AWS LONDON NEWSLETTER Issue 4

433

Association of Women Solicitors London

Newsletter

January 2016

ESSENTIAL FOR SUCCESS

Upcoming Events

I qualified almost thirty years ago, when it was still a novelty to have so many women entering the profession and it was thought that gender equality was a numbers game; more women qualifying would result in more women at senior levels.

As we all know, that has not happened. Many women leave practice and those who stay, often take longer than men to achieve their goals, while being paid less for the privilege. Family responsibilities are one factor in the talent drain, but by no means can this alone account for such an enormous loss. One way to get involved in the debate about women’s role and status in the legal profession and to make a difference is by being a member of AWS London.

As well as our social and educational events, we comment on consultation papers, promote women’s achievements and issue press releases. Our Committee welcomes new ideas, so check out our website and send us your views by email or on our social media.

Best wishes

Coral

How to contact us Linda Davies, our administrator, who is also a committee member, will forward your messages to the committee if you contact her on linda@awslondon.org.uk Don't forget that you can also keep up with our activities by joining our LinkedIn group, or our Facebook group, or by following us on Twitter.

Welcome from the Chair

Thursday

21 January 2016

Matthew Bourne’s Sleeping Beauty

Wednesday

10 February 2016

AGM and Annual Dinner

Wednesday

27 March 2016

The Composition of Boards

See Page 13 for more details

DIARY DATES

See page 13 for all of our

upcoming events

AWS LONDON NEWSLETTER | Issue 4 2

In the last issue we featured an interview with Madeleine Heggs, one of our four Honorary Members. For this issue Linda Davies interviewed another Honorary Member, Elizabeth Cruickshank. Beginnings Anyone who has talked to Elizabeth will know that she is a Scot from Aberdeenshire who learned to play golf not far from the source of my favourite smoked salmon. Encouraged by her father to become the first member of her family to go on to higher education, Elizabeth left for Aberdeen University, to study English and History. Five years later she left Aberdeen with an M.A., a husband, a 15 month old son and a half-finished M.Litt. dissertation on “The Theory of Relativity in Lawrence Durrell’s Alexandria Quartet”. “I was very fortunate in my tutor, Dr Joan Pittock, whose support extended beyond academic tuition to turning up one day with a Silver Cross pram and other baby necessities and who continued to encourage me until her death three years ago.” After her husband qualified as an accountant, the family moved to England and then after a short stay in South Wales, where her daughter was born, settled in Guildford, a city which was to give her the opportunity to qualify first as a teacher and then as a solicitor. “I certainly was not cut out to be a stay at home mother,” she admits, “and I was desperate to do something to use my

brain”. Her first opportunity came in the form of 6 weeks conducting interviews for a post-graduate researcher writing a paper on male friendship patterns. “This taught me a lot about interviewing people, from preparatory research to dressing appropriately for different interviewees.” This was followed by fifteen months of part-time work at Surrey University summarising academic papers on study methods research and helping to write a successful research proposal - and all for 90 pence an hour! “This may seem like meagre recompense but in Guildford in the 1970s I was fortunate to find any interesting part-time employment.” Teaching To her surprise, “because I had never intended to become a teacher,” Elizabeth found great pleasure in helping her own children to count and read, so with the encouragement of her mother-in-law, “a very wise primary schoolteacher”, she headed for Gipsy Hill College of Education then running a special course in Guildford for “mature students”. Her original intention had been to look for that elusive part-time position, but for the next ten years she taught full-time at Godalming Sixth Form College having satisfied the interviewing panel that she had adequate childcare arrangements in place. “In terms of ability to teach A Level English, the other candidates were as well qualified as I, but I sold myself on the Study Skills research and a subsidiary Moral Philosophy course I undertook at university. What I learned from that process is to identify beforehand any skills that can set you apart from other candidates.” Elizabeth enjoyed teaching and the classroom contact with young people, but always eager to learn, in 1980 she obtained a Schoolteacher Fellow Commonership at Selwyn College, Cambridge. Her dissertation was her passport to a summer term spent in Cambridge University Library, attending lectures in anything that caught her interest and in the evenings dining at High Table. “It was a great luxury. For a term I shed the responsibilities of school and family and basked in the conversation of some very impressive dons such as Owen Chadwick, the Master of Selwyn and Professor John Spencer, then a relatively junior Law Lecturer – and I learned how to take snuff.” With the cobwebs dusted off her notes and some additional research, she obtained her M.Litt in 1981. Legal transition Elizabeth had always found the “idea of Law” attractive and “when, with my family’s encouragement I made the decision to change career, I was able to study at The College of Law in Guildford which I could just about see across the river from

