As a precursor to the celebration of International Women’s Day on 8 March 2021, LSAC Global recently hosted a webinar featuring top Indian and international legal leaders in which they offered valuable perspectives on “The Female lead: Impact of Women in Law.” The conversation revolved around women’s contribution to legal education, as well as how to encourage young women to discover and enter the field of law.
A focus point of the webinar was to delve deeper into the skills that a student would learn in law school while pursuing any one of the numerous fields in law. Kritika Padode Bhandari, Board Member at Vijaybhoomi University and Advocate at the Supreme Court of India said, “Law gives rise to people looking to work in the government, be a part of public policy, want to start a venture, as well as those looking to work in research or become consultants. Law school is no longer about making lawyers, but should be viewed as helping students develop specific skills such as critical thinking, argumentative skills, advocacy, communication skills, research, which will aid them in any field they move into.”
Speakers also showcased their own journey in the law profession, from both an academic and practice perspective. Nehan Sethi, an entrepreneur and lawyer practicing in intellectual property rights and CEO and founder of Her Forum – a widely popular forum on women in law – spoke about her journey. She believes that, although a gender diversity gap exists in the legal profession, the trend is changing because more women are entering this field. She also added that there are many experienced women in the legal field that students can look up now, and that this is an exciting time for the sector itself. Nehan also described the creation of Her Forum as a need to offer networking opportunities for women in law.
Julie Sculli, Director, Executive LL.M. in Global Business Law, Columbia Law School, USA, spoke about her journey. “I wanted to make a difference. The power a lawyer has, is to bring about change at large. I have worked in the legal defense field, as well as in a law firm. As I loved to help people fulfil their dreams, and so joined the law school to assist students in their journey.”
Diya Gupta, Senior Manager – Legal, at AstraZeneca, spoke about corporate law and opined that “although the number of women studying law is increasing annually, the number of women at top positions is quite low. But this is changing, and organizations have become conscious about the need to increase their diversity and inclusion. Today, discussions are more on how a person can cope with the work and not as much on competency issues. But, yes, women should be more vocal and voice their opinions openly to be heard.”
LSAC Global aims to help parents and students understand the various career opportunities in corporate law firms in India and how the legal profession has evolved over time. The panelists also spoke about how women understand the challenges faced by women to reach top position in law firms.
As a resource for students and parents, LSAC Global has been hosting a series of webinars featuring top Indian and international legal education leaders. The first two webinars – ‘Global perspectives in Law’: India & beyond” and ‘Legal Careers: the Indian Corporate Lawyer’ were very successful, as distinguished leaders in law and legal education community shared their insights and perspectives of the legal profession and the legal landscape with the audience.
