International Business Women's Conference 2014

Having recently become a partner of Women in Business NI, members of Herbert Smith Free hills Belfast were delighted to attend the International Business Women's Conference 2014 as their first official event.

Tuesday 17 June 2014

International Business Women's Conference 2014

The theme of the conference was "Creating a New Economy", and the event was a great opportunity for our team members to attend a mixture of engaging panel debates and select masterclass events that were most relevant to them.

Herbert Smith Freehills has recently set a 30% target for the proportion of women in our global partnership, so the keynote speech about "The Thirty Percent Club & Opportunity Now" was of particular interest. Similarly, the panel session on "The Real Business Case for Diversity" echoed our own experience of the positive impact of embracing diversity and inclusion across our international offices.

The social events and entertainment programme afforded us the chance to meet other Women in Business NI members, and we look forward to building these relationships at similarly successful future events.

Young Leaders NI Conference 2014

Herbert Smith Freehills Belfast was proud to be the main sponsor of the 2014 Young Leaders NI Conference, and to sponsor the award for Northern Ireland's Young Leader of the Year for the third year running.

Young Leaders NI was formed to "Inspire Leadership" amongst young professionals in Northern Ireland and to encourage the leaders of tomorrow.

Introducing the theme of this year's Young Leaders NI conference, "Leadership and Diversity", Lisa McLaughlin, Deputy Director of Herbert Smith Freehills' Belfast office, commented: "I feel enormously privileged to be leading such a talented group of young professionals, some of whom are already inspirational young leaders… The thing that makes me most proud, however, is the culture of respect that exists within our team in Belfast. I know that we have become an employer of choice within the Northern Ireland market as a result of our open and inclusive culture".

Lyn Harris, Quality Manager at Herbert Smith Freehills Belfast, participated in an interactive panel discussion, before joining Dr Leah Totten, 2013 winner of "The Apprentice", to present the award for Young Leader of the year to Neil Logan, a solicitor in a leading Northern Irish law firm.

The success of the conference was testament to the excellent programme the Young Leaders committee worked hard to put together, and which Herbert Smith Freehills Belfast was delighted to support.

Photo Caption: Lyn Harris, Quality Manager, Herbert Smith Free hills and Dr Leah Totton present the Young Leader of the Year Award 2014 to Neil Logan.

Tuesday 17 June 2014