A Scottish Solicitor

AWS LONDON NEWSLETTER | Issue 4 3

our home.” Although two years later Elizabeth began her articles at a City firm, the search process had initially been a frustrating one. “I have never been conscious of suffering discrimination because of my gender, but trying to obtain articles brought me face to face with age discrimination, both directly and indirectly. Despite numerous applications I obtained only two interviews. The first was a disaster, but the second thankfully was at Stephenson Harwood.” Thankfully, because one of the interviewing partners, Donald Amlott, was a great fan of Lawrence Durrell’s writing. Elizabeth qualified into the tax department, and explains that “for a tax lawyer the ability to understand how language works is surprisingly important. There is a surprising similarity between analysing dense tax legislation and literary appreciation. I like investigating words and phrases, and solving problems." Golf, which she had learned as a child, also came in handy. “Initially I was the only woman on client golf days, but over the past couple of decades the growth in the number of female business golfers has been gratifyingly substantial.” A decision to combine her legal expertise with her teaching and writing skills led Elizabeth becoming a Professional Support lawyer, first with Theodore Goddard and then with Macfarlanes. “Support work has more regularised hours but its scope, by way of contrast, is often much wider than transactional work." Noting that PSL work is sometimes dismissed as "being on the mommy track", she emphasises that the position requires good organisation, as well as research and training skills and an ability to deal effectively with large amounts of new material. “For me it also meant that in a short space of time I had to move from a self-invented card index know-how system to developing a computerised system with my colleagues – quite a culture shock for someone who was still a tyro typist”. The AWS Joining the AWS in 1991 was a stepping-stone to Elizabeth fulfilling her childhood ambition to be a writer. Six years later when the AWS planned a celebration of the 75th anniversary of the admission of the first women solicitor, Carrie Morrison, in which her newly-qualified daughter also participated, Elizabeth was asked to produce a brochure on the history of women solicitors. “There was a traditional tale that the first four women to pass their Finals examinations in December 1922 raced down Chancery Lane to see who would have the honour of being the first to be admitted. But,” she told me emphatically, “the daughter of one of these women told me that this is simply untrue. In fact as Carrie’s articles expired first, there was no one else who could be the first.” When the black and white AWS LINK Newsletter was replaced in 2001, Elizabeth became the first editor of the new glossier version. Sadly the Law Society can no longer afford to fund LINK, but modern technology has enabled us to produce our online AWS London Newsletter with Elizabeth “very happily” back in her editor’s role.

As well as chairing the AWS National Committee in 2004/5 Elizabeth has produced thirty issues of LINK, written four books and now gives talks on the historical aspects of women working in the law. She is also involved in the First100Years project and in various academic initiatives leading up to the centenary of the Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act 1919. “None of this would have happened without my joining the AWS, which has also given me years of friendship with some wonderful women whom I would not otherwise have met. So thank you AWS” Final comment Elizabeth has been writing a biography of Carrie Morrison for as long as I’ve known her and it looks as though it might take her even longer than that dissertation! Linda Davies is a solicitor and AWS London Administrator

Baranis in Chancery Lane provided a cheerful start to Christmas for the many members and their guests who came along to our Christmas Drinks Party on 2 December. Our sponsors, the International Bar Association came along and generously raffled a bottle of champagne. They look forward to meeting more of our members at the AGM in February. We had guests from the chambers of 5 St Andrews Hill and Matrix Chambers which made for a great mix of solicitors and barristers. And on the career side Cabinet Office Policy Advisor, Rose Jefferies talked informally to us about the search for increased diversity of applicants for public appointments. The Cabinet Office will be keeping AWS London aware of forthcoming opportunities which we will publish on LinkedIn and in our new website.

