17 minute read
Women In Law - Breaking The Glass Ceiling
EyeonCover Story
The words of Moira Smyth QC, one of a group of extraordinary women in law. Women leading the way within the Barrister profession and rightly gaining recognition for their excellency in advocacy and legal knowledge, writes David Mulholland, Chief Executive of the Bar of NI.
The Bar of Northern Ireland celebrated these women through the Justitia Project, a photographic exhibition capturing female Queens Counsel (QCs) past and present. It was apt that the exhibition took place during the week of International Women’s Day, celebrating the abundance of female talent within the barrister profession and serving to inspire and encourage the next generation of female Judges, QCs and barristers.
Moira Smyth QC gave the keynote speech during the Justitia Project exhibition event. She set out the great progress that has been made in the 100 years since Frances Kyle and Averill Deverill became the first women Barristers to be called on these islands.
The event was also enhanced by the contribution of The Lady Chief Justice Dame Siobhan Keegan, Northern Ireland’s most senior judge and the first woman to be appointed to the role.
The appointment of the first Lady Chief Justice is a seminal moment for women in law. It marks a high-water mark in the hundred years since women were first called and follows on from the advances made by figures such as Mary Lenaghan (later, Mary McAleese. President Of Ireland), the first female member of the Bar Council and Eilis McDermott QC, the first female QC in this jurisdiction.
While we look forward to a day when, due to further progress and sustained change, we may no longer need to highlight the specific role of Women in Law, nevertheless the evolution of the role of women in the profession over the past 100 years deserves special recognition.
It should be of comfort and encouragement to our clients who, put their trust and needs into our hands, to see that the Bar is a meritocracy and one which is working hard to be more reflective of a society with a diverse membership that can empathise with the lived experiences that they have.
Nonetheless there is much more to be done.
As Martin Luther King Jr observed “This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism.”
Women are still underrepresented in the Barrister profession at present. Females account for only 35-40% of Barristers working in Northern Ireland, and yet make up less than 20% of the total number of QCs practicing in our jurisdiction.
The retention and advancement of women in law remains a key challenge.
Despite entering the profession in equal proportions as men for more than two decades, the level of retention and the proportion
Moira Smyth QC gave the keynote speech during the Justitia Project exhibition event.
of women in senior roles has increased only marginally since the 1990s. Research we undertook found that a 50/50 gender profile at the Bar soon becomes a significant male majority after ten years in practice.
There is no doubt that female Barristers are forced to contend with multifaceted challenges
Membership feedback provides an insight into the lived experiences of women at the Bar. In addition to the challenges they share with their male counterparts by virtue of their status as self-employed practitioners - including working long hours and with unpredictable schedules and workloads - they additionally face unrealistic demands from others, poor personal well-being and mental health issues that are more likely to be suffered by women than men.
These experiences are not unique to female barristers in Northern Ireland. The Scandinavian paradox, for example, demonstrates that how despite leading the world with gender equality policies, law firms across the Scandi nations still struggle with female representation at the very highest levels.
The challenge of maintaining a family and a career in a competitive environment is also cited as another critical factor in the high attrition rates of females in the profession across different jurisdictions.
The Bar Council of Northern Ireland, however, can’t respond with a shrug of the shoulders, do nothing and point to a global experience with deep seated societal roots. The legal sector must be at the forefront of the fight to ensure that all are truly equal, not only under, but also within the law.
The Bar of NI is listening and taking steps to effect positive change. We’ve committed ourselves to the Diversity Mark programme and are implementing a range of measures, including a new breastfeeding suite within the Bar Library, a revised bullying and harassment policy aimed at addressing power imbalances and a maternity mentoring scheme. But, if Moira Smyth QC tells us that the glass ceiling is starting to shatter, we should also be alive to the glass walls that women in law can often find themselves operating within.
EyeonCover Story
There is a very marked difference between the areas of practice amongst male and female practitioners. Family law is practiced by eight times more female than male practitioners. Meanwhile, criminal and personal injury cases are a bigger element of male practitioners’ caseloads.
