Hell, I created the Savvy Lawyers Facebook group because I felt so lonely on my journey!
Fact – Women now make up over 50% of both Australia and Aotearoa’s legal profession. Compare this to 1977 when the Law Society first started recording lawyer gender in New Zealand, when just 4.6% of those in the legal profession were women, and yip, you can see we’ve come a long way.
But there’s still a long way to go.
We’re privileged to work with many female law firm owners on their journey to building their dream law firm, and you know what we’ve noticed? It takes some serious grit to succeed as a woman at the top of her game in law.
So, in celebration of IWD2022 I’m sharing my top tips for those striving to create significant change and carve out their own unique journey.
- To see it, you need to be it. Unless enough of us are brave enough to take back our time, scale our law firm, launch that new solution or speak at that event, we won’t see change. Someone’s gotta do it – why not you?
- You ARE a legal entrepreneur. As an entrepreneurial law firm owner, you’ve already made it – now own it! Imposter syndrome is real and it’s rife. Don’t sell yourself short.
- The legal industry is full of stuffy nonsense. Seriously, in what other industry is innovation actively discouraged? Do you know how many times I was told I couldn’t do what I was trying to do? Ignore the naysayers!
- Support you sisters. Collaboration and solidarity is key to change. Only when we band together will we have enough influence to evolve what ‘legal services’ means to our clients.
- You can have it all. I repeat, you CAN have it all. Stop trading hours for dollars, start doing the work you love, and take back your life. We are not shackled to our success.
Bravo to my fellow legal entrepreneurs evolving our industry for the better. I’m privileged to work with you all and cannot wait to see what we do next. Vive la révolution!
Claudia 🧡
