one, but a broad board
of supporters who can offer different
things; and professional executive
coaching – in the same way you’d have
a tennis coach or a personal trainer.
But ultimately, my advice is to follow
what you like and what you’re good at –
the rest will come eventually.
“You need to engage
with mentoring to
reap the benefits, but
those benefits are real:
confidence, and a
support network within
the firm.”
L E A D I N G L I G H T
EXPERT WITNESS
Antonia Croke, senior associate at Ashurst,
talks diversity and how to get ahead.
illustration by ben kirchner
DRIVE
ORGANISATIONAL
PERFORMANCE
AT CAMBRIDGE.
Cambridge Judge Business School
The University of Cambridge Judge
Business School offers an exceptional
range of executive education programmes
as well as custom designed programmes
to solve today’s global business challenges.
These programmes are designed for organisations and
individuals from a broad spectrum of industries and
business sectors who face new challenges and increasing
demands for high levels of performance.
Our reputation for excellence attracts high calibre
organisations and participants from around the
world seeking new perspectives and insights on key
management issues from challenging, academically
rigorous, yet practical executive development
programmes.
Find out more:
www.jbs.cam.ac.uk/execed
FLUX ISSUE 1 47

25. Q
uotas. Mentors. Networks. Culture
change. Carrot. Stick. Not a week
goes by without another law firm
announcing a new strategy to get more
women into senior roles, but does any
of it work? Academics at Cambridge
University have been examining
the evidence and their findings are
intriguing to say the least.
At Cambridge Judge Business School,
Professor Sucheta Nadkarni and her
team have been conducting a major
study of more than 1,000 organisations
in 41 countries to find out what factors
influence the percentage of women
promoted to boards and, crucially, how
long they remain on the board.
“A better way [than
quotas] to improve
gender imbalance in
leadership is to expand
the pool of women
qualified to reach the
top through training,
mentoring and
maternity provision.”
P I P E L I N E
BIG IDEA
How do you get more women into
senior roles? New research suggests
it may be more straightforward
than previously thought, as
Peter Taylor-Whiffen discovers.
illustration by jason ford
function optimally. A second objection
is that quotas are discriminatory,
and a third that quotas undermine
the achievements of successful women
who have risen to the top under their
own steam.
Into this arena, Dr Browne proposes
what she calls the Critical Mass
Marker (CMM) approach that enables
organisations to tailor their approach
to diversity at all levels. The CMM
approach eschews blanket quota
solutions but still recognises that to
do nothing structural to enhance the
number of women in senior roles (at
least in the short term) is likely to end
in continued failure.
The team found that the average
percentage of female board
representation rose from nine per cent
to 16.4 per cent from 2004 to 2013.
Norway, which has quota legislation, had
the highest percentage at just under 40
per cent, ahead of Sweden and Finland,
with the UK ranked sixth at 16 per cent.
However, none of the top six ranked
countries seem to keep their women
on the board for very long. Indeed, the
highest average tenure among female
board members was seen in Mexico
(around eight years) and Hong Kong
and the USA, suggesting that while
a quota system promotes women to
directorships, they only hold onto them
if other factors are in play.
Overall, the study found that women
remained directors longer in countries
with greater “female economic
power”, measured by expected years of
schooling and percentage of women in
the labour market, and “a requirement
for gender diversity in the corporate
governance code”. A country’s
maternity provisions and strong “female
political power” (percentage of female-
held parliamentary seats) also made
a difference.
According to Professor Nadkarni:
“This result suggests that empowering
women outside the boardroom is
key to getting women in the boardroom
and keeping them there. One of the
biggest hurdles for women is lack of
sponsorship – less than a third of women
have sponsors compared to males. This
makes it very difficult to penetrate the
right networks essential to get ahead.
“Our findings also suggest that
by sending a signal of preferential
treatment and compromise of merit,
quotas can create a hostile environment
for women and result in a revolving
door,” continues Professor Nadkarni.
“So quotas should not be looked at as
a ‘quick fix’ because their long-term
effects are not very clear. A better way to
improve gender imbalance in leadership
is to expand the pool of women qualified
to reach the top through training,
mentorship and maternity provisions.”
At the University of Cambridge
Centre for Gender Studies, the Centre’s
director, Dr Jude Browne, has also
been looking closely at the politics
and practicalities of mandatory
quotas, considered by many to be
counterproductive.
One of the most common objections
to quotas is that they undermine merit,
thereby reducing a company’s ability to
The CMM approach instead
requires organisations to commit to
identifying situations where there is
“a thwarted critical mass” – clusters
of highly skilled women who are
not progressing to more senior levels
–organisations would then apply
proportionate quotas accordingly.
This approach is more subtle than
recent EU proposals for blanket quotas
of 40 per cent, but arguably more
effective, in that it specifically addresses
each organisation’s segregation patterns
at all levels rather than simply focusing
on the board. This in turn would ensure
consistent upward movement through
the so called “pipeline of talent”.
Provision does, of course, already
exist in the UK’s equality laws entitling
recruiters to use “positive action” to
encourage applications from particular
groups of people, or those who might
have previously been disadvantaged.
But that, says Dr Browne, sets out only
a “mechanism” – whereas her proposal
requires specific action.
“The CMM approach would
ensure women equipped with the
relevant skills are able to move up
and across institutional structures
in a consistent and effective way. It
is a more proportionate response to
an institution’s segregation patterns
than existing proposals – and will give
a much greater number of talented
women the opportunity to reach their
real potential.”
FLUX ISSUE 1 49