Christmas Cheer

AWS LONDON NEWSLETTER | Issue 4 4

A week later, and the conference is still fresh in my mind. It was an honour to attend and sit in a room full of inspirational individuals says Josephine Macintosh, a student at the University of Law who spoke at the Spark21conference organised by First100Years, which invited us to consider what difficulties women lawyers have had to face over the past century and how we could achieve even more in the future.

Preparation and substance

I arrived at the panel with a slim notebook full of notes. These veered from women being held back by the unconscious bias of people in charge, to the UK’s dearth of women in top legal positions. Slovenia’s judges are 78% female and France’s 64%, while Britain lags behind with a measly 23%. In the corner of one page was a list headed ‘my own fears’. One asked how I could ensure a rich family life and be fully immersed in work; another declared that I wanted to work in diverse environments without having to act tougher or louder in order to be heard. At the bottom, I declared that the latter would ensure the former. I was ready to solve women in law.

But then, Dame Jenni Murray’s masterful conversational style enveloped us and my notes became irrelevant. She asked us how we could combat everyday sexism, and what had brought each of us to law. The result was a productive discussion, one that painted the future of women in law as determined by the way that we, as individuals, affirm our

values in our daily life, at university, at home and at work. Many lessons came from the audience too. One woman warned my generation against planning when to have children – after all, you can’t! It was freeing advice, that we needed to be open to change. Yet I remained a little puzzled for after all my generation is determining totally new modes of work and family life, and doing so in usually outdated structures… an uncertain future indeed, for which planning must be necessary?

Final result

For me the experience was a metaphor for the First 100 Years project, with each person in the room becoming one of the project’s testimonials. Now, what remains most with me is a feeling of opportunity and companionship. Despite not knowing what the future holds, there is company on the way there, and that company has substance.

Elizabeth Cruickshank spoke on the History panel at the conference. Like Josephine and two of the other speakers on the history panel, I too came armed with a set of notes, mostly packed with facts and figures showing how few women actually qualified as solicitors in the decades between 1922 and 1960 (only 356 held PCs in 1957, one of whom was our Honorary Member Madeleine Heggs), how many of the first decade’s cohort came from legal families (56%) and how many of them did not marry (40%).

Like Josephine I too found that my notes were only tangentially required as we all tried to focus on thoughts that might be helpful to those younger than ourselves. And probably Josephine would agree with me that factual preparation is not enough. You need to be prepared to deal with the unexpected!

A Sparkling Future?

AWS LONDON NEWSLETTER | Issue 4 5

You may well ask – “The first 100 years of what?”

1922 was the year when the first women qualified as solicitors or barristers in this country and we are still seven years away from a centennial celebration, but we are only four years away from the centenary of the passing of the Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act 1919, the Act which made it possible for women to enter the legal and many other professions.

What relevance if any, does it have for to-day’s women and women lawyers?

Initial aim

Dana Denis-Smith, a journalist turned solicitor turned entrepreneur and the CEO of Obelisk Support , realised in 2014 that we were only a few years away from 2019 and the Centenary of the 1919 Act and that very little was apparently known and even less publicised about our progress as lawyers over the intervening years. She decided to make this an opportunity to celebrate the achievements of women in the law since the passing of the Act.

One of her main aims is to create a digital archive of 100 video stories which in 2019 will be donated to the British Library. If you look at the First100 Years web-site you will be able to access some of the video interviews already recorded together with written interviews and articles on the careers of legal women some still in practice and some very much in the past. Although perhaps not so much in the past as some could most certainly have been the grandmothers of some of us or the great-grandmothers of most.

