Equality in practice: what does it look like to work at Russell-Cooke on IWD in 2024?
Partner Sarah Richardson and associate Lucy Gledhill-Flynn, with a combined experience of 20 years at Russell-Cooke, explore what it looks like to be a woman who works at Russell-Cooke on International Women’s Day 2024.
Every year on the 8 March, people across the world champion the rights of women and take to social media to celebrate the women they love and respect. However, selecting a day of the year to promote gender equality and representation can end up feeling arbitrary. We wanted to explore how things have changed on the ground at Russell-Cooke over the last decade. We know in the children’s team first hand that senior women in the team work closely with junior associates to share experience and skill. It is the partnership of women at different levels in the firm that bestows the confidence in younger women to move to more senior positions throughout their careers at Russell-Cooke.
Since 2014, the firm has grown in size substantially and the amount of fee earners who are women has risen from 50 (71% of fee earners in 2014) to 119 (72% of fee earners in 2024). What is more impressive is that the number of partners who are women has risen from 16 (35% of partners in 2014) to 27 (44% of partners in 2024). This is the change which signifies a shift in the firm’s culture and in society at large: women are more likely to be supported to take on leadership roles than they were even as short a time as ten years ago.
In practice, the amount of women who are partners in the legal profession is often significantly lower than those who are men – there is evidence of a tendency for women to drop off before moving to senior levels and partnership as they are more likely to take on roles as carers of children and of family. Now, almost half of the partners at Russell-Cooke are women.
These are statistics that we are proud of and we’re delighted to be shouting about this International Women’s Day.
Equality, diversity and inclusion is at the heart of the job that I do as a children’s lawyer at Russell-Cooke. It’s my view that women make exceptional leaders and it has been my pleasure to watch the amount of women leaders at Russell-Cooke grow during the time I have worked here. I wish everyone a happy international women’s day and may we all continue to support each other.
I grew up in a family of working women who were supported to achieve and to lead in whatever they do. I feel proud that this continues to be true for me in my workplace and the women that I work with are outstanding.
Sarah Richardson is a partner in the children law team, specialising in complex cases involving vulnerable adults and children during care proceedings and family disputes. Lucy Gledhill-Flynn is an associate, also in the children law team.
Get in touch
If you would like to speak with a member of the team you can contact our children law solicitors by email, by telephone on +44 (0)20 3826 7528 or complete our enquiry form.
