How to Burn Bright (not out!) in your legal career – Thursday 25th November at 9:30am

This Burn Bright Masterclass is for lawyers who are wondering:
• How to deal with the feeling of having too much to do and not enough time to do it!
• How to take back control of their day, their week, their life before it is too late and they burn out!

Learn all about the six fundamental principles with Donna Smith, a former lawyer and burnout survivor herself. Donna will share with you her Burnout story and how her recovery led to the creation of the BURN BRIGHT PROGRAMME.

Find out more information and sign up to attend here.

Reignite Academy: Return to Law: Stories, Advice & Inspiration from Reignite Alumni

Over the last three years Reignite Academy helped almost 50 lawyers reignite their legal careers. Some had taken complete breaks, others were working in a different field, some were still in the law but working below their potential. All were at a point when they were ready to get their legal careers back on track.

Join Reignite Academy for a panel event on 30 September where we will hear their stories and draw on their experience to provide advice for others. They will discuss:

  • How do you know it’s the “right” time?
  • How do law firms now approach flexible working and work from home?
  • Where do you start when thinking about reigniting your career?
  • How do you deal with the career break on your CV?
  • How easy is it to get back up to speed?
  • What are the biggest challenges?
  • What are the keys to success?
  • How do you navigate the first few months?
  • What support is on offer?

Find out more and sign up here.

Law Care Launch Event: Life in the Law – 28 September

Join Law Care to discover the findings of their research study Life in the Law. The research into mental health and wellbeing in the legal sector, the first of its kind in the UK, was carried out from October 2020 to January 2021 and over 1,700 professionals from the UK, Republic of Ireland, Jersey, Guernsey, and the Isle of Man took part.

The aim of the research was to take a snapshot of the mental health and wellbeing of the legal profession and help inform future steps the profession must collectively take to improve the culture and practice of law to better support wellbeing.

Find out more and sign up here.

Bristol Mentoring Survey and Follow-up Roundtables – 30th Sept/ 20th Oct

Bristol Law Society will be running 2 roundtables in association with my kinda future – the first around mentor & mentee experiences on 30 September; and the second around mentoring scheme design on 20 October.

Book the 30th Sept Roundtable here.

Book the 20th Oct Roundtable here.

Take the survey here.

InDivisible: Radically rethinking inclusion for sustainable business – LegalWomen and SEAL joint event 14th Sept

LegalWomen is delighted to partner with the Society of English and American Lawyers (SEAL) for a discussion with the authors of a new book INdivisible.  Diversity statistics are important but more is needed to create an inclusive workplace.  The authors discuss how to engage people in discussion and provide sample questions to kick these off. 


If you would like to join, please register here – it’s free!

Diversity and Inclusion conference 2021

Following the successful event held in 2020, Leeds Law Society and the Law Society of England and Wales are again holding a free virtual diversity and inclusion conference around National Inclusion Week from 14 to 30 September 2021.

With a theme of ‘Promoting a modern, diverse and inclusive profession’, the conference will consist of virtual events across six days. Each will focus on a particular strand of diversity and inclusion:

The events will comprise talks and panel discussions with leading figures, together with hints and tips on diversity and inclusion best practice. Confirmed speakers include; Lady Hale, Lord Shinkwin and Judge Victoria McLoud, together with representatives from #10000BlackInterns, LawCare and The Bridge Group.

They will also be sharing pre-recorded content around religion and belief, age and intersectionality which will be available soon. 

Please click on the events listed above to book or, alternatively, find all available events listed here

Law Society: Women in leadership in law – 17 June

The legal profession is changing. Women solicitors now make up over half of the profession (52%). However, progress towards achieving gender balance at senior levels is slower – less than a third of partners (31%) in private practice firms are women. The pandemic also threatens to derail the momentum that has been building to get more women in leadership in law. According to a recent Law Society poll, the majority of women solicitors believe the pandemic will have a negative impact on gender equality in the profession, making the need to focus on diversity and inclusion and drive change even more important.

In this event, the Law Society will reflect on a year where the pandemic radically changed ways of working. They will consider the opportunities and challenges for women’s career progression, work-life balance, and mental health and well-being. They will look at how existing gender equality initiatives, including the Law Society’s Women in Law Pledge, can be effective levers for change. The distinguished panel will discuss issues such as the role of senior leaders and target setting in driving change, how to build an inclusive culture, and the need to address the differential outcomes for different groups of women.

Sign up here.

Bristol Law Society Webinar: You are on mute! Lessons from Lockdown – 12 May

Bristol Law Society in association with LawCare invites WLD members to an online panel discussion “You are on mute! Lessons from Lockdown! on 12 May at 1pm (via Zoom).

WLD Chair, Coralie McKeivor will be chairing the panel. She will be joined by:

  • Elizabeth Rimmer, CEO of LawCare,
  • Ellen Netto, Solicitor at VWV and National Rep for Bristol JLD
  • Edward Thompson, Associate at Battens Solicitors
  • Caroline Turner-Inskip, Partner at Simmons & Simmons LLP
  • Martin Palmer, Director of Business Development and Marketing at Clarke Willmott.

The panellists will share their views and experiences over the past 12 months, particularly in relation to flexible and remote working, managing their work/life balance and the impact that this has had on their wellbeing as well as their views on the return to the office and a new normal way of working.

They will also be considering the impact the last 12 months have had on the legal profession as a whole and opportunities going forward.

Law Society: Skills Audit for Returning to the Profession

The Law Society is running a free webinar on 13 May 2021 between 14:00-15:30 for solicitors across all levels of PQE who are seeking to return to law following a career break or those considering changing career direction / re-invention.

Find out more and sign up here.