Other aims

Other aims are to organise a series of talks and conferences (under the Spark21 banner) which will help to explain our past and will provide platforms for intelligent discussion about the present and future position of women in the legal profession.

The novelist Katharine McMahon, was one of the first speakers to be attracted by the First100Years vision, two AWS London members spoke at the first Spark21 conference at Simmons & Simmons and Dana herself joined the panel at our “A Break from Tradition” event. You can read about all of these later in this Newsletter.

AWS London

AWS London is proud to join the list of legal organisations including The Law Society and The Bar Council who are championing the First100Years project. We’ll try to let you know in advance of future First100Years events. But in the meantime if you want to know more about the project, how you might get involved and the experiences of women lawyers over the past 100 years – and indeed even further back – take a look at the First100Years web-site at http://first100years.org.uk/

.

We want to hear from you

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www.awslondon.co.uk

First 100 Years

AWS LONDON NEWSLETTER | Issue 4 6

The International Bar Association (IBA), established in 1947, is the world’s leading organisation of international legal practitioners, bar associations, law firms and law societies.

The IBA influences the development of international law reform and shapes the future of the legal profession throughout the world. It has a membership of more than 80,000 individual lawyers and more than 190 bar associations and law societies spanning 160 countries.

Inspired by the vision of the United Nations, the IBA was founded in the same spirit, just before the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was proclaimed in 1948.

The principal aims and objectives of the IBA

to promote an exchange of information and views among its members as

to laws, practices and professional responsibilities around the globe;

to support the independence of the judiciary and the right of lawyers to

practise their profession without interference;

to support human rights for lawyers worldwide through the IBA Human

Rights Institute;

to provide members with world class professional development to enable

them and their organisations to deliver outstanding legal services;

to deliver top level international network-building opportunities; and

to be committed to the development of international law reform.

The IBA covers all practice areas and professional interests, providing members with access to leading experts and up-to-date information.

Through its various committees, fora and task forces, the IBA facilitates the exchange of information and views among its members as to laws, practices and professional responsibilities relating to the practice of law around the globe.

Learning and joining

To find out more about the IBA see www.ibanet.org

For more Info…

To join the IBA or to make any enquiries, please contact us at member@int-bar.org Or telephone: (0)207 842 0090

International Bar Association

Immigration for Non Immigration Lawyers

Before visiting the US or UK on business don’t forget to seek immigration specialist advice - this was one of the take home messages from our evening with experts from Lewis Silkin’s Immigration and Global Mobility team on 12 November. Diana Okoeva highlighted the need to be especially aware of visiting the US on business and what scenarios may lead to a Business visa being required. Issues relating to transferring personnel and settling investors and entrepreneurs in the UK were covered by Poppy Wiseman and Olga Nechita. Ben Maitland then revealed some of the complexities involved in trying to settle in the UK with a non EU spouse. With many questions to answer lively discussion flowed afterwards over drinks and canapes kindly hosted by Lewis Silkin.

Gillian Fielden

AWS LONDON NEWSLETTER | Issue 4 7

For the second year running, AWS London has participated in the University of Law Freshers’ Fair.

It’s been fantastic to meet so many enthusiastic, aspiring solicitors and barristers but what a shame, that so recently, they have been confronted by unwelcome attitudes to women in the profession. Two events in particular have given rise to extensive discussion.

The first was Lord Sumption opining that it is likely to take 50 years for women to achieve parity in the judiciary (and he thought that was OK), and the second the comments on Charlotte Proudman’s LinkedIn photograph made by an older male solicitor. All the students wanted to know what the AWSL position was.

The answer to the first is easy; we issued a press release rejecting Lord Sumption’s view, which you can read on our website. The second occupies far more controversial territory and so far has given rise to not a word on the AWS London social media. I can imagine why, and the possible reasons are too many to rehearse here, but I was struck by the lack of ambivalence in the younger women I met.

