UCC’s first ever forum for ‘Women in Law’ was held earlier this month in an attempt to inspire and encourage females to join the legal industry.
The university’s law society organised the event, which was held on March 10 at the Hayfield Manor Hotel in Cork, featured numerous national and international speakers from within the profession.
The day-long series of seminars was split into two sessions. The first session was led by UCC Law professor Irene Lynch Fannon, along with other female experts such as Claire Loftus, Director of Public Prosecutions and Chief Justice Beverly McLachlin from the Canadian Supreme Court.
The second session was chaired by Dr Louise Crowley of UCC. In this session women, such as Ivana Bacik, Senator and Reid professor at Trinity College, and Emily O’Reilly, European Ombudsman addressed the crowd.
The event was organised by the Chairperson of UCC’s Law Society, Aoife McCarthy who stated that the reason she wanted to get involved in the forum was ‘because of the discrepancies between the amount of female law students in university and the number of women who have made the into the highest positons in law firms’.
One of the volunteers of the event, Law student, Eve Ryan, said the turnout, ‘was greater than expected’.
There were multiple issues discussed including the expectations of being perfect and balancing family life with a successful career.
However, the main point of discussion was that the speakers there encouraged all young women studying law to just go for it and be fearless.
The event was said to be a huge success for UCC’s Law Society as it now hopes to have given students the courage to embark on a career in law.
When speaking to the chairperson of DCU’s Law Society, Eva McQuaid, says DCU would love to hold a forum similar to this in years to come due to the success of the UCC forum.
Niamh Dunne
Image Credit: Arthur Cox