26. I
didn’t have any positive female role
models when I was an ambitious young
lawyer. When I looked to women
above me to inspire confidence, all I
saw were women behaving like men –
and in some cases, worse than men. I
often reflect on whether my career path
would have been different had there
been decent female role models at such
a critical time in my career.
We can face less subtle challenges
too, of course. When I was about four
or five years qualified into my career
in employment litigation I had my
first child, and when I returned from
maternity leave, I felt I was entering a
completely different landscape. There
was no way I could compete with
colleagues who worked late and had no
childcare responsibilities, so it was they
who inevitably ran with the best cases.
In the end I left.
Later, when I was teaching law –
ajobthatfittedaroundmyyoung children
– I discovered that lots of women had
done exactly the same. I still find it
frustrating that many of us could well
have been very successful partners in law
firms, but the lack of female role models
coupled with male-centric working
culture meant this was never to be.
There’s no doubt that things are
improving. It would be unusual to find
a firm without at least one partner
working flexibly, and the way that firms
measure their value is changing too.
But there’s a long way to go.
When I started working at Cambridge
Judge Business School, we discovered
that no other business school in Europe
was running a leadership programme
specifically for female law firm partners
to address challenges like this. So we
decided to build on our experience
of delivering partners’ development
training. CJBS now runs a three-
day programme in which leading
business academics and top consulting
professionals are brought in to focus on
issues including integrated leadership,
strategic talent management and
building resilience for high performance.
One of the most interesting things that
has come out of it so far is how many of
these women, who we perceived as being
at the top, said they felt they hadn’t made
it at all. There’s another glass ceiling
they can’t smash, they explain – and
that is reaching the senior management
positions. These women are the role
models, yet even they feel their voices are
not being heard at senior level.
Professor Michelle Ryan explores
unconscious bias on our programme,
looking at the perceived ideas we have
of what a leader should be. We also go
beyondwhatmanydiversityprogrammes
offer. For example, we examine how
women express power and ambition and
how sometimes women opt out for fear
of being seen as an “imposter”.
Women like Dame Professor Sandra
Dawson, Emeritus KPMG Professor of
Management Studies at Judge Business
School, who speaks on our course, show
that success for women in leadership
positions is possible. And with growing
recognition of the issues that women
are facing, along with a genuine desire
for things to change more quickly within
law firms themselves, I think there is
reason to be more hopeful than ever.
“I find it frustrating that
a lot of women could
have been successful
partners, but a lack of
female role models and
a male-centric working
culture meant this was
never to be.”
T H E N E W W A V E
BYSTANDER
As an ex-lawyer, CJBS’s Sarah Lyons knows
all about the prejudices women in the
industry face. And now she’s determined
to do something about it.
illustration by ben kirchner
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Research & Guidance . Drafting . News & Media . Training & Development . Business Management

27. LEADERSHIP FOR
WOMEN LAW
FIRM PARTNERS.
Cambridge Judge Business School
The Women in Law Leadership
Programme is specifically designed for
women law firm partners who recognise
that in order to thrive in the law firm
environment, they, as individuals, need
to be equipped with the insights, skills
and techniques to enable them to meet
the demands of today’s partner role and
make themselves not just more effective
leaders at firm and practice level, but also
more effective role models.
Join a high profile group of women from across Europe
and elsewhere in the world to discuss the unique
challenges faced by female leaders, and let our leading
business academics and top consulting professionals
inspire your thinking in our unique and historic
Cambridge learning environment.
Find out more:
www.jbs.cam.ac.uk/wlp