There are real risks associated with horizontal gender segregation in any profession. For example, payments in family law cases tend to slower than other areas of publicly funded work. As a result, those majority of women working in family law, wait for payment on average 50% longer than men.
The problems associated with slow payments look set to be compounded under the terms of the proposed 2022-’25 draft Executive budget. Justice will suffer a net budget decrease under the terms of the draft budget, the only Department earmarked for a reduction in spend.
If the Legal Service Agency (LSA) faces a reduction in its budget, it may seek to address this by delaying paying bills. That will mean that the only barristers who might withstand the resultant cashflow pressures will be those who may have accumulated sufficient reserves from previous years.
Therefore, younger, female practitioners may be forced to cease practice altogether.
Not only would this set back the Bar’s efforts to establish a diverse profession that is reflective of our clients but crucially it will see the services that our barristers provide begin to reduce and eventually stop.
People facing challenges such as the care of vulnerable children, family separation, adoption and domestic violence, deserve to have access to dedicated and committed barristers to help them in their time of need. Anything that reduces access to justice should be of serious concern.
The Bar Council will therefore continue to work with policy and decision makers at all levels to set out the consequences of the implementation of the draft Northern Ireland Executive Budget.
The Justice system is reflective of the society it operates within. However, we also have a unique responsibility to provide visible leadership and foster diversity at the Bar.
And yes, let’s continue our focus on the glass ceiling that is, “broken but not yet shattered” – but let us also bring down the glass walls which can often box women in and impede efforts towards a Bar that reflects the society it serves.
David Mulholland, Chief Executive, Bar of Northern Ireland
EyeonNews
Optimism as International Tour Operators Return
The annual flagship b2b networking event welcomed tour operators from sixteen global markets at ICC Belfast today making it the largest international tourism networking platform held in Northern Ireland.
Close to 300 Northern Ireland industry and oversea operators gathered for a series of sales meetings and special events which marks the return of international tourism activity.
Delivered in partnership with Tourism Ireland, the Meet the Buyer event attracts a wide range of international tour companies and opens up a window of opportunity for local businesses to showcase their tourism offerings and attend one-to-one appointments with a prequalified group of overseas buyers.
The week began with a showcase arrival evening on Monday hosting all the operators at the Game of Thrones Studio Tour in Banbridge.
Over the weekend many of the tour operators took part in five educational familiarisation trips across Northern Ireland, visiting a range of both new and established tourist experiences including the Giant’s Causeway, Strangford Lough, Glens of Antrim, the Mournes, Hinch Distillery in County Down and the recently opened Dark Sky Park and Observatory in Mid Ulster.
John McGrillen, Chief Executive of Tourism NI said;
“I am delighted at the interest that our flagship b2b event Meet the Buyer has generated this year after a two year break from meeting face to face. The last time we met in person, 91% of our industry attendees found that the operators were genuinely interested in generating bookings with Northern Ireland tourism businesses and 97% said the event exceeded their expectations.
“The operators are seeking to meet new suppliers, learn about new experiences, add to existing programmes or create new ones and so it is a real opportunity for our local companies to secure important business not only this year but into the future. Over 3000 sales appointments are taking place today and I am confident that these will result in significant business and bookings for future years. “
John added “This week is an important step forward for tourism in Northern Ireland. We are looking forward to connecting again, raising awareness and beginning the crucial task of recovery in our key international markets.”
Niall Gibbons, Chief Executive of Tourism Ireland, said: “Tourism Ireland was delighted to bring 140 top international tourism buyers to Northern Ireland for Meet the Buyer 2022 from 16 global markets. The participation of these buyers from around the world is a strong indication that interest in programming Northern Ireland remains high and that it can, and is, competing with the best destinations in the world.
