The Next 100 Years project: a new chapter for women in law?

Following the success of the First 100 Years powered by Spark21, the team behind the initial project has just launched the Next 100 Years, which is dedicated to achieving equality for women in law.

With the celebrations of International Women’s Day drawing to a close, The Next 100 Years project is set to span across the next decade with plans to “accelerate the pace of change by encouraging collaboration across the profession, improving the visibility of women in law and supporting the women lawyers of the future”.

To kickstart these plans, on Thursday 5 and Friday 6 March women working in the law, as well as men who champion equality, were invited to a photoshoot taking place at venues across the United Kingdom and internationally, which was set to expand on the success of the 2019 event.

The photoshoot was part of the #FaceTheFuture campaign, which celebrates the achievements of women in law, with events taking place in London, Nottingham, Birmingham, Glasgow and Leeds, as well as Paris, Sydney, Singapore, Mexico City and Washington DC (among other international locations), ahead of International Women’s Day.

Dana Denis-Smith, founder of the Next 100 Years project and chief executive of Obelisk Support, says: “The First 100 Years celebrated the hard-won progress of the last 100 years and the stories of those legal pioneers that are so vital in providing a solid, positive platform for the future. Now, as we look forward to the next 100 years, we need to take action to accelerate the pace of change and remove the barriers to women’s progress still built into the legal profession.

“Many organisations in the legal world are moving in the right direction, but we don’t want to wait another 100 years for equality. The Next 100 Years project will be a force for change, bringing the profession together to look at how we can drive progress, giving visibility to the many talented women lawyers out there and supporting and inspiring those starting out in their careers.”

Spark21, “a charity founded to celebrate, inform and inspire future generations of women” in law, will power the project.