When will women realise that one cannot have it all? When my first child was born in 1966 (when I was a newly qualified solicitor) I decided that I wanted to work.

Child care cost virtually as much as I earned.

As time went by, my earnings increased and far exceeded the cost of child care.

In those days, I did litigation but nevertheless I left the office virtually every evening in time to bath, read to and put my babies to bed.

I would not have missed that for the world.

I was conscious that I was hardly likely to become a high-flyer, but that was a choice I made.

I have never regretted it (nor, my affectionate sons tell me, have they).

Women, if all you want is money or status, the choice is yours.

Do not have the babies.

If you want the babies, settle for flying a little lower.

I was surprised to see in a recent article (see [2003] Gazette, 10 July, 4) that 44% of women said they were deterred by the profession's attitude to women.

What tender little plants they must be.

Long ago, in the 1960s, when a long-suffering voice on the telephone asked could he please speak to the gentleman dealing with the matter, I simply lowered my voice into my boots and said I was the gentleman.

Geraldine Dymond, Judge Sykes Frixou, Kingsway, London