These are women brought up with social media as an integral part of their daily lives and yet so many have themselves remained silent, following inappropriate comments on their own LinkedIn photos. Whatever you may think of the particular incident Charlotte Proudman chose to highlight, there is a clear group of women in the law who say ‘Thank you for speaking out’.

Coral Hill, AWS London Chair

University of Law Freshers’ Fair

AWS LONDON NEWSLETTER | Issue 4 8

For many people who enter the solicitor’s profession the traditional career goal is to progress through several tiers of responsibility to an ultimate partnership. But as five experienced solicitors, Christina Blacklaws, Dana Denis-Smith, Jill Glover, Penny Mackinder and Ian Searle, told us, courtesy of the splendid facilities of CMS Cameron McKenna, there are many other ways of making the legal profession work for you.

All emphasised the importance of self-analysis before embarking on a new type of career, spending time honestly assessing personal motivations, and strengths and weaknesses. They emphasised that it was essential to be “brave”, ready to reject a course of action that seemed initially attractive, but was not ultimately satisfying in order to look for a better opportunity.

Penny Mackinder

Penny realised that “I’m not very good at doing what I’m told to do - and not very good at facilitating other people to do what I want them to do”. What she really wanted was to have the ability to make her own decisions and to have new intellectual challenges. Her varied career has included working as a magistrates’ court clerk, as a sole practitioner, as a lecturer, as a consultant for small and medium-sized firms and in order to improve her effectiveness, obtaining an MBA. “I’ve found that my willingness to be flexible has given me the freedom to work flexibly while bringing up a family.”

Christina Blacklaws

This keen interest in learning was shared by all our panellists as was a willingness to “take the next step”. Having decided that she had been “in ivory towers long enough studying jurisprudence”, Christina began her legal career in an all-woman firm in Brixton. Having overseen an extensive reorganisation and expansion of that firm, she was able to move on to the creation in 2006 of Blacklaws Davis, a hybrid practice, which by 2011 facilitated 60 consultants. Managing this project meant that for a short time “I moved entirely out of frontline law and concentrated on business development because that was what was needed at the time”.

Via the Co-operative Legal Services she took her experience of managing a law firm as a business to her present role as Director of Client Services in Cripps LLP. She is also one of the three Women Lawyers’ Division representatives on the Law Society Council, her conversations are as likely to be about the business of law as about its legal niceties.

Ian Searle, who qualified in 1984, has had ample opportunity to see how the provision of legal services has changed over the past 30 years and, like Penny, has changed his modus operandi to “suit what suits me”. A banking litigator, often required to work long and

unpredictable hours, “I was commuting from Haslemere in Surrey, which involved total travel time of over three hours a day”.

It’s a fallacy that you can work on the train, because people are constantly walking past able to look over your shoulder, which in terms of client confidentiality is not very sensible.” Additionally he found that because of the difficulty of getting home late-night working could suddenly turn into all-night working. Two years ago he moved to a nationwide group of 170 consultant lawyers serviced by a base in Guildford with all the support systems of a traditional law firm, including marketing, compliance, secretarial assistance and information and case management software – and only 20 train minutes from Haslemere. Working from home in “what is essentially an all systems go office which is always ready for me allows me to see my youngest son’s cricket matches – as long as the clients get their work done. And clients have been very supportive because they can still deal with me but at a lower charge out rate.” In case this sounds too idyllic Ian emphasises the need for some degree of personal organisation. “Working at home does not remove interruptions, they are just different interruptions.”

Jill Glover

Jill is a recent graduate of the AWS Returner Course with a varied career and a very flexible approach to employment and family life. She is perhaps unusual in knowing relatively early on after qualification that she wanted to be an in-house lawyer. After five years at DLA, she spent a subsequent eight working as group legal counsel for a FTSE 250 manufacturing company. After her third child was born she moved to family mediation to obtain a greater work/life balance.

