The Legal Policy & Research Unit (LPRU) has created a podcast series interviewing inspiring IBA members with interesting careers and remarkable stories from across the globe. Each guest shares their thoughts and experiences about what it means to be a woman in the legal profession and how they have navigated different types of workplaces and challenges over the course of their career. The series covers diverse jurisdictions and women across all sectors of the law.
Inspirational legal women – breaking barriers and shaping justice. Personal stories of leadership, resilience and impact
Series 2
Inspirational legal women: a conversation with Fiona McLeod AO KC
Fiona McLeod is a senior counsel with more than 30 years’ experience practising across Australia in commercial and public law, including doing considerable work on class actions and royal commissions. She was appointed Officer of the Order of Australia in the 2020 Australia Day Honours for distinguished service to the law and to the legal profession at the national and international level, and to women lawyers. She is presently a senior officer of the IBA, notably within the Bar Issues Commission, and has also been on the advisory panel for the Phase Two part of the Raising the Bar: Women in Law initiative.
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- Pascale Lagesse (IBA Legal Practice Division, France)
- Lise Lotte Hjerrild (IBA Legal Practice Division and Section on Public and Professional Interest, Denmark)
- Geraldine Clarke (IBA Bar Issues Commission and Section on Public and Professional Interest, Ireland)
- Berit Reiss-Andersen (IBA Bar Issues Commission, Norway)
- Florencia Heredia (IBA Legal Practice Division, Argentina)
- Tshepo Shabangu (IBA Bar Issues Commission, South Africa)
- Darien Leung (IBA Legal Practice Division and Section on Public and Professional Interest, United States)
- Hanim Hamzah (IBA Section on Public and Professional Interest, Singapore/China)
- Turenna Ramirez Ortiz (IBA Legal Practice Division, Mexico)
Series 1
Inspirational legal women: a conversation with Deborah Enix Ross
An insightful discussion with IBA Secretary General, Deborah Enix-Ross, US lawyer at Debevoise and Plimpton LLP based at their New York office for over 20 years. She co-founded the Women's Interest Network within the American Bar Association's International Law Section, advocating for women's legal issues, something she has continued to do within the IBA. Deborah was President of the American Bar Association from 2022-2023 and named on the Forbes List of America’s top 200 lawyers in 2024.
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Inspirational legal women: a conversation with Carola van den Bruinhorst
Carola van den Bruinhorst is a Dutch lawyer with over 20 years’ experience at Loyens & Loeff, and consultant in transformation processes and leadership development. Carola founded the firm's Hong Kong office and has also lived abroad in New York and Milan. Passionate about diversity, she co-founded the IBA’s Diversity & Inclusion Council and has held leadership roles in IBA. She is currently pursuing an Executive Master at INSEAD (Institut Européen d'Administration des Affaires).
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Inspirational legal women: a conversation with Faiza Alleg Dolivet
Listen to international lawyer and mediator Faiza Alleg Dolivet sharing insights into her varied career, having lived and worked in many countries from Australia to the Congo, Tahiti to Switzerland. She has worked as an in-house legal director for a range of major companies, including Apple, Saipem and Boart Longyear. Now based with her family in France, her expertise covers many sectors and her IBA engagement includes the Anti-Corruption, Mediation, Litigation and Business and Human Rights Committees.
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Inspirational legal women: a conversation with Lucie Allen.
Lucie Allen has spent most of her career working with the legal profession, previously working as Vice President for the Global Large Law segment at Thomson Reuters. Now the Managing Director of BARBRI International, a global legal education company specialising in bar exam preparation and legal training, she works with the IBA to design specialist courses. Recognised for her collaborative approach and commitment to diversity and inclusion, she is also a director of She Breaks the Law and founder of #Menopause Matters.
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Inspirational legal women: a conversation with Associate Justice Mary-Jane Ierodiaconou
The Hon Associate Justice Mary-Jane Ierodiaconou is a judicial officer of the Supreme Court of Victoria, Australia, which is the highest court in the state. Prior to her Honour’s appointment to the Bench in 2015, she worked as an employment and discrimination lawyer and co-founded female-led, collaborative Australian law firm Justitia in 2005, where she was a managing partner. Associate Justice Ierodiaconou has recently been appointed as a Commissioner of the IBA’s Professional Wellbeing Commission.
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Inspirational legal women: a conversation with Alessandra Nascimento Silva e Figueiredo Mourão
Founding partner of Nascimento e Mourão Advogados in São Paulo, Alessandra is an inspiring mentor to women and young lawyers. She is a past Chair of the Professional Ethics Committee of the IBA and a member of the SPPI Council. Alessandra created and coordinates the ‘Negotiation Techniques for Lawyers’ course at Fundação Getúlio Vargas Law School and is a guest lecturer at Universidade Católica Portuguesa in Lisbon. She holds a law degree and a postgraduate degree from the University of São Paulo, and is a negotiation specialist trained at Harvard Law School.
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Inspirational legal women: a conversation with Imbi Jürgen
Imbi Jürgen is president of the Estonian Bar Association (since 2022) and now 3rd Vice-President of the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE). Since qualifying in 1996 she has worked at several highly esteemed commercial law firms, specialising in energy, environmental, and contract law. She is now working as counsel in pan-Baltic law firm TGS Baltic.
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Inspirational legal women: a conversation with Akila Agrawal
Akila Agrawal is an Officer of the IBA Women Lawyers Committee and a distinguished corporate lawyer based in New Delhi with over 23 years of experience in M&A, and corporate restructuring. She is a Senior Partner at Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas and set up the first creche at a law firm in India over 20 years ago when her first child was born. Akila has been consistently recognized by Chambers Global and Chambers Asia-Pacific for her expertise in Corporate and M&A law. Under her pseudonym, Vathi Agrawal, she authored the novel Marriages Not Made in Heaven, a witty and poignant portrayal of women and South Delhi life.
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Inspirational legal women: a conversation with Adeola Sunmola
Adeola Sunmola is an Officer of the IBA Women Lawyers Committee and is a partner at Udo Udoma and Belo-Osagie in Nigeria, where she leads teams specialising in project development and project finance in the power sector. Her expertise encompasses a diverse range of legal subjects, notably cross-border lending, syndicated lending, non-interest finance, debt restructuring, and financing for intricate power, manufacturing, and infrastructure projects in Nigeria. She was named as one of the IFLR1000 Women Leaders for 2022, and maintains a consistent status as a ‘Highly Regarded’ Lawyer according to IFLR1000.
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Inspirational legal women: a conversation with Carli Schickerling
Carli Schickerling is a Namibian lawyer and Officer of the IBA LGBTQI+ Law Committee, with a 16-year career spanning a wide range of practice areas including family law, general civil litigation, immigration and human rights. She has consistently used her legal expertise to champion the rights of minorities and marginalized groups, foster a culture of diversity and inclusion and advocate for equality under the law and in society more broadly. A member of the Law Society of Namibia, she also served as the Chairperson of its Human Rights Committee and was a member on both the Ethics and Investigations Committee, and the Child, Gender and Family Law Committee.
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The LPRU team undertakes research, and develops and implements innovative strategies, projects and initiatives that are relevant to business and the rule of law, the global legal profession and the broader global community.
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