‘There’s finally a new wave of senior leadership and it’s in the form of smart women. Whatever the reason, I think it’s great that we have a number across the City right now.’
Natasha Harrison, deputy chair and managing partner of Boies Schiller Flexner
‘I don’t like the gender divide. Everyone should be treated equally. There are a lot of good male leaders out there too. It would really piss me off if I thought I was only appointed because I’m a woman.’
Female London law firm leader
Canvassing women on a feature focused on female law firm leaders is a contentious subject. While most view the relative influx of new female senior partners and chairs as something to celebrate – not least the first forays by Freshfields, Linklaters and Ashurst into female leadership at the highest level – others are unsure. It is, after all, easy to make too much of gender differences, perpetuating the unhelpful, often damaging stereotypes that have contributed to making such a market development noteworthy in the first place.
However, without wishing to over-scrutinise where male counterparts might escape more lightly, the consensus among senior women and peers is that the new leadership group is worthy of appraisal.
Interviews reveal certain commonalities in leadership approach that are by no means the preserve of women although are more commonly attributed to them – empathy, inclusivity, diversity of opinion, culture. And it would be a mistake to understate the importance of what some dinosaurs still dismiss as ‘soft skills’ at a time when those attributes will be instrumental as businesses are forced to recalibrate under duress from the coronavirus pandemic.
We cast a spotlight on the new generation of law firm leaders and ask how they will shape the business of law in years to come.
‘Within 48 hours of my election I received over 2,000 emails. It was amazing.’
Karen Davies, Ashurst
The new guard
It is Thursday 24 September 2020 and messages of support are pinging into the mailbox of Georgia Dawson, the doughty head of Freshfields’ Asia office, on her election as the first female senior partner in the institution’s 278-year history. Her succeeding Edward Braham has certainly piqued interest.
Dawson recalls the moment fondly. ‘Following my election I was contacted by a large number of women that enabled me to create a brilliant network, make contacts, have calls and virtual coffees. It’s useful to hear the challenges are shared. If you are the first or one of the first women there is more focus and attention on what you’re doing, which is maybe not the case with others. The helms of law firms are multi-faceted and any leader will have to navigate challenges.’
Karen Davies, Ashurst’s prominent UK head of corporate, similarly reflects on the day in May 2021 she was elected to replace Ben Tidswell as chair. It was an even busier day than usual for the prolific dealmaker.
‘I had two deals announcing the morning I was elected. Within 48 hours I received over 2,000 emails – from Ashurst colleagues, university friends, old work friends and many lovely emails from female leaders at Freshfields, Linklaters, Hogan Lovells, HSF, Travers, as well as messages from other firms. It was amazing. It took me two weeks to respond but I responded to every single one!’
‘I saw Georgia Dawson get elected at Freshfields and it just made me think, why not? I could potentially have a broader impact if I did the senior partner role as well as M&A, why don’t I put my hat in the ring?’
Rebecca Maslen-Stannage, Herbert Smith Freehills
Female leadership of major law firms is nothing new – US firms have a notoriously less traditional, more egalitarian approach to talent. Gibson Dunn in March elected Barbara Becker, co-chair of the M&A practice, as chair and managing partner successor to Ken Doran. Boies Schiller Flexner’s Natasha Harrison has climbed the ranks quickly since becoming London managing partner in 2013 to become heir apparent to litigation veteran and chair David Boies. While pioneers – such as Lesley MacDonagh who was elected managing partner at Lovell White Durrant in 1995 – exist, to say the trend is more of a novelty at the big four City firms is an understatement.
Months before the Freshfields election, Allen & Overy (A&O) had in the mix two senior female candidates for managing partner, London-based litigation head Karen Seward and Vicki Liu, managing partner of Hong Kong and APAC and regional head of banking. In February 2020 Seward, a declared frontrunner, lost out to Gareth Price, global head of projects and energy. General market sentiment was one of disappointment, Seward, famous for ‘lobbing grenades’ and disrupting the status quo, had been seen as the outspoken, charismatic and robust litigator needed to take the role to the next level.
Fast forward more than a year to May 2021 and M&A corporate head Aedamar Comiskey’s election to replace Charlie Jacobs as Linklaters’ senior partner proved that the Dawson phenomenon was more than a mere anomaly for the Magic Circle. More widely, the move built on Sydney M&A heavyweight Rebecca Maslen-Stannage’s recent ascension to chair and senior partner of Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF), and followed the appointments in previous years of Kathleen Russ at Travers Smith, Penelope Warne at CMS, Liz Cohen at Bristows and Tamara Box at Reed Smith.
