Professor Sara Chandler QC (Hon), the first-ever female President of the FBE, talks to Charity Mafuba about her career as a lawyer

International

Professor Sara Chandler QC (Hon), the first-ever female President of the FBE, talks to Charity Mafuba about her career as a lawyer

Professor Sara Chandler QC (Hon)

Women should be ready to contact organisers of conferences, and seminars to explain their expertise and how they could contribute as panel members.

Sara Chandler qualified as a lawyer at 49, reinforcing the “it’s never too late” adage. She has always had an interest in Social Law and spoke to Charity Mafuba about what has inspired her in her career so far and her work for the FBE.

Prior to her legal career, Sara Chandler travelled to Chile to carry out research for her PhD. However, the military coup of General Pinochet resulted in her return to London where she worked with Chilean Human Rights groups including supporting Chilean refugees. Sara then spent six years as a bilingual social worker and was first introduced to the law while on a placement at North Lewisham Law Centre. She then studied law on a part-time evening course, subsequently working as a qualified solicitor for some years in South London before moving to the Plumstead Law Centre as a housing solicitor.

In 2003 Sara was appointed as the first Supervising Solicitor at the College of Law’s Legal Advice Centre in Bloomsbury. She went on to become the Director of Pro Bono for the entire college in 2006. In 2008, Sara became Professor of Pro Bono and Clinical Legal Education at the College. She is now a supervising solicitor in the Legal Advice Clinic of London South Bank University and also a Visiting Professor in Clinical Legal Education.

Sara continues to be a considerable force for change and in particular, she has been involved in policy reform. In her position as Chair of the Law Society’s Young Solicitors’ Group in 1999- 2000, Sara successfully campaigned for the implementation of a trainee seat on the Law Society Council.

Sara currently serves as Chair of the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Committee of the Council of the Law Society of England and Wales where she has completed 19 years as a Council Member.

You were the first female FBE President, could you describe the diversity of the organisation as it was when you joined and now?

I first attended the FBE in Barcelona as the Chair of the Law Society’s Young Solicitors Group. I was the only female in the group from England & Wales and there were few women in the event. I returned 6 years later in 2006 as President of Westminster & Holborn Law Society (WHLS) which is a long-standing member of the FBE and accounts for two FBE Presidents.

The congress of the FBE was strange. The panels of speakers were nearly always made up of men. However when the plenaries opened for discussion, there would be female lawyers asking questions and making comments from the floor. It was not a racially diverse organisation, though delegates came from around 250 bar associations and law societies from all over Europe. There were many nationalities and ethnicities but few people of colour.

Each year the FBE holds a Mediterranean Assize and that is more diverse because of the participation of lawyers from North African jurisdictions. The FBE is changing. While I was President, we established an Equalities Commission, we have more women taking leadership roles, and there are more black lawyers attending congresses and participating in the Commissions.

What was your journey towards the election as President?

In 2006 I attended as President of Westminster & Holborn Law Society and I was introduced to the Human Rights Commission. This was important for me as I have been active in human rights campaigns since the 1970s. However it was not until 2015 that I was elected to the FBE Presidency after having been Chair of the Human Rights Commission for a number of years. I had been able to bring Colombian human rights lawyers to the FBE congresses in three different years and my profile was raised as the Chair of the Human Rights Commission. This meant that when I broke the mould of “tap on the shoulder” of a chosen candidate, I stood and got elected. It was admittedly by a small margin, but it was novel to have an election.

Do you have any suggestions on how women should approach developing their profile when standing in an election?

I have experience in some organisations of standing for election and getting elected. The electorate needs to know who they are voting for and that can be done in the FBE by speaking up in congresses, working in commissions and reporting as Chair of a commission. The FBE also has debates on issues from the different jurisdictions and any bar association or law society can raise issues and debate.

Women should be ready to contact organisers of conferences, and seminars to explain their expertise and how they could contribute as panel members. It is always good to hear from enthusiastic women members. Any lawyer who is a member of an FBE member law society, such as Westminster & Holborn Law Society, can attend a congress.

What was the impact of your election on the FBE?

The election did change the focus of the FBE and encouraged women to participate and stand for leadership roles. We now have an Equalities Commission and we have had two women Presidents since me and there will be another in 2023. As President in 2017, I had the choice of topic for the Congress and where it was held. Naturally, Westminster & Holborn was the centre of attention as the congress was organised in London in November 2017, and the topic was Climate Change and the role of lawyers.

From the extensive travelling you have done with the FBE, what do you see as key differences in leadership between different European countries? Is there a gender impact?

I have seen there are certain jurisdictions, such as Spain, where there are more women in leadership as the Deans of their bar associations. For example, while I was President, Madrid and Barcelona had women Deans. There is a change on the way in countries such as Poland where women are standing for election and, though not always successful, it is an important step forward. When I attended the Modern Law Firm conference in Wroclaw in December 2021, the panels had equal and even more women in the sessions on IT and Human Rights. This included young lawyers. The final conference event was an all-women panel in which I participated with lawyers from Spain, Poland, and Austria.

How do you think we can learn from different jurisdictions and political systems to take forward the importance of women participating at all levels of decision-making?

Last Spring, in the company of LW Editor Coral Hill, I attended on behalf of the Law Society (of England & Wales) the virtual conference organised by the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women. I learnt an enormous amount from women in leadership in other countries. The economic and political systems need structural change to enable women to participate at all levels.

Some of the solutions to the challenges faced by women include diversity and inclusion training, equality recruitment including quotas, legislation on gender pay reporting and work allocation equality. It also means working with the grass roots on all aspects of family life, housing, health, education, employment and the economic structure, the marketplace. What we heard reported is the difference that women make when becoming decision-makers. It is vital to the health of society and I can see improvements which mean we can achieve change within the next ten years to the benefit of all nations and members of society.