“Women have a different mindset that can foster innovative dynamics and avoid one-sided thought processes” said Eugenia Navarro, professor of marketing and strategy for the legal profession at ESADE Law School, in her talk during the “Women in the legal profession. The value of diversity’ conference held on the ESADE Madrid campus in conjunction with Wolters Kluwer. In this respect, Professor Navarro said, “the need for women to hold management posts in the legal profession is not merely a matter of quotas, although they are necessary to set the ball rolling. Customers today expect innovation, and diversity is a way of enhancing the decision-making process and a considerable source of new ideas”.

The value of diversity in the legal profession

Pilar Menor, managing partner at DLA Piper, commented on the high percentage of female university teachers and the obstacles to holding managerial positions. She insisted that the key to a work-life balance is co-responsibility which is why “DLA Piper has implemented the Leadership Alliance for Women (LAW) scheme to boost the career advancement of female lawyers on the basis of three cornerstones: mentoring, for invaluable career guidance; networking, for an awareness of the importance of contacts in the profession; and training with a view to developing new skills.

María Llosent de Nárdiz, head of the legal department at Uquifa, considers that “there is no specific framework for the work-life balance of men and women in the legal profession. The solution is to tailor one’s working day to one’s personal circumstances”. In this respect, Llosent mentioned that companies too must realise that lawyers need to strike a life-work balance and try to respect their working hours. This means that, “although it is sometimes difficult, law firms must educate their customers”, and “learn to say ‘No’ when necessary” she added.

According to Xavier Pujol, secretary general and board secretary of Prisa, a work-life balance is “a matter of trust and flexibility between both parties” so law firms and in-house legal departments “must bolster their work-life balance policies and adapt to the personal circumstances to their lawyers”. Pujol also insisted that most of the members of his team are women capable of taking on managerial posts. “The existence of quotas has helped increase the number of female board members and inside companies they have tried to remedy the problem of companies where women are under-represented in certain jobs.” In this respect, he acknowledged that “the quota system has worked but generally speaking, it opens up the Pandora’s box of meritocracy”.

Pedro del Rosal, journalist at Wolters Kluwer and chair of the session, highlighted the reality of women in the legal profession, the additional difficulties they face and the rather superficial tone used when talking about them. “Just 19% of the partners in Spain’s large law firms are women but this situation is not restricted to law firms or Spain”, he said.