Women Breaking Barriers wraps up another term of successful initiatives
Women Breaking Barriers (WBB) is a student-led initiative supported by the University of Leeds' School of Law that aims to celebrate the successes of women.
Co-president Eliza Brownsord told the School of Law about the successful events organised by Women Breaking Barriers (WBB) this term, some of their highlights, and what students can look forward to next academic year.
Diversity of events
This term, WBB organised a wide range of successful events. For example, in celebration of International Women’s Day we collaborated with the University of Leeds’ Law Society and hosted a brunch at Bills with guest panel speakers, Paige Gouldthorpe and Kelly Cunningham. Paige, Deputy Head of Wills and Senior Associate at Fosters Solicitors, accomplished all this despite not having a legal background and began her journey as a receptionist, starting off by making cups of tea. Whereas Kelly is a Sigma Lawyer at Reed Smith Global Solutions Leeds and manages a team of specialist paralegals and qualified lawyers.
This was such an uplifting and supportive event, with great takeaways from our speakers, such as making sure we open the doors for other women rather than close them.
We also hosted our first Criminal Justice sector event of the year which was a great way of increasing the inclusivity of our events to students from Criminology and Sociology. This was a fascinating event to attend, even for those with no background in Criminal Law, and we had inspiring talks from criminal barristers to those that work in probation and charity work.
Highlights of the term
A highlight for us was going down to London for the LawCareer.Net awards and winning ‘Best Social Event’ for 2023 and a nomination for ‘Best Career Event’. The event was a free Wellbeing Workshop, with a yoga session and necklace beading with tea and cake event afterwards. It offered great opportunity for the community of WBB to meet one another and unwind from the stresses of university life. This was the perfect end to the 2023-2024 WBB committee’s year and recognises all the effort we put into our events and community.
My main take-away from my experience as co-president is the importance of having a supportive team. The success of our events is solely down to the strength of the Committee, the support that we offer one another when planning events and the friendliness of the community. In particular, my fellow co-president, Grace and vice president, Emmy, have been crucial to WBB’s success, and I could not have wished for a nicer or stronger executive team.
Why should students attend WBB events?
After every event, we have students coming up to us and highlighting how important these events have been in opening their eyes into different parts of the law, giving them opportunities to network and get work experience and in general create a supportive community.
What I think is so crucial is that students recognise the importance of events that are not exclusively ‘career focused’, as often these events can be just as fulfilling, if not more.
I can say with absolute certainty that WBB’s events in the upcoming academic year is in safe hands. Emmy, the new President, has lots of exciting and engaging ideas for events and concepts to bring the community of WBB closer together. Considering the success of the Social Mobility Event that Emmy ran, I cannot wait to see what is next in store.
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