Lean In. It’s hard to imagine a bigger story generally for professional women, and therefore women in law, than the conversation sparked this year by Sheryl Sandberg’s book “Lean In.” It has led to a deeper discussion around the hidden biases, gender pay inequality and the reasons women opt out of pursuing their careers through partnership or senior executive leadership.
Changing practice of law. From law school education to law firm structure and the value of corporate legal departments, this year has seen increased attention around where the profession should and needs to move to remain viable and relevant. Disruptive ideas have been emerging with greater frequency, such as outsourcing legal work to cheaper legal markets and the creation of profitable in-house (captive) firms in Britain and Australia providing low-cost specialist legal services across industries.
