Chair
Jennifer Bishop
The Women Lawyers' Committee of the International Bar Association offers a forum for its members from all over the world to engage, network and share knowledge of topics of global significance to women lawyers.
The Women Lawyers’ Committee (WLC) aspires to empower its 3000 highly valued members from all over the world to engage, network and share knowledge. The committee was originally an interest group which was introduced as an IBA constituent in 1996 to allow efficient global networking of women lawyers.
WLC aims to level the playing field in the legal profession and inspire leaders to work to achieve gender parity. It's 20 committee officers create awareness tools to help the profession achieve this goal, while at the same time facilitate an efficient global network for women lawyers to connect and develop business and expertise, supported by its Advisory board.
We welcome members with all genders and encourage all perspectives and remain a committee dedicated to the cause of women lawyers.
We warmly invite you to join our quarterly global Women Lawyers’ Committee (WLC) Café for all our committee members. This event is held three times on a virtual platform, scheduled for different time zones on the same day, and the fourth time in person during the IBA Annual Conference.
The WLC Café is a platform for all members of WLC to easily and regularly network with each other and to create an institutionalised location where our members can get to know and mutually support each other. The officers of the WLC will use this opportunity to get in direct touch with members on a regular basis and encourage you to get actively involved in developing further the efforts and activities of WLC.
The next WLC Café will take place on 11 December 2024, in three different time zones (JST, GMT and EST) to accommodate the different time zones our members are living in.
Invitations will be sent to all committee members well ahead of time. For any questions, please contact the Divisions Department. We look forward to meeting you!
In honour of International Women’s Day, the Women Lawyers’ Committee of the International Bar Association brought strong women and allies from all across the world together to celebrate the women who came before us and those who continue to work towards a more inclusive world.
In furthering its goal of leveling the playing field in the legal profession, inspiring leaders to achieve gender parity and facilitating an efficient global network for women lawyers, the Committee looks forward to hosting the 10th Annual World Women Lawyers’ Conference in Toronto from October 23-25, 2024. Click here to learn more.
The Women Lawyers’ Committee offers a forum for women members from across the world to discuss topics of global significance to women practitioners. Apart from fostering women lawyers’ business potentials, the Group also aims to provide informal advice and assistance in areas of interest.
The IBA Women Lawyers’ Committee invite you to nominate a female lawyer who you believe is deserving of this prestigious award. The Women Lawyers’ Committee would like to thank LexisNexis for their generous support of the Award.
Applications to this Award are currently closed and will reopen later in 2024.
Click here for further details
This ‘Male Champions for Change’ roundtable toolkit serves as a guide to what individuals can do to accelerate the rate of progress on gender equity in the legal profession.
This voluntary pledge can be adopted by law firms that recognise the critical importance of fostering gender equity and equality within our profession. By actively engaging in initiatives to address gender disparities, we can create a more inclusive and diverse legal environment that benefits everyone.
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 WLC welcomes members of all genders, encourages all perspectives and remains a Committee dedicated to the cause of women lawyers. In this respect, the WLC recognises and seeks to enhance the role of male champions for change as catalysts for the goals described above. This document summarises why this is important and what the WLC proposes specifically regarding the ‘Male Champions for Change’ Initiative.
The IBA Women Lawyers' Committee Mentorship Toolkit is aimed at allowing law firms or lawyers interested in mentorship to take advantage of the know-how of other firms. Many studies reveal that implementing mentorship programmes will not only help mentees, but the mentors too in understanding the importance of leadership, diversity and inclusion. The toolkit will include methodology to establish a mentorship programme, including guidance on how to select mentors and pair them with mentees.
This is certainly the case for the WLC as we reflect on all of the incredible experiences and pro-jects that last year comprised, including hosting the 9th World Women Lawyers' Conference in Copenhagen (with around 200 participants!), hosting a lovely lunch and leading 3 insightful panels during the IBA Annual Conference in Miami, launching and promoting the very well-received Mentorship Toolkit
Released on Feb 07, 2023
The new year is off to a great start. Our committee’s name change has enthusiastically been approved, so we are officially now the Women Lawyers' Committee ("WLC")!
Released on Feb 14, 2022
A message from the Editors of the Women Lawyers' Interest Group, March 2021
A message from the Officers of the Women Lawyers' Interest Group, October 2020
To view past webinars hosted by the Women Lawyers' Committee please click here
To see more information on the scholarships the Women Lawyers’ Committee runs please click here
The Women Lawyers’ Committee offers a forum for women members from across the world to discuss topics of global significance to women practitioners. Apart from fostering women lawyers’ business potentials, the Group also aims to provide informal advice and assistance in areas of interest.
The IBA Women Lawyers’ Committee invite you to nominate a female lawyer who you believe is deserving of this prestigious award. The Women Lawyers’ Committee would like to thank LexisNexis for their generous support of the Award.
Applications to this Award are currently closed and will reopen later in 2024.
Click here for further details
The Women Lawyers' Committee also coordinates the activities of the following subcommittees/working groups.
If you are a member of the Women Lawyers’ Committee, for additional networking opportunities, programs, interviews with fellow members and tips all exclusive to members, join our LinkedIn page below.