Eva Crawley Award
Eva Crawley OBE (1928-2003) was an inspirational woman to whom women solicitors owe much gratitude for over thirty years of dedication, hard work and creativity in their cause. When she saw a need she attempted to supply it and she was instrumental in setting up a mentoring scheme for women solicitors and a returner course for those who have been out of the profession for some time. She was also president of the North Middlesex Law Society and the Solicitors Benevolent Association.
In 1998 an award was instituted in her name to be given to women solicitors who have made an outstanding, and possibly unremunerated, contribution to the advancement of women in the law, of which she was the first recipient. Four subsequent awards have been made.
- Eva Crawley (1998) was AWS chairwoman 1975-77 and set up both the returner course and the mentoring scheme.
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Alison Parkinson (2000) was chairwoman of both the AWS and of the Holborn Law Society and was the AWS's first representative on the Law Society Council. She has been indefatigable in establishing and maintaining links with lawyers in other countries.
- Geraldine Cotton (2003) is a past AWS chairwoman who revitalised the mentoring scheme and was director of the returner course.
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Elizabeth Cruickshank (2005) is a past AWS chairwoman, a legal biographer and writer and editor of Link from 2000 to 2008.
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Dawn Dixon (2011) is a past AWS chairwoman and the first London chairwoman to come from an ethnic minority background. She is legal counsel for the Council for Education in World Citizenship and is an advisory panel member for the College of Law.
Lifetime Achievement Award
The AWS has made only one Lifetime Achievement Award. This was given to Rosalind Bax in 2006. In 1972 Rosalind became the first female equity partner in a major City law firm. Together with Eva Crawley she was instrumental in ensuring the continuance of the AWS in the late 1960s and then became its chairwoman in 1977. Rosalind has been over a long life a very positive role model to women solicitors and an encouraging supporter of their aspirations.
The Fiona Woolf Lecture
Fiona Woolf CBE has built an international energy and infrastructure practice at CMS Cameron McKenna and has worked in 38 jurisdictions. She was only the second woman to become president of the Law Society and the first AWS chairwoman to attain that position.
In addition she has been a member of the Competition Commission, a visiting professor at Harvard University, and chairman of the Chelsea Opera Group. Elected as only the third female sheriff in the City of London, Fiona is now in line to be elected as only its second female lord mayor.
In 2007 the AWS and the Law Society instituted an annual lecture to be delivered by a highly regarded professional woman in honour of Fiona who was at that time president of the Law Society.
2008 Fiona Woolf herself challenged the AWS to explore the substantial gender pay gap revealed in the Law Society's annual legal salary survey and to find solutions. This resulted in the launching of the Equal Pay Campaign to draw attention to inequalities of pay in the legal sector, to explore its causes and to suggest potential solutions.
2009 Professor Susan Vinnicombe OBE MA PhD MCIM FRSA in her lecture 'The Myths of Women and Leadership' considered why there are so few women at the top of organisations.
2010 Cherie Booth QC speaking on 'Networking – Collaboration and Cooperation for Women in the Law' pointed out the vital need for networking and support for women professionals and how this can be achieved by alternative methods such as mentoring.
2011 Shami Chakrabarti in 'Liberty & Common Values' concentrated on exploring some of the myths associated with the Human Rights Act and Equality legislation, arguing that the most important principle in both is and should remain equality of treatment.
2012 Miriam Gonzalez Durantez examined the challenges for female solicitors and the contribution that they can make at home and abroad in 'Raising her Voice'. She explained the work of 'Circle of Lawyers', an organisation which joins lawyers from all areas and types of practice with the aim of helping women worldwide.