Four female solicitors were honoured at the tenth annual Inspirational Women In Law awards, at a ceremony held at DLA Piper’s London offices yesterday evening.
The solicitor of the year category was won by Irwin Mitchell senior associate Geeta Nayar. Nayar sustained life-changing obstetric injuries during the birth of her first child and has since campaigned on maternal health, giving evidence a national inquiry into birth trauma. Nayar is also co-chair of Irwin Mitchell’s regional diversity network.
E.ON UK’s Laura Wattley won in-house solicitor of the year. Founder of the company’s Fertility Forum, she had a central role in developing its ‘groundbreaking’ fertility policy offering unlimited paid time off for treatment.
The award for rising star was won by Sarita Patel, newly qualified commercial solicitor at National Grid, for her work on artificial intelligence and governance.
Solicitor and general counsel-turned professional coach won the champion of the year award for helping women lawyers to expand their leadership potential and ‘lead with purpose’.
Former Court of Appeal judge and a crossbench peer Heather Hallett (pictured above), chair of the Covid‑19 Inquiry, received a lifetime achievement award. In her speech, Hallett recognised two male mentors who had a vital impact on her career, stressing ‘you don’t have to be like your mentee’ to perform the role. She also welcomed the bar’s public recognition of the problems of sexual harassment and sexism faced by women barristers in their careers.
The Inspirational Women In Law awards are organised by The Next 100 Years project, founded by Dana Denis-Smith, now deputy vice president of the Law Society.
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