“Tourism Ireland has an extensive programme of promotions under way for 2022. We are taking every opportunity to leverage the many good news stories about Northern Ireland tourism this year – including the opening of the new Game of Thrones Studio Tour, the recent designation of Belfast as a UNESCO City of Music, the 10th anniversary of Titanic Belfast and the fact that The Open will return to Royal Portrush in 2025. We are also highlighting Northern Ireland’s screen tourism success, including the final series of ‘Derry Girls’ and the new ‘Belfast’ film directed by Sir Kenneth Branagh. Our message is that Northern Ireland is open for business again and we cannot wait to welcome back visitors from around the world.”
Tourism NI is hosting its first face to face Meet the Buyer trade event after two years of delivering the event virtually. Pictured at ICC Belfast (L-r) are Sushant Pilanker, Al Rostamani Travel, Katie Daly, Katy Daly’s Travel, Naomi Waite, Tourism NI’s Marketing Director and Shane Clarke, Director of Corporate Services, Policy & Northern Ireland.
EyeonTelecommunications
Diaceutics upgrades to cloudtelephony with BT Cloud Voice provided by Xperience
Formed in 2014 and headquartered in Belfast, Diaceutics is a world-leading pharmaceutical company. In 2021 they opened a new office at the King’s Hall in Belfast, Johnny Rice, IT Director for Diaceutics recalls “Since we were one of the first businesses to move in, there was no existing telecommunications infrastructure, which prompted us to reach out to Xperience.
We needed something that would give us flexibility for staff to receive important calls even though they may be in the office, on the road, or working from home.”
Speaking to John Murray, Sales Solutions Manager from Xperience about what solution would best fit Diaceutics he explained “We had been contacted by Diaceutics prior to the pandemic regarding other ICT solutions for their new premises, however when the pandemic struck construction work on the building halted. Like many other customers, Diaceutics was faced with a new challenge of communicating with their remote workforce, who were operating via a mobile phone network to stay connected with their clients.
Xperience, with BT, presented the management team of Diaceutics with the advantages of BT Cloud Voice. With a Cloud Hosted telephone solution, it did not matter where an employee was working or what device they were using, as long as they had an internet connection, customers calls could be transferred easily between teams. In addition, the ease of configuration for call routing and reporting in the Cloud Voice customer portal would simplify the support for the IT Manager as he can work from a single pane of glass to manage the telephony for the entire group.”
Johnny from Diaceutics explains, “We decided to partner with Xperience and implement BT Cloud Voice as it would give us the extra flexibility to maintain a presence within departments and allow team members to receive important calls no matter where they would be working from. In particular, it would be perfect for maintaining contact with our remote workers in different continents.”
Johnny further explains how BT Cloud Voice has helped within the business and made his role easier. “Employees will no longer have to carry around hardware to stay connected. Post-pandemic, we anticipate that our marketing and sales teams will travel quite a bit, and BT Cloud Voice will enable them to stay connected with their team, clients, and the wider business through just an internet connection. This cloudbased telephony system has the advantage that I can remotely push it out to other locations via the online portal, ensuring everyone is always up to date with the latest features without any interruptions. The portal also provides me with real-time management and status updates on the health of the system.”
Johnny explains why he chose Xperience to deliver this project “During a previous project conversation, I was extremely impressed with the knowledge and professionalism of Xperience. John Murray was very credible, clearly knew his stuff and what he was talking about, he hit the nail on the head with the details for our solution.”
Left to right John Murray, Sales Solutions Manager, Xperience with Johnny Rice, IT Director, Diaceutics at the Diaceutics Office at the Kings Hall.
If you are wanting to modernise your telephone infrastructure and find out more about BT Cloud Voice, reach out to Xperience via enquiries@ xperience-group.com
EyeonOffices
Has Covid-19 killed the traditional office environment?