But children grow up and many women find it difficult to step back into the legal career that they want. Here is where the benefit of self-knowledge and analysis becomes clear. Jill knew that she wanted to go back in-house, but not exactly where and how. “Going on the Returner Course gave me the confidence to take on a variety of interim part-time in-house roles, both freelance and as an employed solicitor because I wanted to try different industries with varied responsibilities.” When Jill joined marketing intelligence company Ebiquity plc in March 2015 she felt she was well prepared to take on the substantial role of Corporate Counsel.

Dana Denis-Smith

Dana may be a qualified solicitor trained by Linklaters, and a journalist who has worked for The Economist, but in her heart she is really an entrepreneur. In 2010 she founded Obelisk Legal Support to provide firms with qualified and experienced lawyers for short-term projects or flexible part-time contracts in order to manage fluctuating client demand. “I wanted to provide a cost-sensitive solution for clients at the same time as using the skills of good lawyers

A Break From Tradition

AWS LONDON NEWSLETTER | Issue 4 9

who for various reasons could not commit to a full-time job.” Recently Dana has taken on yet another role, as founder of the First100Years project, whose aim is to celebrate the achievements and progress of women lawyers over the past 100 years. “You have to be passionate about what you do and be willing to take risks but you need to be prepared to work hard and to make hard decisions if you want to follow your dreams”. However dream-chasing is not enough. “You need to look at yourself objectively and ask what skills you already have and which ones you need to acquire in order to do what you really want.”

AWS LONDON NEWSLETTER | Issue 4 10

“Being a magistrate has flowed into my writing and being a writer has enabled me to contribute to the criminal justice system” So said Katharine McMahon, the author of two books set in the early 1920s when women in the legal profession were a very rare commodity. Elizabeth Cruickshank listened to her speak at a First100Years evening – and then read “The Woman in the Picture”. Katharine’s long-standing ambition has always been to become a writer, but she “sort of sidled up” to its fulfilment because “I’m a gregarious person interested in other people and in how society operates and I knew that a writer’s life can be very isolating.” However, a varied life experience not only gave her material for her fiction, but enabled her to work out how she could be a novelist while being part of the wider world. A graduate of Bristol University, a mother, a sometime English teacher and still a participator in amateur dramatics, Katharine has now found a way to balance her creativity with “real life”. Lying in the bath one day while expecting her second child, she read a “Cosmopolitan” article indicating that the criminal justice system had a need for young woman magistrates. She admits that one of her motivations for applying was simply to answer the question “What do magistrates talk about in the retiring room?” Indeed most of her books have arisen out of relatively simple questions, such as “What might be the relationship between two persons of contrasting dispositions?” The possible answer to this became the theme of her first novel, “The Way into the Woods”. Research Katharine’s writing is informed by copious research, both academic and practical. For “The Rose of Sebastopol” which deals with the Crimean War, she not only read widely about the Crimean War but visited Sebastopol itself. “My intention,” she says, “is to create a fictional world that is authentic within itself and then to consider the dilemmas of fictional characters who might inhabit that world, but I would never meddle with real people and their life events”. Thus although Florence Nightingale figures in this novel the main protagonists in the novel are two cousins and not the Lady with the Lamp herself. Although Carrie Morrison, our first woman solicitor does make guest appearances in Katharine’s latest book, “The Woman in the Picture” she makes little effort to flesh out her character. “In any event it’s very hard to find out anything about her”, a comment with which after several years searching I heartily agree. Instead we have Evelyn “The Woman in the Picture” set in 1926, the year of the General Strike, continues the story of Evelyn Gifford, supposedly one of the first cohort of female solicitors, first met in “The Crimson Rooms” as she represents three women from opposite ends of the social spectrum, the impoverished Mrs Wright and her daughter and the wealthy Annabel Petit, all apparent victims of a harsh class system and unfeeling men. Evelyn’s impulsive nature places her in real physical jeopardy, as she confronts Mrs Wright’s brutal husband and is caught up in the angry emotions of a demonstrating mob outside the country house of Annabel’s husband. She also has to cope with emotional confusion as her uncertain personal feelings interfere with her professional relationships with her senior partner, Daniel Breen and the charismatic barrister, Nicholas Thorne, whom we met in “The Crimson Rooms”. Although to some extent the novel can be seen as a romantic story where Evelyn’s affections are turbulent and torn, Katharine’s real strength lies in depicting the helplessness of working-class women of the time, with little right to money of their own and the home they lived in, but desperate to protect their children from abusive men. The detail of her writing is even more caustic than the visual depiction of the gradual stripping away of the rights of Maud Watts in “Suffragette”. Through a series of dangerous encounters, engendered it must be admitted by Evelyn Gifford’s at times reckless nature, Katharine gives us some appreciation of the double standards operating at all levels of society – man against woman, husband against wife, employers against the working-class and shows how little they understood each other. The courtroom However, in many ways it is Katharine’s ability to bring alive the cut and thrust of courtroom battle that distinguishes this novel. The courtroom was a very uncomfortable place for women to be in the 1920s, for after all women had had the right to be represented by other women or be judged by juries containing other women for only a few years. “You probably can’t overestimate the chauvinism of the courts during that period”, comments Katharine, because as well as using her own experiences in the magistracy, she has done her usual thorough job of research on the courts of the period. Through showing not only the words that are uttered in the courtroom by judge, defence and prosecution, but also the thought processes behind many of them, she brings the reader right into the centre of the drama. So to return to the magistrate/writer question, the desire to write was inherent in her character from when she was a relatively young child, but the preparation and discipline required of a magistrate has supported her imagination and enabled her to write nine books of historically-based fiction since 1998. And I would imagine that her facility with words has enabled her to sum up cases and explain her decisions with clarity and precision.

