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29 January 2021 / Dana Denis-Smith
Issue: 7918 / Categories: Features , Profession , Equality
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Equality: getting back on track

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The impacts of COVID-19 risk turning back the clock on women’s equality: Dana Denis-Smith lays out a road to recovery

It has been widely reported that the coronavirus (COVID-19) lockdowns have had a disproportionate impact on women. They are more likely than men to pick up the additional work within the home associated with educating and caring for their children, even when both parents are at home and work full-time. They are also more likely to work in positions that have been furloughed or made redundant.

Our own survey of women in the legal profession, conducted during the spring lockdown of 2020 and then again in October, have tracked women’s experiences through the pandemic, which at the outset saw women lawyers experiencing exhaustion as they tried to balance childcare with work.

Six months after the first lockdown, almost a quarter still had not seen their incomes return to pre-coronavirus levels, with one in five working less than their previous working hours.

32% worked for organisations which had made redundancies as a result of the pandemic, and 55% said they thought

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Jurit LLP—Caroline Williams

Jurit LLP—Caroline Williams

Private wealth and tax team welcomes cross-border specialist as consultant

Freeths—Michelle Kirkland Elias

Freeths—Michelle Kirkland Elias

International hospitality and leisure specialist joins corporate team as partner

Flint Bishop—Deborah Niven

Flint Bishop—Deborah Niven

Firm appoints head of intellectual property to drive northern growth

NEWS
Talk of a reserved ‘Welsh seat’ on the Supreme Court is misplaced. In NLJ this week, Professor Graham Zellick KC explains that the Constitutional Reform Act treats ‘England and Wales’ as one jurisdiction, with no statutory Welsh slot
The government’s plan to curb jury trials has sparked ‘jury furore’. Writing in NLJ this week, David Locke, partner at Hill Dickinson, says the rationale is ‘grossly inadequate’
A year after the $1.5bn Bybit heist, crypto fraud is booming—but so is recovery. Writing in NLJ this week, Neil Holloway, founder and CEO of M2 Recovery, warns that scams hit at least $14bn in 2025, fuelled by ‘pig butchering’ cons and AI deepfakes
After Woodcock confirmed no general duty to warn, debate turns to the criminal law. Writing in NLJ this week, Charles Davey of The Barrister Group urges revival of misprision or a modern equivalent
Family courts are tightening control of expert evidence. Writing in NLJ this week, Dr Chris Pamplin says there is ‘no automatic right’ to call experts; attendance must be ‘necessary in the interests of justice’ under FPR Pt 25
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