The Covid-19 pandemic struck hard and fast and, in its wake, has completely transformed the traditional workspace. As many firms introduce a permanent hybrid model of remote working, it brings a new debate to the forefront of conversations across the nation: what is the workspace of the future? BeyondHR Managing Director Helen Hardy shares her thoughts:
It has been a turbulent two years for workplaces across the nation. Firstly, firms were forced to navigate the murky waters of Brexit, driven by labour shortages, new legislation, and access to resources. This was followed, almost instantly, by the Covid-19 pandemic which presented unprecedented challenges to business operations.
Whilst there is no denying that we are starting to see some semblance to normality return, many of the changes that rung through workspaces during covid will continue to echo in the coming months as normality gets redefined.
The speed of shutdown forced entire offices to shift to remote working suddenly and employees had to adapt fast as management and team dynamics changed overnight. Communication no longer consisted of the team hunched together in the boardroom, or bouncing ideas off eachother at the coffee machine, but instead became completely virtual.
Although there was fear that this change would create a less-engaged workforce, for many firms, the opposite was true and productivity levels increased.
After being chained to the comforting familiarity of navigating busy commutes and working 9-5, the sudden change to home working enabled employees to pocket an invaluable currency – time – creating a work/life balance that had never been possible before.
However, working from home doesn’t come without its own perils. The distractions that we had long become accustomed to were removed - we no longer had a commute or bumped into people as we ran between meetings on stairwells and although we didn’t realise it, these distractions afforded us some much-needed downtime throughout our day. Forced to work from home, many of us became all work, forgoing this vital downtime to ensure we weren’t perceived as ‘slacking’.
Covid-19 has not caused a temporary disruption of workplace operations but instead has fuelled a seismic shift that will alter the workplace environment indefinitely. This includes the future of the physical office itself. Although traditionalists will argue that the office environment and benefits that it provides cannot be transferred to a remote setting, for many employers, the office has become redundant as business operations continue to be carried out remotely.
As offices throughout the nation continue to reopen, workers are refusing to go back to the way things were. The ‘Great Resignation’ has left firms struggling to attract and retain staff and to combat this, they are forced to reconsider their company benefits. Employees are leveraging this shift in power dynamics and demanding more flexible working arrangements, and this has resulted in many firms, including us, are trialling a new hybrid way of working – something we can expect to be the new norm if firms wish to attract and retain the top talent.
Whilst this way of working garners many benefits, the communication issues that arise from such an arrangement cannot be ignored. Workers opting to continue working remotely are isolated from the workforce and often miss out on conversations that happen naturally throughout the day. For many managers who have long been used to sharing news to employees first-hand in the office, this change means that messages can quickly get lost in translation and sometimes, be lost altogether.
A nationwide skills-shortage has also brought a new debate to the table, the four-day work week. Although the idea has been whispered around offices for years, it is only now that it appears to merit serious consideration as firms grapple to attract staff. Or perhaps more firms are simply realising the need for a better work-life balance for employees.
Although this concept certainly brings with it its own set of obstacles. The consumer culture of wanting products instantly means we are reluctant to wait for goods and services, so how can we offer a reduced working week to an industry already overwhelmed with demand constantly outweighing supply?
Or for those firms dependent on fulltime workers as their source of income such as childcare suppliers, for which the introduction of a four-day work week would have significant financial cost.
The truth is, whilst the introduction of a four-day work week would afford employees the luxury of a much better work/life balance as well as allowing companies to attract top talent, for many firms on which we rely on, it simply could not work.
Perhaps the truth is that the traditional office has long needed a shakeup and Covid-19 has only accelerated changes that were inevitable. Firms need to reconsider what it means to get ‘back to the office’ and instead of emphasising a return to the physical office environment, firms should encourage ‘face to face’ days, which focus on the invaluable benefit of face-to-face communication, something that lends itself to more than just an office building and can for example, be held in a coffee shop.
For me, the office environment is a collaborative space where colleagues can grow and learn together in a physical environment created to adapt to change, in line with employee and employer needs and personally, I am glad we are back together, sharing ideas and connecting on a personal level that we just can’t imitate virtually.
