International Women’s Day 2022 Bower Bailey Breaking the Bias

23rd March 2022

To celebrate International Women’s Day 2022 we are highlighting some of Bower Bailey’s successful female achievers. Here we chat to Katie Went, Partner in our Swindon Matrimonial department.

Tell us about your role at Bower Bailey?

I have always been based in the Swindon office and the area of work I cover is family. I also do property work relating to relationship breakdown I qualified in 1996 and joined Bower Bailey in 1998 making partner in 2001 aged 31. I am therefore a ‘lifer.’

Whilst I am a partner my role largely comprises just my fee earning work as the firm is run by the management team. BC (before COVID) I was usually involved in organising events and small bits of admin for the Swindon office which is a close knit community although we have grown a lot over the last 5 years.

What do you enjoy about working at Bower Bailey?

The firm has quite an informal structure which suits me. We have an open door policy and I work very closely with my colleagues here in Swindon; Lauren Webb who is an associate solicitor (very good young family lawyer) and Jesse and Nikki who are our support staff. Lauren and I discuss all our work daily which helps on a number of levels; bouncing ideas of each other, checking we are not off the rails on cases and also a great emotional support as family work does take its toll on you. Listening to people talk about their problems and finding solutions for those problems, which is not always possible, is a skill that many lawyers who don’t do family work have no idea about. It is certainly a skill that I have honed over the years, i.e. trying not take the ‘emotional’ work home with you is very important and something that I talk to Lauren about all the time. I am also only a phone call away from the family lawyers in the other offices so there are people I can call to talk through a thorny issue and hopefully I am someone that the younger lawyers can call for help with their cases. I would hope that they see me as approachable.

Have there been any challenges in your career as a woman in law?

Where do I start…… of course there have been challenges, there are challenges for women in general even when I began my career in the mid 1990’s. The one that stands out is that I think that for all career women if and when you decide to have children there is always that worry about whether your job will be the same again or how people will view you. I had my son in 2005 and I came back to work full-time, but that was only possible with the support of my long suffering partner and also to a certain extent the firm. Whilst at that time there was no formal procedure in place I was trusted to carry out my role without any micro management and to make it fit around my family. I live close to work so that does help. I also feel that whilst I have been there for my son I don’t think my career or work was compromised. However sometimes this is not always possible and I recognise that. I would hope that having gone through this myself that I would be able to offer help and insight to younger colleagues who go through this themselves.

Has the workplace changed for women during your career? If so, how?

The workplace has changed over the years as I think women have become more vocal in a way that is recognised as acceptable and appropriate. Lifestyles have changed immeasurably as well; younger people having more equal roles at home meaning that career women are less likely to give up work or work part time after having children. Every firm can probably do more to assist the progression of women and Bower Bailey is no different. We have a very good crop of young female lawyers in the firm and I can see that they will be great advocates for further change.

Lastly, do you have any top tips or a word of advice for young female lawyers at the start of their careers?

This is a difficult one as I think career issues for younger women are so different from women of my generation in some ways. Also both the legal world and the employment world are changing as well. I think it is important to build a network of support both within your firm but also outside it. I see the younger lawyers at my firm doing this and I think it is important. They can be sounding boards for each other and talk about things that are relevant to them, such as career progression and firm politics. Outside support is also important; some of my oldest friends are people I met at the start of my career who are not all lawyers but who I deal with through work, such as IFA’s. Also not all of these need to be women as it is not always a them and us situation. Given the changes to the working world with more people working from home it is important to remember that peer support is invaluable both professionally and personally.