Meet Europe’s most influential female lawyers

Progress is being made to achieve gender parity at the top of law firms, but there is still some way to go

Clockwise from top left Rachel Kent, Yen Sum, Tamara Box and Deborah Finkler

Clare Dickinson

Wednesday May 31, 2023 12:01 am

This year's Fifty Most Influential Lawyers includes 15 senior women.

There has been a swathe of promotions of female lawyers into top roles in the last couple of years, including Georgia Dawson at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer becoming the first woman to lead an elite Magic Circle firm, swiftly followed by Aedamar Comiskey becoming senior partner at Linklaters.

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Natasha Harrison set up Pallas Partners a year ago, becoming a rare example of a female founder of a law firm, and she is now building out a diverse team at the London-based organisation.

Firms have been putting targets for gender and ethnic diversity in place and while the latest partner promotions show progress is being made, FN's list demonstrates that there is still some way to go to achieve parity.

Here are the women from the Fifty Most Influential Lawyers 2023:

Penny Angell, UK managing partner, Hogan Lovells

Farmida Bi, chair, Europe, Middle East and Asia, Norton Rose Fulbright

Tamara Box, managing partner, Europe and Middle East, Reed Smith

Sabina Comis, global managing partner elect, Dechert

Aedamar Comiskey, senior partner, Linklaters

Karen Davies, corporate partner and global chair, Ashurst

Georgia Dawson, senior partner, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer

Deborah Finkler, managing partner, Slaughter and May

Natasha Harrison, founder and managing partner, Pallas Partners

Rachel Kent, senior financial services partner, Hogan Lovells

Yen Sum, global chair of the private capital practice, Latham & Watkins