Attendees, including current and past mentors, mentees, and support committee members, at the AWW Cohort 3 launch event in Johannesburg, June 13, 2024. Photo credit: Dr. Kim Lamont-Mbawuli/AWW The new cohort kicked off with tailored onboarding events for the three key groups of participants: mentees, mentors, and members of the mentor support committee, which offers guidance and insight to mentors. Mentees: A virtual onboarding session for the new group of mentees on May 27 began with opening remarks by Judge Nokuthula Daniso of the High Court of South Africa, who emphasized the importance of mentorship in shaping one’s career... read more
Post tagged in "WIP"
Advancing Women in the Workplace Mentorship Program Launches 3rd Cohort in South Africa
Posted on June 21, 2024
Vance Center and IAWL Co-Host International Women’s Day Program
Posted on March 14, 2024On March 8, International Women’s Day, the Vance Center and IAWL hosted a virtual professional development program entitled “Count Her In: Gender Equality in the Workplace.” Lorraine McGowen, the Vance Center’s executive committee co-chair and partner at Orrick, provided opening remarks. In her introduction, McGowen outlined the Vance Center’s more than two decades of work on inclusion and diversity on the African continent, beginning with the creation of the African Legal Fellows Program more than 20 years ago, and expanding into new initiatives like a mentorship program for young Black women lawyers in South Africa, a pro bono clearinghouse in... read more
Women in the Profession Program Launches First U.S. Chapter in Miami
Posted on March 20, 2024Panelists at the WIP Miami chapter launch, Miami Beach, March 13, 2024. Photo credit: Vance Center The morning featured a panel discussion, “The Impact of General Counsels within Organizations and Law Firms on Diversity and Women’s Empowerment,” moderated by Fradyn Suárez, partner at law firm King & Spalding and a member of the inaugural WIP Miami Steering Committee. The panelists – Mariana Seixas, Senior Counsel at SoftBank Investment Advisers; Lin Cherry, Chief Talent Experience Officer at Wizeline; and Rosalía Roman Urcuyo, Chief Counsel of Non-Sovereign Operations, Legal Affairs at the Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean (CAF) –... read more
AWW Legal Forum Celebrates Mentorship Program, Launches Groundbreaking Survey and South African WIP Chapter
Posted on March 18, 2024AWW mentors, mentees, organizers and supporters at the AWW Legal Forum in Johannesburg, South Africa, March 1, 2024. Photo credit: Gabriel Thomas/SP Events and Tech On March 1, the Vance Center and its South African Legal Fellows Network, through its Advancing Women in the Workplace (AWW) program, in collaboration with the United States Mission to South Africa, hosted an afternoon full of celebration and firsts. Dozens of mentors, mentees, law firm partners, judges, academics, and other supporters gathered at the Sandton offices of law firm Baker McKenzie for the Advancing Women in the Workplace Legal Forum, which featured a presentation... read more
Our Year in Review: 2023 at the Vance Center
Posted on January 5, 2024Upholding Core Elements of Democratic Governance An Independent Judiciary: Working closely with the Latin American Federation of Judges (FLAM) and other national and regional partners, the Latin America Policy Program continued to call out threats to judicial independence and support judges in asserting their key role as defenders of democracy. Our actions included a thematic hearing before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) on threats to judicial independence, publishing country-level assessments of judicial independence in seven countries, and continuing to pursue justice for exiled Guatemalan judge Erika Aifán. Spotlight: Inter-American Dialogue on Judicial Independence The IACHR hearing inspired an... read more
WIP Chapters Survey Women’s Representation in Peru and Celebrate Leadership in Mexico
Posted on December 4, 2023Panelists speak during an event presenting the results of WIP Peru’s survey on women’s representation in Peruvian law firms, November 24, 2023. Photo credit: WIP Perú On November 24, Peruvian chapter WIP Perú presented the results of its “2023 Survey on the Presence and Professional Growth of Female Lawyers in Leading Legal Firms.” The study, conducted and analyzed by Datum Internacional, collected data from 45 law firms in Peru, which were selected based on their inclusion in high-profile legal databases such as the Legal 500. The event began with an overview of the survey results, followed by an engaging panel... read more