Press Release.
A competition for law graduates on the best Master’s thesis, interviews with exceptional lawyers, a mentoring program, podcast, conferences and meetups to support women in the legal business. The yearly summary of our activities is impressive, and the Foundation is an active advocate in promotion and activisation of women in the field of law. Within fifteen of the largest law firms in Poland, only one woman holds the position of managing partner, and only 25% of partners are women. It’s time to change this!
We plan to engage business in the development of future lawyers and building their experience for a better career start. As a Foundation, we also strive to give women lawyers a chance to gain from not only the experience of the Polish legal business, but also from the international legal community. Over the last year, we have gathered a group of exceptional partners with various expertise. In the near future, we will use this expertise in activities that are exceptionally important in post-COVID reality- states Agnieszka Krysik, Chairman of the Foundation’s Board.
Over the last year and before the pandemic, the Foundation's team organized stationary events, which brought together over 300 participants and many distinguished guests. The inauguration conference "Women-the future of the legal profession", which addressed the role and position of women and new technologies in law, launched our activity.
The Foundation hosted an event of an exceptionally innovative character- "Fashion, Design and the law - responsibly". Meeting the observations of many representatives of the legal industry, pointing out that women lawyers are less likely to participate in networking meetings due to lack of childcare, participants had the opportunity to leave their children in the care of animators from two different age groups.
The Foundation co-organized two webinars with ELSA - each of them gathered 100 participants. Thanks to cooperation with "Legalna Marta" in "Microsoft 365 for lawyers" training, 5 free lessons on Microsoft Word were created.
As part of promoting the need for changing the approach to new technologies among women, the Women in Law Foundation is the organizer of the "Law with a technology background” competition for the best thesis combining legal issues and new technologies.
I firmly believe that knowledge and the ability to use new technologies can be an excellent lever for young women lawyers to gain an advantage in the highly competitive legal market. - explains Kamila Kurkowska, President of the Women in Law Foundation. The legal industry has started to change rapidly - new professions are being created and lawyers are required to have new skills, such as project management, legal design and knowledge of the basics of programming. It is extremely important that the young generation of women lawyers and lawyers in general becomes aware of this.
The Foundation has organised a mentoring program, which was created to develop and accelerate the careers of young women lawyers. By participating in the program, mentees have gained access to the care of more experienced lawyers, who in turn can gain a new perspective on the legal industry and become inspired by the younger generation. As many as 80 female students and trainees, as well as several dozen mentors who are experts in their fields, have applied for the program. We formed 24 pairs. The program started in May 2020 and will last until November 2020. The Foundation is supported by Kingmakers.
Outstanding women and their stories should be an everyday inspiration. Their perseverance in pursuing their goals fuels constant change in the legal profession. Therefore, as part of promoting women lawyers in the public space, the Foundation presents profiles of outstanding representatives of the legal industry in a series of videos entitled "Her Story", where women lawyers share their experience and the history of their professional path, showing both their successes and failures on the way to their desired goal. During this year, we managed to make 6 videos for the "Her Story" series. Recently, the podcasts of the Foundation’s "Right to a Voice" series were released.
Honor Partners of the Foundation
The Supreme Bar Council, Koźmiński University Faculty of Law, SWPS University, Opole University, University of Łódź.
Main Partner of the Inauguration Conference
Warsaw Bar Association
Merit Partners
Law firms: Polowiec and Partners, PwC Legal, Roedl & Partner, Greenberg Traurig, CMS, Maruta, Leśnodorski Ślusarek and Partners, Wolters Kluwer, Kingmakers
Technology Partners
Senetic, Clickmeeting
Strategic Partners
Firemind, Polskie Polish Association of Corporate Lawyers, The Polish Information Processing Society, Digital Poland, New Technology Law Club of WPiA UW, Intellectual Property Law Club of WPiA UW, ELSA, Spec Prawnik, Girls Code Fun Academy of Leadership Psychology, Polish Lawyer, All in Tax, Legal Jobs, Technologia w Spódnicy, Grabowski and Partners.
Foundation Board
Agnieszka Krysik – attorney-at-law, owner of Agnieszka Krysik KRYSIKLAW law office, author of SUKCESja blog. She specializes in advising on intergenerational succession projects in business and family relations structuring.
Agnieszka Dzięgielewska-Jończyk- attorney-at-law, vice-president of The Polish Association of Corporate Lawyers, Director of Legal and Corporate Governance at Skanska S.A.
Katarzyna Gajowniczek-Pruszyńska – attorney specialising in criminal law, co-founder and chairman of the Panel for Women at The Supreme Bar Council, Vice-Dean of the District Bar Council and Vice-Chairman of the Legislative Committee at the Supreme Bar Council.
Marcin Maruta - Attorney-at-law, Partner at Maruta Law Firm, expert in the field of new technology and intellectual property law.
Maciej Ślusarek - Attorney, Partner in Leśnodorski, Ślusarek and Partners, member of The Warsaw Bar Association, Leader of the Ethics and Attorney-Client Privilege Committee.
Cezary Żelaźnicki – Attorney-at-law, Partner at PwC Legal, specialising in advising on company law, commercial law, civil law and labour law; responsible for the internal „Diversity & Inclusion” program.
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Kontakt:
Kamila Kurkowska
Prezeska Fundacji
kamila.kurkowska@womeninlaw.pl