A lawyer has been appointed chair of a new regional committee designed to support female solicitors.
Claire-Elaine Arthurs of Wright Hassall’s property team has been selected to head up the Coventry and Warwickshire division of the Association of Women Solicitors following the branch’s inaugural meeting.
The national organisation has a presence in 11 regions across the country but until recently was not represented in Coventry and Warwickshire.
“It is a great privilege to be taking up the position of chair of the newest branch of the Association of Women Solicitors,” said Claire-Elaine, who was the winner of the legal category of Birmingham Young Professional of the Year in 2009.
“Having a local branch will allow female solicitors in this area to have more of a voice on a national level.
“I attended the first meeting as I was interested in being involved but I never expected to be taking this role on.
“When the opportunity presented itself I decided to go for it. It is going to take some hard work to get the branch fully up and running but I already have a team of very enthusiastic and committed women in place to support me.
“We are in the process of putting a committee together and we will be announcing our programme of events for 2011 soon.
“The overall aims of the AWS are to articulate and represent the views of women solicitors, promote women’s interests in the profession, campaign on issues important to women solicitors and actively oppose discrimination against women solicitors.
“It is important Coventry and Warwickshire has its own AWS group as it has a very active business community.
“We have a pool of very talented legal professionals that should be supported and recognised by organizations like AWS at a national level.”