What came first magistrate or writer?

AWS LONDON NEWSLETTER | Issue 4 11

Is there a difference between mindfulness and meditation? What indeed is mindfulness? These were two of the questions explored in an insightful presentation given by Anna Black in September. It seems strange for the practice to be called mindfulness which implies that the mind should be full, when it is much more about being more present and more aware of the present moment rather than filling one’s mind with distracting thoughts.

The Breathing Space

The presentation started with a technique called the breathing space – and let’s face it we all need that in the busy lives that we now lead. This can be practised anywhere and at any time - even in the loo! Yes, a very convenient place to get a breathing space! It requires only a few minutes and involves closing your eyes and noticing the rhythm of your breath. When your mind starts to wander (as it will), notice the thought in a non-judgemental way and return your focus to your breath. This may be easier said than done, but like any skill it will improve with practice.

What is mindfulness?

The essence of mindfulness is to move out of the head into the body. However this does not mean you will go blank – quite the opposite. You will become more attuned to what you are feeling and thinking without allowing yourself to be overwhelmed by those thoughts and feelings. This is done by paying more attention to the present moment rather than the past and the future. This may sound contradictory, but it’s about bringing the intrusive thoughts into your awareness and then disengaging yourself from those thoughts. Although practising mindfulness can help with stress management, it has many other benefits; it can, for example, help you to become more aware of the richness of everyday life.

Useful mindfulness tips

Anna suggested several ways to practise mindfulness while following some of our daily routines.

Showering (this is my favourite) - when you are in the shower notice your thoughts - are they about work or family

issues? Notice the thoughts but then move your focus to your senses, perhaps by enjoying the smell of shower gel or

the feel of the water.

Eating - slow down and savour the colour, taste, smell and texture of your food.

Walking – notice the actions of your body as you walk.

Taking a “mindful minute” – simply focus on your breath for a minute. Breathe in and out and count how many breaths

you take in one minute (by the way, breathing in and out is counted as one breath). This can be very useful during a

hectic day at work.