Willing and able
The reasons for the boom in such appointments are broadly cited as a culmination of firms’ gender diversity efforts paying off – even if other areas of diversity are still sorely lacking – as well as the women’s own desire and aptitude to take on the role.
‘The more role models women have in the industry, the more likely it is that others will follow in their footsteps.’
Georgia Dawson, Freshfields
As one male partner puts it: ‘There is now a group of women who are senior enough. 20 years ago there probably wouldn’t have been enough senior women around to get to this stage. And they have to want to do it. Who wants to be senior partner? It can be shit, exhausting and people won’t like you. More good women are willing and able to do it.’
Dawson’s view chimes with many: ‘Law firms have been trying to improve diversity and inclusion for a long time and, over that time, women have been taking on more senior roles. There eventually comes a time when they take on the most senior roles. The more role models women have in the industry, the more likely it is that others will follow in their footsteps. It’s an election process and you have to make a decision to put yourself forward. Women have had the confidence to do that and see a path to senior roles. I’m hopeful that will continue.’
That impact has already been felt at Freshfields. Claire Wills, the firm’s admired London managing partner has cited Ruth Markland, another Asia head in the 1990s and early 2000s, as influential to her career and that has had a knock-on effect. Notes Travers’ Russ: ‘Claire Wills inspires me. She is empathetic, she is fantastic at communication, she’s fiercely ambitious for Freshfields and for herself, as well as being a brilliant lawyer. She is very normal – whatever that means – and is completely herself and totally approachable. She epitomises the kind of person that impresses me.’ Antitrust stalwart Deirdre Trapp is also frequently referenced.
Senior leadership is also the logical next step for those who have been on management and executive committees and want to move up. Says Ashurst’s Davies: ‘I was a second-term board member and I’ve loved it, it’s a real privilege, and when the opportunity of chair became available I had to stand for election. Being on the board, I was aware of all the opportunities and where the firm was heading, and I also have strong oversight given my management role. I had the right experience and background and that’s what inspired me to do it.’
For her part, Dawson is credited externally as having earned her stripes after successfully managing political infighting during her tenure as Asia head. She is seen as a consensus builder and a calm mind in a crisis by all that have dealings with her. HSF’s Justin D’Agostino sings the praises of Dawson, a Freehills alumnus: ‘Georgia and I go back a long way.
I was head of Asia for HSF, she was head of Asia for Freshfields so we had a lot in common. She’s just a very special human being. Caring about her people and family, works incredibly hard but looks to get more out of life than just work.’
‘We need to move beyond diversity and start thinking about what inclusion really looks like, together with what culture we want to wrap around us.’
Karen Seward, Allen & Overy
Rick van Aerssen, co-managing partner of Freshfields, is effusive, quipping that Dawson’s analytical, pragmatic approach appeals to his German sensibilities. ‘In the platoon you would call her the informal leader. When the lieutenant is shot and the sergeant is shot, the one that the group would steer towards to get them out of the thick. That is where all these skills come together, with authority that is not predicated on rank but on experience, wisdom and smartness. It’s important to me because I wouldn’t have committed to being in a team that didn’t match on a personal level.’
The age-old argument that diversity can only really be achieved through role models is coming to pass. Maslen-Stannage speaks from first-hand experience. ‘I was on the council for a few years but stepped off because I’d been on for long enough and had my M&A practice. A couple of people started to suggest to me as the senior partner election approached that I should put myself forward but I really had no intention of doing that, partly because I just love doing M&A so much. Then I saw Georgia Dawson get elected at Freshfields and it just made me think, why not? I could potentially have a broader impact if I did the senior partner role as well as M&A, why don’t I put my hat in the ring?’
A&O’s Seward took charge of the firm’s Centre for Leadership Innovation & Change (CLIC), on 1 May 2021, initially headed by erstwhile senior partner David Morley, with the initiative branded as an incubator for future leaders of the firm. She says that the gradual move away from coercive, top-down leadership traditionally associated with males, towards an inclusive style has been accelerated by Covid and the need for a shake-up of traditional views on what a working life looks like.
‘The big thing at the moment, given Covid and female leadership, is focusing on inclusion. We need to move beyond diversity and start thinking about what inclusion really looks like, together with what culture we want to wrap around us. This period of intense humanisation of everyone being in everyone else’s living room is calling for quite a different style of leadership as we try to come back into a hybrid office environment.
