Life for women in the legal workplace need not be as bad as some would paint it. Knowing what makes people tick can help, says Clare Foinette


Women solicitors would achieve greater success in their careers if they made more use of their female talents and made wiser career choices.



Too often, women in the profession are heard complaining that their male counterparts do not take them seriously, moaning that they are invisible, and demanding support mechanisms in the workplace to help them manage the stress, long hours and to achieve a work/life balance: in short, making a fuss.



I have never been involved in the Women's Liberation Movement - not even at the start of my career when I qualified as a solicitor in 1968. Throughout my career, from becoming a partner in 1973 to my appointment as managing partner of Rooks Rider in 1999, I have never felt the need. I have never felt badly treated because I am female and have always felt valued and secure in my job.



I put this down to simply being good at my job; choosing the firm I worked for carefully; and taking an interest in the people I worked with - essentially a female trait - which helped me to develop my people management skills.



It is difficult for hardline chauvinistic bosses to maintain entrenched views if female solicitors keep their clients happy and bring in work. There is no substitute for being good at your job if you want to succeed in this profession. I did not set out to become managing partner. By dint of being good at my job, I was the natural choice to fill more senior positions as they arose, enabling me to step up the career ladder.



I do believe that women are much better than men at managing people and juggling more than one thing at a time. Unusually for the time, I was brought up by a working mother. My role model was a woman who held everything together and I grew up thinking that that is what you do.



Unlike some of my fellow partners, I would talk to professional managers, cashiers and other administrative staff. I learnt about running the business from them. My first foray into this world was to introduce the firm's first computerised accounting system. I got to know people better and not just in a work context.



Senior partners tend to have big personalities and to get on in a firm you need to manage them effectively. Over a number of years, wise women will learn how they tick and how best to deal with them on an individual basis in order to get the results they are looking for. A velvet glove is almost always more effective than an iron fist when dealing with clients, partners, colleagues and other staff. If you must use an iron fist, wrap it up to look pretty first.



You do not achieve that level of understanding of a firm and the people that work there overnight. Women would be well advised to stick with one firm of solicitors rather than constantly change jobs to climb the career ladder.



Female solicitors need to find a firm with a culture that suits them and where they will be appreciated. It is a lot easier to maintain a good work/life balance or work flexibly if you are really known and valued in the firm. If you are well established, partners will be more willing to accommodate you in arranging a lifestyle that fits around you, which is especially important if you plan to have a family.



Clare Foinette retired as managing partner of London firm Rooks Rider on in April. She is now a consultant to the firm