Kate Harris Associate Solicitor, Irwin Mitchell
An audience with Stephanie Boyce On 4 November 2020 the Cambridgeshire Law Society welcomed Stephanie Boyce, the Deputy Vice President of the Law Society, to speak to us about her career journey and her hopes and plans for her own presidency in 2021. For those of you who were not able to attend the event, we have included some highlights from Stephanie’s speech below.
A fresh perspective… “I took up my role as an office holder of the Law Society of England and Wales in July 2019. In so doing, I represent a couple of firsts. In October next year I will become the first black woman to hold the position of president, as well as being the first in-house solicitor to hold this role. I hope to bring a fresh perspective and an understanding of the experiences of under-represented groups, and what we must do to support them. I also hope through my experiences, and that of many of our members, to provide proof that no matter what the challenge, or how insurmountable the odds appear to be, it is possible to succeed if you are determined and passionate”.
Priorities for presidency… “In addition to our ongoing work in… fighting to ensure that vital, affordable legal advice is made available to everyone who needs it – I want to take a different angle on this problem by looking at how we teach and talk about the law to young people”. “We all know that legal rights are effectively meaningless unless people know about them, understand them and are able to enforce them, often with the help of a legal adviser. Ensuring that this is the case is fundamental to proper access to justice, and as part of this I think we need to look closely at how we can improve the teaching of law in schools, to ensure the next generation has the legal knowhow that they need”. “My second key priority: continuing to work to improve diversity, inclusion and social mobility in the solicitor profession”. “I also want to use my presidency to address mental health in the solicitor profession. The coronavirus pandemic,
10 | www.cambslawsoc.co.uk
and the lockdown that came with it, showed us how important it is for us to pay attention to our mental health, and I hope to use my year as President to explore ways we can support individual solicitors and firms in looking after their or their employees’ mental health”. “Promoting proper diversity and inclusion in the solicitor profession”. “We need to do more to challenge the stereotypes of what a solicitor should look like or where they should come from. We want to show that people from all walks of life and backgrounds can make valuable contributions and achieve success in our profession”. “Our latest statistics suggest that: CHEVRON-RIGHT Just over half of practising solicitors are the first generation in their family to attend university. CHEVRON-RIGHT There are almost 64,000 women solicitors today, compared to fewer than 5,000 in 1978. There are now more women than men entering the profession, with women making up just over 60 per cent of law graduates and an equal amount of new admissions.
