Legal IT Insider and Cosmonauts today (11 October) officially launch a new legal sector event, The Say Gap, targeting inequality and lack of diversity across the profession. The first gathering, on 1 December, will bring together some of the legal sector’s brightest women for a day that will teach them how to give compelling and inspiring talks, culminating in them delivering a mini–Ted Talk.
The event will be hosted by EY in their fabulous London Bridge office, and the training will be delivered by Ginger Leadership Communications, which for 14 years has helped emerging leaders and change makers to become confident in their public speaking abilities.
Ginger was founded by award winning public speaking coach Sarah Lloyd Hughes, and we are lucky to have Sarah herself with us on the day to lead her team’s training sessions.
During the day we will not only learn how to deliver confident and authentic talks, but we will hear from a panel of fantastic female leaders including the former Group General Counsel of Sky, Vicky Sandry; Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner’s co-chair Lisa Mayhew; and Netlaw Media’s managing director Frances Anderson, who founded DELTAS, which is dedicated to promoting diversity and ethics in legal technology and security across the UK.
Some women delegates will present to their groups, and some will present on stage at the end of the day. All will come away with greater self-awareness and empathy.
Legal IT Insider’s editor, Caroline Hill, said: “For me, this is a passion project come to life. I regularly struggle to find women who are prepared to contribute their opinions when I’m writing articles, and I have regularly struggled to find women who want to take part on panels. In my experience, women are far more likely than men to doubt their public speaking abilities, or not make the time to develop their own brand.
“The diversity statistics speak for themselves: while half of new solicitors are made up of women, only 33% of partners are women, and that figure drops to 25% of equity partners. When it comes to the legal technology community, the number of women in senior positions is decreasing, not increasing.
“There are lots of factors that contribute to those statistics, but it is essential that every woman’s voice is heard, both for their own standing in the legal community and also for the younger generations who are looking for role models to inspire them.”
Early bird tickets are available now for £199. To find out more and buy your ticket visit https://www.thesaygap.co.uk/