The Association of Women Solicitors encourages those members who have taken a break (usually for maternity leave) in their efforts to return to work as solicitors. Your article last week (‘Women in law: City limits’) set out very well the problems faced by these women.
However, the AWS would like to add a suggestion. We would like to see the legal profession embrace a similar approach to that adopted in the last couple of years by the accountancy profession – for example Deloitte – by introducing 20-week internships for returners with the aim of keeping 80%.
There are similar schemes in the medical profession. We think that such schemes would be a significant step towards dealing with such a longstanding and unacceptable waste of talent and experience.
Angela Hogan, vice-chair, Association of Women Solicitors (London)
