My legal life: Jo Evans, Lewis Silkin

Growing up, I had never really considered a legal career. There were no lawyers in my family and it had never crossed my mind that this was something I could do. Until, one year, I was working as a flotilla skipper in Turkey and teaching sailing and one of the clients was a lawyer. She talked so passionately about her work it did make me think that I could do this.  So, when the sailing season ended, I came home and applied to law school.

My legal training and qualification seem like a lifetime ago. I was applying for articles (as they were then called); it was the early 1990s and Britain was in a recession. I didn’t have the most compelling legal back story (see above) and when most firms were cutting back or deferring trainee intakes, I wasn’t having much traction getting interviews or offers and had kind of given up. Fantastically for me, Lewis Silkin was bucking the trend and actually increasing its trainee intake that year and I was lucky enough to be offered one of the additional places. That was 1993 and I’m still here.

'It’s important that the firm continues to be a place where you feel at home and believe that your career advancement and progression are dependent on your skills and expertise'

Being a corporate lawyer at Lewis Silkin is just not like being a corporate lawyer anywhere else. Nearly all of the clients I work for are in the creative and communications industries – advertising, design, branding and PR agencies. They are intelligent and creative people, solution-focused and always looking for new and different ways of doing business – and that’s what they want from their lawyers. This just makes working with them a lot of fun and a bit of a rollercoaster.

During my career at the firm one of the highlights was serving as its diversity and inclusion chair. It’s really important to me that the firm continues to be a place where, regardless of who you are, your background, gender, race or sexual orientation, you will be welcomed, feel at home and believe that your career advancement and progression are dependent on your skills and expertise. I have always believed that to be the case in terms of my own career, and I want it to be the case for everyone in our community.

Everyone should feel that they are swimming with the tide and not against it. The amazing and dedicated people on the diversity board have made a real difference, especially in the last few very difficult years, to embed that environment. In particular, I would pick out the steps we are taking to improve our gender, race and ethnicity equality. This includes introducing specific targets on each, embedding our disability champion, significantly improving our focus on social mobility and our outreach into schools (reflected in our ranking in the Social Mobility Index) and our continuing focus on mental health and wellbeing. From our Women in Law Pledge – which sets the target of no less than 45% female partners by 2027 – to our pronouns campaign, to our solicitor apprenticeship scheme, real progress has been made. But, of course, there is much more work to be done.  

Being elected as the firm’s chair was a real moment of pride. Suddenly I was the oldest woman in the room and it felt like the right time to try something different and use my experience in a new way for the firm.  After being part of Lewis Silkin’s growth and development for almost 30 years, I am proud to have the opportunity to help lead a firm that is committed to thinking in a 21st-century way. In particular, and this will come as no surprise given my previous roles, I am looking forward to using my time as chair to challenge ourselves and the wider profession to do better in terms of diversity and inclusion. Making improvements across the profession is critically important. There is a need for everyone to shift the dial if we want to make real progress.

Taking on the challenge of a new position wasn’t an easy decision. I haven’t officially started in the role yet so it’s too soon to say if it was the right decision. But, professionally, I’m honoured that the other partners have been prepared to put their faith in me. I have also been blown away by the good wishes I have received from inside and outside the firm.

It’s so important for the profession to have women in senior positions and positions of influence. The more of us that are able to take up those positions, the more encouraging I hope that will be to women entering the profession today. Won’t it be great when we can just stop mentioning the gender of people in leadership positions?