When Chris Topping, President of Liverpool Law Society and a Director at the Jackson Lees Group, asked me about the history of women in our practice I knew we had not been trailblazers in promoting women ourselves. Jackson Canter, the forerunner of the firm, was behind others in promoting women to partner status but this was not for want of trying. For one reason or another our senior women left to go to other parts of the country or they moved on to other firms.
What part our culture played in this I am not sure but I am certainly not going to make any excuses for our tardiness in appointing women to the top jobs - I think it was 2002 before we had a female partner. This is bad but Lees (our other forerunner) did much better, their first female partner was Jean Dawson who qualified as a solicitor in 1947. Our stats today are much more encouraging! At senior management level our two Managing Directors are women and 50% of our departmental heads are women too. This is a reflection of our company ethos which is much more people focused than it was in the past.
The Women Lawyers Division is this week celebrating 100 years of women in law. How is it that the anniversary is this week I asked, when the first women passed their Law Society examinations in 1922? The answer to that question is a bit mind-blowing. In 1919 the Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act came into force. In 1888, Eliza Orme was the first women to gain a law degree but by law she was not allowed to go on to qualify as a lawyer, or to contemplate practising as one. It was not until after the First World War that the law changed. As a result, the Law Society of England and Wales allowed four women who had obtained first class law degrees from Cambridge to attempt their law training and pass their examinations some four years later. Liverpool Law Society does not have a proud history in this regard either. Back in 1917, Council voted against allowing women to join the profession. It is hard to think that a forward-looking city like ours once had these attitudes.
When I was on the Law Society Council Carolyn Kirby became our first female president, but Liverpool were way ahead of the curve as Liz Steele became the first female president of Liverpool Law Society in 1989. I put myself forward for the Law Society 2005 election only to be soundly beaten by Fiona Woolf who became our second president before becoming Lord Mayor of London. When I succeeded in becoming Vice President in 2006, then president in 2007, diversity was well and truly on the agenda. This is still true today and the SRA are now requiring law firms to publish their gender pay gap statistics.
In 2017, 50.1% of the 180,000 solicitors in England and Wales were women, but only 25% were partners. For the first time, female solicitors are the majority but clearly there is still a big problem at senior level. The current Law Society President, Christina Blacklaws, is working hard to do something about this problem which also exists at the bar and with senior judiciary.
The world is changing, but that change is rather slow. Recalling how bad things were throughout history and reflecting on how attitudes have changed plays a huge part in helping move things forward. So, I wish the Women Lawyers Division success and joy in promoting and celebrating 100 years of women in law. One thing is for sure though - the passing of the Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act in 1919 certainly did make a positive difference!