The 1999 Woman Lawyer Forum, 'Mainstreaming: dismantling the barriers', will be held on 15 May.

In the forum successful women lawyers will pass on their experiences to those who are starting out on the career ladder.

Chaired by Janet Gaymer, the head of employment law at City firm Simmons & Simmons, the conference will consider issues from the globalisation of women's rights -- in a session chaired by Cherie Booth QC -- to the rights of women under the new Human Rights Act .The forum is a step towards a world in which it is assumed that the next Lord Chancellor will actually be a Lady and where law ladies as well as law lords are on television giving judgment in an internationally important case.

This is a parallel universe in which not only do the same number of women enter the legal profession as men, but they also progress up the hierarchies at similar rates.

Will this be the legal profession in about ten year's time? If it is possible to imagine such a future, would it actually be any different from the world at present? Will more women make a difference to the profession? Opinion on this question is obviously divided -- but generally people voice two alternative views.

The first seems to suggest that an increasing number of women will, almost automatically, make a difference to the working environment of the legal profession.

But why? The argument is based on the view that women have different personal characteristics and skills to men.

That is, women are supposedly less hierarchical in their management styles, are better team-players, have better interpersonal skills and are driven by an ethic of care, empathy and responsibility, rather than a male ethic of rights, individualism and risk.

Those who think that women are so different in this way, are of the view that a legal profession made up of more women will necessarily be very different.There are, of course, numerous problems with this argument.

One only has to cite the example of Margaret Thatcher to realise that not all woman exhibit the characteristics often attributed to them as a group.

It may indeed be the case that a number of women exhibit the characteristics detailed above, but that is not to say that all women do.

Thus, although it may be right to say that some women are less hierarchical/better team-players etc, it is not true to say that all women are.

Accordingly, to assume that the legal profession in around ten year's time will be radically different, on this basis, is misleading.

Neither does it help women to progress in the profession as it labels them as having only certain characteristics and skills -- none of which might be that highly valued.But what, then, is the alternative? The opposite widely held view is extremely depressing.

This view can be summed up in the phrase plus ca change.

That is, the belief that to get on in the legal profession, as in most areas of public life, women have to become honorary men to succeed.

The argument is that they have to adopt what are seen to be male traits and patterns of work which seem to lead to success.

This vision assumes that a legal profession made up of more women will be almost identical to the current one, except that there may be more lawyers of the female gender.There is a danger that this pessimistic vision of a legal profession made up of men and honorary men will come true.

This is because at the moment the profession remains dominated by cultures and attitudes which restrict many women, and some men, in their opportunities.

But it does not have to be this way.It is possible that the legal profession in ten year's time might, and indeed should, be different, but that such change will not happen by osmosis.

For the profession to change, constant hard work and campaigning will be required.

It is imperative that the profession continues to be more open and inclusive, more flexible and less macho -- a profession which is more accepting of the family responsibilities of both genders.

This would help ensure that the increasing number of women entering the profession a re able to advance within it.The profession will then begin to change if more people of diverse backgrounds, cultures, ethnicities and sexes enter it and advance within it.

This is not on the basis of innate characteristics, but on the fact that people with different life characteristics bring different perspectives and experiences to bear on their work.Accordingly, as more women enter the profession and progress within it, the profession will begin to change, not because of women's different biology, but perhaps because they have experienced the world of work in different ways to many men.

Such a different profession is to be encouraged as it will ultimately be a better profession for women and men, for clients and the public, and for the law itself.PROFILES OF WOMEN WHO HAVE BECOME SNIOR OR MANAGING PARTNERS OF THEIR FIRMS, BY STEPHEN WARD-- NICOLE PARADISENicole Paradise, 40, takes over as managing partner of 113-partner City firm Nabarro Nathanson at the start of next month.

She qualified in 1983, then joined Herbert Smith in Hong Kong.

After two years, she transferred to the London office, specialising in insurance litigation, then moved to Oppenheimers, leaving before its merger with Denton Hall.

About ten years ago she joined Nabarro Nathanson's litigation department, specialising in insurance environmental and pensions cases.

Before her latest promotion she was one of a three-partner executive managing the day-to-day business operations of the firm.

She says she is surprised there are not more women in senior positions in law firms.

She says: 'Good law firms should have in place the necessary support systems to enable partners to work in a way that reflects other commitments they might have'.-- DIANA PARKERDiana Parker, 41, was elected senior partner of 44-partner City firm Withers in 1998.

Her specialism is one of the core areas of the firm, family law.

She was made partner at 29, and says that she enjoys 'cutting deals and creating a consensus'.

That aspect of her work translates well to management, she says.

She has been prominent in the Solicitors Family Law Association, and was a founder of the Family Mediators Association.

