What does it mean to be a ‘First’ Women Lawyer?

Date:: Friday 26th April 2019
Time:: 6pm-8pm
Venue:: The Drawing Room, More House, 53 Cromwell Road, South Kensington, SW7 2EH

Parliament passed the Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act on December 23 1919, an Act that finally allowed women to enter the legal profession. Come and join us to discuss how far women lawyers have come in the past century.

This event is part of the First Women Lawyers in Great Britain and the Empire – Centenary Celebration public lecture series hosted by Oliver Fisher Solicitors and the Centre for Law and Culture, St Mary’s University.

The lectures will be followed by a discussion and light refreshments.

Speakers

Christina Blacklaws

Christina will speak about being the first woman President of the Law Society. Christina studied at Oxford and qualified as a solicitor in 1991. She has developed and managed law firms including a virtual law firm. In 2011 she set up the Co-operative Legal Services family law offering, later becoming their Director of Policy and more recently was the Director of Innovation at top 100 firm Cripps LLP. She holds a range of public appointments, is an award winning published author, speaker and lecturer and frequent media commentator. Christina is passionate about diversity and inclusion, technology and access to justice and uses every opportunity to advocate and progress positive change in these areas.

Ros Wright QC

Ros will speak on ‘Sybil Campbell: The first woman Judge in England and Wales’. Ros is the Chairman of the Fraud Advisory Panel. She was Director of the Serious Fraud Office (1997-2003), and was also previously General Counsel and an Executive Director for ten years at the Securities and Futures Authority. Prior to taking up that appointment, she was an Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions at the DPP's Department, where she worked for 18 years, after five years in practice at the Bar. She was Lent Reader in 2010.