IBA Annual Conference Paris 2023
29 Oct - 3 Nov 2023
SALLE MAILLOT, Level 2
Session information
Women Lawyers' Committee launch of the sponsorship best practices
Thursday 2 November (1430 - 1545)
SALLE MAILLOT, Level 2
Committee(s)
Women Lawyers' Committee
(Lead)
Diversity and Equality Law Committee
European Regional Forum
IBA Diversity & Inclusion Council
Law Firm Management Committee
Young Lawyers' Committee
Description
Women make up the majority of law students and graduates globally, however this is not reflected in the statistics of those working at senior levels, across all legal sectors, where women still constitute a far smaller proportion than their male counterparts. When women are not equally represented on management level, young female talent lack role models as they cannot identify with leadership which creates an identity distance and leads to them feeling less entitled to leadership positions than their male counterparts. This creates a barrier in women’s ambition and entitlement and means that women lawyers do not have the same basis and support for aiming high, having aspirations, and becoming leaders. To allow for the inequality on management level to equalise, the need for law firms to have formal sponsorship best practices and to install requirements for male leaders to sponsor up-and-coming women lawyers have been accentuated. The panel will present the WLC Sponsorship Best Practices and the panellists will discuss and share experiences in connection to sponsorships.
Session / Workshop Chair(s)
| Ursula Ben-Hammou | Cuatrecasas, Mexico City, Mexico; Mentorship Officer, Women Lawyers' Committee |
| David Patient | Travers Smith, London, England; Membership Officer, Law Firm Management Committee |
Speakers
| Michaela Angelides | Managing Counsel: McKinsey & Company, Paris, France |
| Joyce Wambui Karanja | Bowmans, Nairobi, Kenya; Member, IBA Diversity & Inclusion Council |
| Marianna Nitsch | Chanel, Paris, France |
| Shruti Rajan | Trilegal, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India |