International Women's Day 2023 - Emily Exton
To celebrate International Women’s Day (IWD) 2023, Forsters is delighted to be releasing a series of Q&As with some of our partners and employees who go above and beyond to champion equity across our business.
We hope they will provide an insight into what drives those individuals who are really pushing the equity agenda forward.
Emily Exton is the Managing Partner here at Forsters. Emily was Head of the firm’s Dispute Resolution group between 2015-2020, before being appointed to Managing Partner in February 2020. Read more about Emily here:
1. Tell us a bit about yourself.
I am a 54 year old woman lucky enough to be in good health and the Managing Partner of a fantastic law firm. I am married to Eugene and have two children, Olivia (24) and Tessa (21), young women I am extremely proud of.
2. How does this year’s theme of Embrace Equity resonate with you?
That equity is important seems obvious to me – we are all human beings and should be respected as such. That said, I think it is also important to embrace our diversity as humans – our differences are what makes life interesting and we have much to learn from each other.
3. Tell us about your most inspiring female role models (whether at Forsters, clients, or beyond).
I am fortunate to have two great role models in my personal life – my mother and a close family friend of her generation. Both are clever, strong and independent women as well as being great mothers (and now grandmothers). They have both been inspirational for me in their different ways.
4. What has been the highlight of your career?
I have two. The Forsters CTE team winning Contentious Trusts and Estates Team of the Year at the STEP Awards in 2019 and becoming Managing Partner in February 2020.
5. What has been your biggest career challenge(s)?
Helping to guide Forsters through the Covid-19 pandemic while a very new Managing Partner!
6. What is the best advice you have been given?
If you don’t look after yourself then you can’t look after anyone else.
7. What message would you send to young women today?
Work out who you are and what suits you in terms of career and then be prepared to commit time and energy to it in order to get the most out of it. While appreciating that having children is not something which is available to or desired by all, my message to those who do have children is that investing in a fulfilling career is worthwhile because one day the children will be adults living their own lives and you will still have plenty to give!
8. Have you seen progress in the area of gender equity, and equity generally, over the course of your career?
Yes. Whatever one thinks about the state of the world today, some things are definitely better!
9. What did you dream of doing when you were a child?
Occasionally Architecture but I didn’t really have a grand plan – I mostly just wanted to go to university. I am definitely not someone who always wanted to be a lawyer and I read PPE rather than Law. But as soon as I worked out that being a solicitor was what I wanted to do it felt so obvious – I enjoy people and problems!
10. What benefits do you feel working at a firm with a gender balanced partnership?
I feel that our culture has benefited enormously from its gender balance. Having a number of great female lawyers as founding partners really set the tone from the beginning and I think has been a big part of our commitment to inclusion – it has always been OK at Forsters to be juggling other commitments and interests with the working part of life as so many women do.