Women lawyers no further forward in a decade
Law firms have made no real progress on the promotion of women in the past decade according to a new report. The study by the National Association of Women Lawyers in the US found that female equity partners are not much better off now than they were in 2006. There has been no appreciative progress in the rate in which women are promoted and male partners continue to earn more.
Women make up just 18 per cent of equity partners in US law firms, up just two per cent since 2006. In corporate legal teams women have done slightly better with 23 per cent of general counsel in the Fortune 500 according to a 2015 report by MassMutual.
HSF partner elected NSW Law Society Councillor
Juliana Warner, managing partner of the Sydney office of Herbert Smith Freehills, has been elected as Councillor for the New South Wales Law Society. She will serve for three years effective immediately and follows her six-month period as a Councillor on a casual basis. As an advocate for diversity and inclusion she says she is keen to be a keen contributor to further advancement of the issues. She also wants to drive better support of lawyers with mental health and other wellbeing issues.
International law firm expands Chinese operation
Dorsey & Whitney has expanded its reach in China opening of a second office. The Beijing office will complement the firm’s existing offices in Shanghai, which opened in 2001; and Hong Kong, which opened in 1995. Corporate partner Frank Hong, who joined the Shanghai office in 2013, will head the new Beijing office and will be joined by litigation associate Ray Liu.
Turkish human rights lawyer arrested
The president of the Law Society in England has written to the Turkish minister of Justice expressing his concern over the arrest of human rights lawyer and president of the Diyarbakir Bar Association Tahir Elçi. On 20 October, 2015, Tahir Elçi was arrested at the offices of the Diyarbakir Bar Association by anti-terror police. He is being investigated for allegedly 'making propaganda for, or promoting a terrorist organisation'. This followed a TV interview in which he said that the Kurdistan Workers’ Party was an armed political movement rather than a terrorist organisation. Jonathan Smithers’ letter adds to calls by Lawyers 4 Lawyers, Fair Trial Watch and Lawyers Rights’ Watch Canada for the investigation of Tahir Elçi to be dropped and for his immediate release.
