Thank you to Wragge & Co and Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy for their commendable initiatives in challenging domestic violence. I experienced domestic violence over a number of years while a solicitor in a City law firm, my ex-husband being a solicitor in another City law firm.

Remarkable as it may seem to the uninitiated, I had no idea that what I was experiencing – the put-downs and consequent erosion of confidence (including in my abilities as a solicitor); controlling and isolating behaviour; constant feeling of ‘walking on eggshells’ and going along with things to keep the peace; and low-level physical violence – was domestic violence.

A poster in the ladies loos might have made me realise much sooner than I did that this was not acceptable and did not have to be my lot. I know two women currently living in abusive relationships, both of them lawyers, and both their husbands are lawyers (one a partner in a leading City law firm). Domestic violence is very much alive in our profession.

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