17/02/2012: HILL DICKINSON WELCOMES CHERIE BLAIR BACK TO LIVERPOOL
Hill Dickinson welcomed special guest, Cherie Blair as guest speaker at its Ladies’ Business Forum last week. The prestigious event was held at the firm’s Liverpool headquarters in St Paul’s Square and brought together women from across the region, to discuss how they can succeed in today’s business world.
Cherie, who grew up in the Waterloo area of Liverpool, talked about how the strong women of the North, including those in her own family, helped shape her belief at an early age that women can achieve great things, given proper education and confidence in their abilities.
In her keynote speech Cherie also showed a film about the work of the Africa Justice Foundation, an organisation which she co-founded and which aims to build legal capacity and encourage business growth in Africa. Two of the programme’s students – Valence Buhura and Valens Uwineza from Rwanda – joined the audience. Both are currently studying a Masters in law in Liverpool via the Foundation and will undertake work experience at Hill Dickinson later this year.
Cherie explained how important strong female role models are in increasing the number of women occupying top roles in business. She said: “Even though we have seen many great changes in female education and opportunities, still only 14% of directorships in UK companies today are held by women. Given that 50% of the population is female and research shows that women make around 80% of all purchasing decisions, this clearly does not make good business sense.”
She added: “Men and women bring so many different perspectives to business life and together can offer many complementary skills. This is not about women replacing men or suggesting we are somehow better. It is about using our complementary qualities and different experiences to overcome common challenges. Women tend to be more collaborative, better at team building and less prone to reckless risk-taking. A mix of both skill sets can only be a benefit and to ignore a full 50% of the nation’s abilities would be detrimental to growth and development.
“In my lifetime so many more opportunities have opened up for women. I was the first member of my family to go to University and when I started to study law only 10% of the students were female. Today it is pretty much a 50:50 split and my own daughter is continuing the family tradition and is currently training to become a Barrister too. But still we clearly see a lack of women in the very top jobs and we must continue to challenge that and bring about change.”
Cherie ended by quoting her friend Hillary Clinton that “failure to remove the barriers placed in front of women is the last great impediment to universal progress”.
Ruth Lawrence, partner and head of insurance at Hill Dickinson opened the event with a warm welcome to Cherie and the other guests. Ruth commented: “We are so pleased that Cherie was able to come and speak to our guests today. Meeting Cherie was an absolute pleasure and her words were inspirational to those of us already in business, and more importantly to our guests, especially the students from the North Liverpool Academy who were also able to join us today.”
“Cherie’s career is a great example of what can be achieved with hard work and pure determination, and her anecdotes about her time at Downing Street and meeting world leaders were very entertaining.
“I’m sure that the younger members of the audience were inspired by what Cherie said and that they will take that enthusiasm and self-belief away with them as they progress through their own chosen business careers.”
Ends
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Notes to Editors
Hill Dickinson LLP
Hill Dickinson LLP is a leading and award winning commercial law firm with more than 190 partners, 1300 people and offices in Liverpool, Manchester, London, Chester, Sheffield, Piraeus and Singapore. The firm offers a comprehensive range of legal services and invests strongly in their relationships, ensuring the organisations it represents benefit from a seamless and fully integrated service.
The firm celebrated its 200th year in 2010 and launched a major charity drive, working with the Community Foundation Network to raise vital funds for a number of charities.
Hill Dickinson was awarded National Law Firm of the Year at the Legal Business Awards 2010 (an award which the firm won in 2005) and the Corporate Law Firm of the Year at the Insider Northwest Dealmakers Awards 2010.
Hill Dickinson is a major force in insurance and although already well respected in the company and commercial arena, was significantly enhanced by the acquisition of Halliwells’ Liverpool and Sheffield offices in July 2010. The firm has a highly reputable commercial litigation practice and its marine expertise is internationally renowned. Hill Dickinson is also widely regarded as a leader in the fields of intellectual property, health services, NHS clinical/health-related litigation and private client advice. The firm’s clients include multi-national companies, major corporations, UK plcs, insurance companies, UK and foreign banks and financial institutions as well as public sector organisations, private individuals and public and professional bodies.
Cherie Booth QC
Cherie Booth was the first in her family to attend university when she studied law at London School of Economics. Called to the Bar in 1976, Cherie became a Queen’s Counsel in 1995 and is founding member of Matrix Chambers. She now sits part-time as a judge and is an accredited mediator.
Cherie is an influential equality, diversity and human rights campaigner and founder of the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women, which works worldwide to support female entrepreneurs. Cherie is also co-founder of the Africa Justice Foundation http://www.africajusticefoundation.org , supported by this event.