‘Top-down leadership is perceived as a traditional male style of leadership but it’s not exclusively male. It trips up when it doesn’t allow space for people to experiment, fail, dust themselves down and try again.
A high functioning team needs a safety net – what you need to be now as a leader is someone who can lift the boats of people around them. They don’t have to be soft with it. In fact, they can be tough but they need to be kind and get their arms around their people. That kind of leadership is what people want and they will move firms to find it.’
‘Being inclusive is lovely but you cannot run a leading global law firm like you’re running a book club in Surrey.’ Partner at a US firm in London
Male partners and leaders are also cited as having a more nuanced approach in retaining female talent at senior level. Says one senior woman: ‘There is more understanding on the part of men when they say to a woman: “Do you want to be partner?” And they would respond: “I don’t know” or “no”. What they should say is “Can I help you take it to the next level?” It’s a kind of learned technique to improve retaining women in a world built by men and still largely run by men.’
Accept no imposters
Another frequently cited path to success which ties in with the inclusion imperative is a greater permissiveness for authenticity that is gradually eroding the innate hegemony of the legal industry for good.
It is a generational thing. Most professional women over 40 will be all too familiar with the need to adopt male behaviours – become ‘one of the lads’ – in order to garner credibility. Happily, those days are largely behind us. For those that want them to be.
Russ says it has been essential to her career and leadership style. ‘Rick Stratton, a former tax partner at Travers Smith, recognised something different in me and encouraged me to think of it as a positive rather than trying to mould myself into the way other people were. He inspired me to believe in myself. You have to be authentically you. You have to inspire a team by example and work together to achieve the vision. You need to bring the whole team along, empower people, believe in others and trust them.’
‘There’s no point in me shoehorning myself into this male world of tennis or golf because I’m just not going to be comfortable. Think differently about how you generate business and build your networks out. Go to the opera.’
Natasha Harrison, Boies Schiller Flexner
Maslen-Stannage can relate. ‘I’m big on people being themselves. When I was junior I was never comfortable to be myself because I was too busy trying to be this perfect robot who didn’t show any personality and just performed the tasks. I always tell people, particularly the women of the firm, to be yourself. You’ve got to address your personality or people have nothing to attach to. When I learnt that lesson belatedly, I suddenly had a lot more friends in the firm, I got along better with clients and it was just so much more enjoyable.’
Harrison says this extends to networking: ‘When it came to building my practice and building clients, I worked out very quickly that there’s no point in me shoehorning myself into this male world of tennis or golf because I’m just not going to be comfortable. Think differently about how you generate business and build your networks out. Go to the opera.’
Inevitably, some peers question whether this less-aggressive tack is a feasible strategy, especially for City firms facing ever-increasing pressure as market forces escalate. Postulates one partner at a US firm in London: ‘Being inclusive is lovely but you cannot run a leading global law firm like you’re running a book club in Surrey. Back in the day you could do that because nothing was changing. If you look at the changes in the market in the last five years everyone’s torn the rule book up and it’s like: “what the fuck is going on?” $5bn American firms that are double the size and they’re also profitable and taking your talent. Consensus doesn’t work in that market because all the US firms will outgun you in ambition and drive. They’ll get shit done while you’re talking and debating for six months.’
Meanwhile, Harrison restructured the Wall Street litigation giant’s entire compensation structure in short order of becoming deputy chair, no small task at the best of times, much less in the grip of the pandemic. This was no small change either, the firm went from a formula-based comp – the ultimate ‘eat what you kill’ – to a performance-based structure that rewards collaboration.
‘I want everyone to belong and feel like they are an important part of our culture, and I want to try to influence behaviour on both ends of the spectrum.’
Sally Davies, Mayer Brown
She insists that the ability to listen and draw on emotional intelligence are an advantage rather than a handbrake to executing difficult decisions.
‘When I changed the compensation structure last year it was the first time it had ever been done. There was a massive body of resistance at first. I have a very high degree of emotional intelligence and that, along with a lot of active listening, is really important for building consensus, executing on strategies and winning credibility among your peers. It’s a generalisation but most women tend to have higher EQ. We’ve all grown up in the City with a range of clients and we completely understand the importance of being fearless when we’re delivering change. The high EQ is an advantage and by no means a hindrance. You can’t just be everyone’s friend and you’re never going to make everyone happy. It’s a thankless task if that’s your goal.’
