A blog by Kysen MD Clare Rodway, capturing interesting conversations she has in the course of her work...
Dana Denis-Smith
What a year it has been for the Next 100 Years of Women in Law Project! In 2025, this remarkable initiative celebrated its 10-year anniversary. It began as the First 100 Years of Women in Law, launched ahead of the centenary of the first woman admitted as a solicitor. Previously, women could not qualify as solicitors because, according to the 1913/14 case of Bebb v The Law Society, women were not considered 'persons' under the Solicitors Act 1843 - the same shocking argument used to bar women from voting.
When I first met the Project's founder Dana Denis-Smith (now OBE, for the wonderful work she has done in this area), at its launch a decade ago, I knew she would make a profound difference. She had such bold and creative plans for placing gender equality in the profession centre stage - and making sure it stayed there. For example in 2019, the centenary of the first woman solicitor, she staged a full series of parties, one every month throughout the year, celebrating women in law and ensuring the conversation was kept alive.
Dana is impassioned about increasing the representation of women in leadership positions, promoting flexible working arrangements to support diverse career paths, tackling the gender pay gap, and ensuring women from all backgrounds are celebrated and supported. The project does this through research, mentorship programs, community building initiatives, and public engagement.
Over the past decade, Dana has moved the conversation about gender equality from the margins to the heart of the profession. To prove the point, this year she was appointed Deputy Vice President of the Law Society of England & Wales, becoming Vice President next May and President in 2027. Way to make these issues mainstream!
In my view, Dana's smartest move has been to garner the support of the profession's most senior luminaries, male as well as female. I have attended events such as The First Women of the Supreme Court In Conversation, where then UK Supreme Court President Baroness Brenda Hale shared the stage with Susan Kiefel, the first female Chief Justice of Australia, Georgina Wood, the first female Chief Justice of Ghana, and Beverley McLachlin, the first woman to serve as Chief Justice in Canada. I remember looking around the room at the young law students in attendance and thinking what a great message for them: no bleeding-heart feminism here. These were senior women in the most serious legal roles in the world, talking about their early struggles fighting gender discrimination.
I also recall Baroness Hale's answer to the final, lighter-hearted question of the session: 'What was the most embarrassing moment of your career?' She chose to take this moment to recount a time she was passed over for a job she really wanted, even though the successful male candidate was far less qualified. Sharp and unsparing - she was taking no prisoners!
I also remember seeing Lord Neuberger on a First 100 Years stage, in a fabulous #HeForShe moment delivering an impassioned speech on the importance of diversity in law and the role of men in supporting women. The occasion also provided a platform for Christina Blacklaws, then president-elect of the Law Society, to announce a new programme to collect and debate gender data for the very first time.
Dana has always relied very cleverly on storytelling to get her message across: 'Our belief has always been that capturing and telling the inspirational stories of women legal pioneers and today's pioneering women lawyers is the best way to engage audiences with our mission.' To this end, the First 100 Years Project built a Digital Museum and historical video collection. As Dana puts it: 'The aim is to celebrate the heroines, commend the pioneers, and chart the journey of women in law from 1919 to 2019 - not just to protect the historical legacy, but to ensure past mistakes are not repeated, and to further entrench gender equality and advance change. From 2014 to 2019 we looked back, celebrating those who cemented their place in history. Now the ambition is to build on those foundations and accelerate our journey toward equality'.
In the words of Lady Arden DBE, formerly a senior Supreme Court judge who appears in one of the video stories, 'I would just like the next generation to find it easier... and also to make better progress.' The Next 100 Years Project has now launched its #PavingTheWay initiative this year, providing support for 30 undergraduates over a three-year period. 'Each scholarship is named after a different female trailblazer from the from the first 100 years of women in law', Dana tells me, 'and offers more than just financial support. Aside from grants, it also includes mentoring, potential placements at UK law firms, and opportunities to speak at Next 100 Years events, giving scholars exposure, guidance, and real-world experience. The scholarships are aimed at students whose dissertations or research focus on aspects of women's legal history and their contributions to the UK legal system.'
Over the years, I have attended as many of Dana's Inspirational Women in Law Awards events as my diary has allowed. Her passion for celebrating women in law - from those pioneers in the first 100 years to those who will inspire us all in the next - shows no sign of abating. Dana says: 'The Awards are a particularly important part of our portfolio. They are designed to recognise achievement at every stage of a woman's legal career, from students to paralegals, solicitors, barristers, academics, and mentors. Our project is all about learning from the past, celebrating the present, and inspiring the next generation to shape the future. The awards are key to this.'
I asked Dana for a final word: 'We need to sustain the momentum we have built, learn from the past, and accelerate progress, so that the next century of women in law is one of genuine equality, opportunity, and recognition.'
As those in the old boys' network might say, hear, hear!
