Lana Davey | Principal Solicitor
FOCUSING ON YESTERDAY
Looking back at your journey, what were some of the biggest challenges you faced as a woman lawyer entering the profession?
When I entered the legal profession in 2004, the attitude of many men in senior positions was highly problematic. During my early days as a solicitor, a senior partner said to me “there will never be a female partner in this firm if I have got anything to do with it.” At the time, I was both shocked and somewhat annoyed and I told him that in my view, he needed to change his mind set to save himself the anguish of being outdone by a woman. Therein, lay the challenge. Needless to say, I decided to leave the firm not long thereafter. I subsequently learned that this senior partner had also left the firm a few years later when one of the senior female solicitors at the firm had been appointed to the partnership.
Can you share a pivotal moment or experience from your early days in the legal field that shaped your career path?
I started my legal career primarily as a commercial litigator. Whilst the experience was invaluable and from which I continue to benefit today in legal practice, I did not enjoy it enough to make it my long-term career and so I sought a different pathway. I wanted to work in an area of law which related to people and which would provide me with the opportunity to assist and support clients with the challenges they faced in their personal lives. Family law is what I chose, and almost 20 years on, I still work in that jurisdiction. As family lawyers, we often see people at their worst and whilst our work can be incredibly challenging at times, it is rewarding, in equal measure.
FOCUSING ON TODAY
What makes you feel confident at KHQ Lawyers?
Feeling confident as a legal practitioner is not limited to one’s knowledge and understanding of the law, an ability to establish a rapport with clients, winning a case, or professional aptitude more generally. It is as much about the people we are surrounded by, and with whom we work, each day of our professional lives. Those people are our “work family.” I feel confident working at KHQ Lawyer because I am surrounded and supported by competent, loyal, and kind colleagues. I also value, and enjoy immensely, the opportunity to mentor junior solicitors and to support each of my colleagues in the best way that I can.
Based on what you know now, if you could give your younger self some advice, what would this be?
Working in the law is challenging on so many levels. It is easy to become burnt out, very quickly. With the benefit of hindsight, if I could give my younger self any advice, it would be to always back yourself and be brave, to be direct but diplomatic, to speak your mind and to do so politely and constructively, to look at the big picture and not sweat the small stuff, and most importantly, to take proactive steps to ensure a healthy work-life balance. Your family and your health should be your top priorities. You are no good to anyone if you are tired, stressed, irritable, unhappy, or worst case, dead.
FOCUSING ON TOMORROW
How do you envision the future landscape for women in the legal profession?
Whist nothing is ever perfect, I think that the future landscape for women in the legal profession is looking more positive. If there was anything at all beneficial to emanate from COVID-19, it must surely be societal change in expectation around flexible working arrangements not only in the legal profession, but generally. There can be no doubt that flexible working arrangements will provide women who elect to take leave from the paid workforce the opportunity to return sooner than they may otherwise have been able to do so, and in turn, be promoted at any earlier stage in their career, if that is what they aspire to. Employers who fail or neglect to adhere to societal expectations will not attract and retain talent, and that includes women in spades.