Leading to the future
It could be argued that leading a firm through a global health crisis without disaster and facing the rapidly transforming working landscape it has wrought are challenges enough. The focus of leaders on culture, behaviour and mental health, not long ago a nice-to-have, has certainly been catalysed by changing working practices and has also become a valuable tool for talent retention.
Notes Sally Davies, London managing partner of Mayer Brown: ‘I hope I’m in a position to influence and uphold our values and integrity. I want everyone to belong and feel like they are an important part of our culture, and I want to try to influence behaviour on both ends of the spectrum. If you start calling out negative behaviour and it affects compensation, it may not modify behaviour overnight but it does have an effect on the workplace and signal what’s important in our culture and it does matter.’
Seward says understanding the need for human connection in a world of working virtually is vital. ‘As head of litigation I’ve got 108 partners around the world and I am on a cycle without end, doing check-ins asking how people are feeling. It’s quite obvious at this point that not all of us are just going to click back into coming back into the office feeling brilliant.’
Liz Cohen, joint managing partner of Bristows, stresses that role models will be critical for diversity in all its forms. ‘Gradually over time businesses have recognised that the more diverse you are, the greater the ability to run a successful business. And that is all diversity, not just gender. It’s not that easy being a role model. You don’t want to make it look too easy because it isn’t but you have to make it look achievable. We want flexibility to be used by everyone equally and consistently, not just working mums. Business leaders will have to keep an eye on that when people start returning to offices.’
‘It’s not that easy being a role model. You don’t want to make it look too easy because it isn’t but you have to make it look achievable.’
Liz Cohen, Bristows
D’Agostino agrees. ‘Diversity and inclusion is infinite work, there is no defined end point. It will always require leadership. You can create a diverse group but making them feel included and part of the decision-making process and important to an organisation, that is the much harder challenge and the real opportunity. Once someone feels like they belong, that’s when you get the most out of them. I set up the first LGBT+ network in the City in 2007. None of the international law firms had one. It was a conservative environment and there were no champions. The moment we set it up, people started being authentic and came out.’
And it goes without saying that diversity is and will remain a draw for winning clients and work. Comments one senior female partner: ‘You see so many drivers now coming from clients in the US and UK, a lot of in-house clients pushing and saying “I’m not even putting you on the pitch panel”, or “don’t come and see me unless the faces around the table not only reflect societal aims but what we as an organisation aspire to achieve”.’
Maslen-Stannage insists the secret of successful leadership will be resilience. ‘I noticed Aedamar at Linklaters was the fifth of six children. I grew up fifth of eight children in kind of a chaotic household. I’ve got quite an optimistic and positive leadership style because I’ve had enough chaos in my life to know that there’s always a solution and we’ll always get there. It’s taking that deal style into leadership. So far – it’s early days – but it seems to be working.’
‘You see so many drivers now coming from clients, pushing and saying “don’t come and see me unless the faces around the table not only reflect societal aims but what we as an organisation aspire to achieve”.’ Senior female partner
The odd cynic notwithstanding, most are sanguine that the increase of senior women is already playing out for the good of much-needed diversity in the industry more broadly. ‘We’re braver than we used to be about calling things out, not just gender, but things like culture and sexual orientation. We have had a shift in how people see their environment and people calling things out in a way that they didn’t before. I’m not sure that the women getting into those senior roles is an outcome of that or part of the cause but there’s no doubt it’s a fairer environment for everyone now and people feel they have more opportunity,’ adds Maslen-Stannage.
Seward is similarly bullish. ‘When the first woman or any minority goes through the door, they have to make themselves smaller to squeeze through. Sometimes, they have to be a bit less authentic to “fit in”. But the space they leave behind on exit is bigger. The winners will be the firms that will allow their people to show up and contribute in all of their glory. Firms committed to allowing total authenticity of their people are the firms that will ultimately be the winners.’ LB
nathalie.tidman@legalease.co.uk
New wave – manifestos for the future
Georgia Dawson, senior partner, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
‘At the core of the strategy is protecting and preserving what makes the firm special. I’m lucky to have inherited the leadership of such a great firm so it is now about having an honest appraisal of where we can improve.
On the people side, we want to be inclusive and have a fantastic culture where everybody has the opportunity to achieve their full potential while having fun as well.
On the client side, they are going through a period of great change and there is a constant challenge of continuing to identify where their needs are changing and help them navigate that complexity. For existing clients, the focus is on service delivery and using tech to enable that for relationship teams.
