Year: 2019

Women in Law Project Week 2 – Claire McFadzean

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As part of our ongoing ‘Women in Law Wednesday’ series on our social media we chose to put our Academic Director, Claire McFadzean, in the spotlight. As well as being the Academic Director of GCU Law Clinic, Claire is also a Lecturer in Law here at GCU, a Solicitor and a Senior Fellow (HEA). We have chosen Claire this week not only because she is a driving force behind the Women in Law project and the clinic, but also because she provides all of us here at the clinic with guidance and support in pursuing our own careers as women in law. Anyone that has taken a module run by Claire will know how valuable her lessons are. As well as taking you through what you need to pass the module, Claire’s classes always focus on skills that you can take forward into your career. When moving into 3rdand 4thyear and applying for traineeships, it becomes clear how important this is.

We asked Claire about her career journey so far, ‘I am very proud to have qualified as a solicitor and worked for a number of years within the legal profession as a commercial lawyer. In 2006 I decided to alter the trajectory of my career and moved from practice to academia. I now have the privilege of teaching the next generation of lawyers.’

We also asked her what being a ‘woman in law’ means to her, ‘throughout my career I have had the pleasure of working with a number of inspirational women who have provided me with both support and opportunity for development through their mentoring. As a woman in law I think it is important to pay this forward for the next generation of women’.

If you have any suggestions for who should be our next ‘Women in Law Wednesday’, please let us know @gculawclinic on Twitter and Instagram.

100 years of Women in Law – and the launch of our Women in Law project!

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Last year marked a huge step in gender equality; one hundred years since women were given the vote in British parliamentary elections. This year we are celebrating another landmark moment. It is one hundred years since women entered the legal profession. The Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act 1919 allowed women in the UK to become solicitors, advocates and to sit on a jury.

This anniversary is particularly important to the West of Scotland as the first woman to practice law after the introduction of the act was a University of Glasgow graduate. Madge Anderson, born and raised in Glasgow, gained her LLB in 1919 upon the changes made by the act. GCU Law Clinic have chosen Madge Anderson as our first ‘Woman in Law Wednesday’, a series we will be running on our Instagram throughout the project (@gculawclinic). We will be inviting suggestions for who should be our ‘Women in Law Wednesday’ each week, so head over to our Instagram to let us know.

In order to mark this important occasion, the GCU law clinic will be starting a “Women in Law” project. This project will feature interviews from influential women in the Scottish Legal Profession, as well as informative talks, blog posts and social media posts. These will be used to highlight the successes, and struggles, of women within the Legal Profession. The project will be running from now until March 2020, in the run up to International Women’s Day. We hope to use this project to provide information about the female journey into the legal profession and hopefully use this information to inspire a new generation of female law students.

By Emma Smith, GCU Law Clinic Volunteer, LLB1