Until becoming senior partner, she had been head of the firm's family law department for eight years.

She was the first woman to be senior partner of a top 100 law firm, and warns: 'Apris moi, le deluge.

In five years time there will probably be 50 women senior partners'.-- JULIA BALFOUR-LYNNJulia Balfour-Lynn, 41, will take over next month as managing partner of niche London white-collar crime specialists Peters & Peters.

She qualified in 1984, and two years later joined the ten-partner firm where Monty Raphael continues to be the senior partner.

The firm has been a key player in most of the cases involving high profile fraud of the '80s and '90s, and Ms Balfour-Lynn was one of the defending solicitors in the long-running Blue Arrow case.

She was made a partner in 1988, and has specialised in litigation, handling cases against the Inland Revenue, Customs and Excise and the Serious Fraud Office.

She had been joint managing partner for four years before the latest promotion.

Six of the ten Peters & Peters partners are women.

'Some people may find that surprising.

It just seems normal here.

We have always recruited on merit, ' she adds.

She says there has been no conscious attempt to recruit a high percentage of women.-- LESLEY MACDONAGHLesley MacDonagh, 47, was the first woman to make managing partner of a top ten City firm when she was elected to the joint managing partner post at Lovell White Durrant in 1995.Since last year, when Michael Maunsell stood down, she has been sole managing partner.

Unusually for a City lawyer, she was trained outside London, and not at a commercial firm.

She was articled to the Town Clerk at Poole in Dorset and qualified in 1976.

She joined Lovell White & King as it was then in 1978 and became a partner in 1981.Her specialism is planning, local government and environmental law, including planning appeals and dealing with regulators.

She says when she entered the profession there were fewer women practising in City firms, so 'there was some rarity impact initially which is clearly not the case now'.She adds: 'I would say that perhaps the more conciliatory and consensual approach displayed by a lot of women stands them in good stead in terms of a career progression which relies on getting the best out of teams of people'.-- JOY KINGSLEYJoy Kingsley, 42, trained with Manchester firm Pannone & Partners, qualified in 1980, and is now managing partner of the 45-partner firm, as well as the partner responsible for the department handling trust, probate, tax planning and domestic property.The firm has grown from 175 to 284 staff during her three years as managing partner.

It was already well-known, but now makes more money, she says.She was the first woman partner in the firm, and encourages flexible working where possible -- she works late on Thursday nights so she can leave early on Fridays to pick up her son from school.

The firm recruits more women than men -- eight of next year's nine trainees are women.

She says this is probably because of its main areas of specialisation -- medical negligence and personal injury.

She says: 'We tend to find more men want to become commercial lawyers'.-- SUSAN BURNELLSusan Burnell, 51, joined Charles Lucas & Marshall 30 years ago.

The firm has offices in Hungerford, Newbury, Wantage and Swindon.

She was made in partner in 1972, and was elected senior partner in 1994.

Her specialism is tax and probate.

She says: 'In my five years as a woman senior partner, I have never once come across prejudice from male colleagues, either within the firm or within the profession.

It's not a case of taking the men on at their own jobs, times have changed and it is important to maintain a balance of sexes to create a harmonious working environment'.-- CAROLINE WILLIAMSCaroline Williams, 44, was appointed managing partner of Blake Lapthorn last September.

At the start of this year, the firm merged with Covent Garden property specialists Abbott King & Troen, and now has 46 partners across four offices in London and Hampshire.She qualified at the firm in 1978 and became a partner two years later.

She specialises in takeovers, mergers, taxation, and corporate reconstructions, and headed the commercial law department for ten years from 1988 before becoming managing partner.She co-wrote a book on occupational pension schemes, and is chair of the board of governors of Portsmouth University, a member of the southern regional council of the CBI, and holds non-executive directorships on several companies.-- VIRGINIA GLASTONBURYVirginia Glastonbury, 42, newly-elected UK managing partner of 96-partner City firm Denton Hall, became a partner in the property department ten years ago, working increasingly in financing projects.In 1993 she moved to the banking and financial markets group and recently helped negotiate eight private finance initiative (PFI) projects to provide heat and energy services to prisons.

She is working on several PFI projects fo r courts, and acted for Rentokil Initial in its £600 million refinancing involving ten banks.

She drives a new Porsche, and is restoring another much older one.She is known as a person devoted to her job, working 12-hour days, often six days a week, but the firm encourages flexible and part-time working 'within the constraints of the business'.

Eight partners and several assistants work part-time.She says Denton Hall has a better ratio of women to men partners than most City firms -- 36 out of 108.

More than half this year's new partners were women, and more than half the assistant solicitors are women.

'We do not believe in positive discrimination in favour of women, but expect the number of female partners to increase.'