There is a high level of disruption and a recognition that markets are changing. There are new client opportunities presenting themselves as a result. We need to be sufficiently forward-looking and nimble to help them as they meet those challenges.’
Rick van Aerssen, managing partner, Freshfields
‘Georgia’s analytical approach comes with this Australian ease. She has a low-key, non-authoritarian leadership style, radiating empathy, very relaxed and calm. She’s a fantastic listener, which is probably the most important skill when you’re leading a partnership.’
Aedamar Comiskey, senior partner, Linklaters
‘I want Linklaters to stand out as the law firm with the best minds in the business from truly diverse backgrounds contributing different perspectives to solve the complex challenges facing business and society today. As we launch out of lockdown, our focus will be on fostering drive, ambition and creativity from our high-performing teams across the world to deliver outstanding results for our clients.
Key for me is that Linklaters continues to be an inclusive firm that attracts, retains, develops and rewards top talent from diverse backgrounds – people who are highly motivated and driven to succeed, but warm and engaging with it. People who are always curious to learn and always looking for opportunities to improve. We’re a global firm with ambition to maximise the potential of our cross-border teams to give clients the best integrated service. A good example of how we can do this is our cross-border, cross-practice engagement with clients on the ESG agenda, where we want to lead from the front.’
Corporate partner at a rival firm
‘Aedamar is a very successful transactional lawyer, not a shrinking violet. She hasn’t gotten along by being quiet. Ambitious, highly motivated, she gets stuff done. Aedamar is A+ and wants to change the world.’
Karen Davies, chair, Ashurst
‘The strategy is putting an unrelenting focus on our people, our clients and our culture. For the next phase of our growth, we will continue to focus on being transformational in our thinking and accelerating the integration of legal services, legal consulting and NewLaw. We are really looking at improving client experience and offerings even more and moving into the next phase of our growth.
We’ve been on a really solid trajectory for the last five years, we have a great strategy and executive team in place, so it was about focusing on what’s important to our partners and our growth. In my mind, attracting and retaining the best talent is also about making sure our people have the best environment in which to develop. These days lawyers have lots of options available to them, so it’s important to give them the best possible training and place to learn.
Clients and building relationships are at the heart and centre of what I’ve always done and what I love doing. Now it’s about enhancing those relationships for the firm on a global level and being an ambassador for our culture. Ben Tidswell took immense pride in influencing and protecting that culture. I want to carry that on, and to continue to look forward and drive transformation.
We’ve made significant progress on gender diversity during my time on the board. The next phase of our growth is to set targets and deliver on other diversity strands. That’s what the board and the executive team will be working on together.’
Rebecca Maslen-Stannage, chair and senior partner, Herbert Smith Freehills
‘Even though the whole Covid situation had everyone thinking we’ve weathered this a lot better than we could have expected, we want to know what our next vision is. I said we need to refresh our strategy and see where we’re going to go in the next five years. How do you go from having a fabulous platform and a genuinely collaborative team across the world, and bring the best of that to clients all over the world? That’s one of the big challenges in a law firm.
It’s all about taking that next step and really upping the collaboration and team work to make sure that we deliver on the platform that we’ve got. We’ve got fabulous practices in Asia, EMEA and in New York but we really want to grow on those.
It’s so important that everyone in our firm feels happy to bring their full self to work, they’re comfortable and they’re feeling motivated. Making sure that we have people engaged and that naturally means that we keep our talented people for longer.
James Palmer, my predecessor, and I are both very ambitious for the firm so that’s been a common trait between us. Interestingly, a few of the chairs at the moment are M&A partners. We get that exposure to boardrooms and governance and strategy. I’m keen on the strategic side of it and engaging with people to bring them along.’
Justin D’Agostino, chief executive, Herbert Smith Freehills
‘Rebecca is really focused on our diverse talent and creating a very positive culture. One of the mantras in her manifesto was to oversee a happy firm of engaged, talented people who are focused on delivering great service. That’s what drives her all the time. She’s excelled as a lawyer, in her practice, with clients. She’s uniquely qualified for the role of senior partner.
Lawyers can be cynical and risk-averse. Rebecca looks at the opportunities and says there is so much to be thankful for. But you don’t get to these positions without a steely side. You don’t get even to be a leader in a practice without a rod of steel. She’s in the boardrooms of some of the world’s major corporates. That’s what makes her a good lawyer and a good leader.’