Lawyer Monthly - Women In Law Special Edition

LAWYER MONTHLY WOMEN IN LAW EDITION 112 a very professional demeanour when dealing with these issues. I ensure I have a very clear focus on instruction and how to achieve the best result for my client. My client can be the parents who may be guilty, falsely accused or an organisation that wants me to train them how to catch the people causing harm to children. My aim is to apply the law in the best manner to achieve the best result for the respective client. In your opinion: what can be done to tackle gender based violence? It is essential to have a uniform approach towards issues so there is clarity in the law and a uniform standard. We need to protect women with such legislation, ensuring jurisdictions protect the rights to education, equal pay and equal treatment. People should not be able to leave one country and commit a crime in another because ‘it is easier’. To tackle this, I believe there should be a global definition of criminal offences, uniform legislation relating to equal treatment and co-operation on enforcement of breaches. Also, teaching self-value, self-respect and the importance of preventing gender-based violence, to children in age appropriate terms will help tackle such injustice and violence and will outline clear respect for the rights of women and girls, whilst promoting and encouraging better treatment towards and by all ethnic groups and all generations. The culture within any society is important, but when traditions dictated by culture are detrimental and cause harm, specifically to women and girls, it is a serious problem. Statistics confirm that women and girls represent a high proportion of those moving around the world and thus are more likely to be the victims of trafficking. It is essential that states take the necessary steps to ensure prevention, detection and a good support system is provided for these women, so they are not exploited. Statistics do show that not enough is being done, therefore appropriate training from the government through to grass root level is essential. Can you expand on your experience speaking at the United Nations? How did you prepare yourself for that? I have recently returned from a conference addressing trafficking but have previously been a panellist and spoken about FGM. I always align myself with the theme and research up to date papers and then apply my practical experience alongside my social interpretation. It is important to also look at the issue from a global perspective whilst also seeing how it applies and affects people locally. I look at issues that affect mainly women and girls in African and in the diaspora communities in Europe, especially in the United Kingdom. As I specialise in training front line workers dealing with harmful traditional practices and preventing violence against women, I find that attending global conferences enables me to establish the best global practice in my field. How can women work together to support other women, rather than against each other? Can this extend to the legal workplace? We need to realise that it is not about competition, it is about collaboration. Your environment, including your business environment, will thrive if it is enabling; when women work together great things happen and when it goes well there is a sense of sisterhood and support. But each woman has to have that same mindset and sadly not all of us do… some do have claws! Helping a woman up the ladder does not mean you have to take a step down. From my own experience, I have found that women can be just as competitive as men at executive level, however, when you realise that collaborating does not remove competitiveness, you actually accomplish more and progress quicker. Legal environments are very competitive; as lawyers, we strive to win. But we can also achieve good results with settlements, saving our clients’ time, money and stress, so it is not always about being aggressive in order to ‘win’, but being tactful and negotiating well. We must not be naïve, as at the end of the day ‘business is business’, and so maintaining clear working terms, conditions and agreements is essential for cohesion. Entwining all these factors will push for a more collaborative and supportive atmosphere. Ms Jennifer Obaseki FOUNDER AND SENIOR PARTNER Holding a BA in Law and Economics, Jennifer founded Obaseki Solicitors and is the senior partner. With her successes in representing clients with difficult immigration and human rights matters spreading internationally, the practice is considered to have leading influence. The firm specialises and is dedicated to improving human rights, family rights as well as assisting clients to develop successful businesses- they have acquired a number of awards and extensive testimonials. Q Q Q