Taking it further

Various apps, such as “Headspace” can help you with mindfulness exercises. Among the many useful websites is “Be Mindful”.

Mindfulness can be an effective antidote to some stresses at work and at home – maybe you can give it a try!

Mindfulness at Work

AWS LONDON NEWSLETTER | Issue 4 12

Our vice-chair Jessica Standley recently completed the New York Marathon and in the process raised over £3000.00 for the

National Association of People Abused in Childhood (NAPAC).

The reasons why

“I have always had a love/hate relationship with running. However around 18 months ago I decided to set myself the

challenge of running a marathon before I turned 30. Not content with completing any marathon, I decided to run the New

York Marathon on the 1st November 2015. I was cutting it fine as it fell just 7 days before my 30

th!

Having represented those affected by abuse for the last 3 years, working on a variety of cases including those involving

schools, hospitals, children’s homes and the Savile cases, I have seen the devastating effects that abuse can have on

individuals and those close to them. Because of this I wanted to support a charity dedicated to helping those affected by

abuse. I chose to run for NAPAC as they are a fantastic charity providing support for adults who have been abused in

childhood, recognising that the effects of childhood abuse are long lasting and often continue to persist into adulthood.

The result

Despite being plagued with injuries I completed the training and flew out to New York on 29th October 2015. With a last

minute injury I had a painful start but I am pleased to say that I completed the run in 4 hours 41 minutes 33 seconds. It was

an incredible experience. Thank you to everyone who donated and supported me through the challenge. Having aimed to

raise £2000, I am delighted to have raised over £3000.”

To donate and/or find out more about NAPAC please visit www.justgiving.co.uk/jessica-standley-NYCmarathon

Meeting the Athletic Challenge

AWS LONDON NEWSLETTER | Issue 4 13

Association of Women Solicitors

London Newsletter

74A Seven Sisters Road London, N7 6AE

T: 07760 272 809

E: linda@ awslondon.org.uk

Editor: Elizabeth Cruikshank

Publisher: Yasmin Morrissey

UPCOMING EVENTS

Thursday 21 January2016

Matthew Bourne's Sleeping Beauty All the tickets have now gone for this sparkling production at Sadlers Wells, our annual post- Christmas treat, where once again our Administrator, Linda Davies organised top price seats at a reduced price as a benefit for AWS London members. Joining AWS London ensures that you obtain a discount for most of our events and priority booking for our annual special events like the ballet. If you are not already a member, you can join by downloading and completing the application form on our web-site at www.awslondon.co.uk or by contacting Linda by email at linda@awslondon.org.uk

Wednesday 10 February 2016

AGM and Annual Dinner The elegant Hotel Russell in Bloomsbury, conveniently near to Russell Square tube station, will be our venue this year. Our after dinner speaker will be The Right Honourable Dame Margaret Hodge MP for Barking. A Labour politician, Dame Margaret has extensive and sometimes controversial experience of many different aspects of Government and Local Government.

Wednesday 27 March 2016

The Composition of Boards What exactly is the board of a company for? Sharon Constancon explains what makes a successful board and the key skills directors require. She has lectured, advised, worked for several business organisations and is now Managing Director of Valufin Ltd – among many other things!

And still in the pipeline …..

International Women's Day celebration The Role of the Public Support Unit in the Royal Courts of Justice Cocktail Making – just for a little light relief A Cool Gym Work-out – to get rid of calories and frustrations Possible lunch-time events For up-to-date details of these and other events, keep an eye on the AWS London web-site at www.awslondon.co.uk And don’t forget that the Committee welcome any comments or suggestions for future events

Sponsors

Thank you to all those law firms and organisations who sponsored us in 2015 and provided venues for our events. We could not have done so much without your generous assistance.

Allen & Overy LLP, Anthony Gold, CMS Cameron McKenna LLP,

Leigh Day, Lewis Silkin LLP, Radcliffe Chambers, Slater and

Gordon, Stewart Title Limited, The University of Law