Women who lead
Meet I. Stephanie Boyce, president of The Law Society, who has worked tirelessly to improve diversity in her profession and who hopes to inspire the next generation
My dream of joining the legal profession began many years ago, growing up in a Caribbean household in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, which, in the 1970s, was a small sleepy market town with little diversity compared with today.
The lack of diversity meant I was raised with the sounds of injustices ringing in my ears. Both domestically and globally, I could see people struggling to exercise their rights and this is what initially inspired me to become a solicitor. I could see the way that law touched every part of our lives. Legal rights mean absolutely nothing if you don’t know what those rights are or even when those rights are being taken away.
The sense of injustice seemed even more apparent when I moved to the US with my family as a teenager. I was very aware of the colour of my skin and how Black people were treated differently. I was overwhelmed by the poverty and the inability to access justice because of low socio-economic position and race.
Aged 19, I graduated from high school and returned to the UK, still set on a career in law. It was not straightforward, as my US qualifications weren’t recognised and it took me another two years of part-time study, while supporting myself with jobs in the Post Office and British Rail, before I finally got a place to study law at London Guildhall University.
In 2002, I qualified as a solicitor. Despite my age (then 30) and despite my low socio-economic background, I had made it – an achievement that still fills me with pride to this day. It took me a while to get my first job and I was made redundant twice in as many years. So, tired by that, I decided to take in-house governance roles, including at The General Council of the Bar, The Pensions Regulator and Ofsted.
CHANGING THE PROFESSION
In March 2021, I became the first person of colour to be elected as president in the almost 200-year history of The Law Society of England and Wales, the organisation that governs solicitors. It took four attempts for me to achieve this position and I was so determined that I would have kept on going if it hadn’t happened then.
When I took office, diversity and inclusion was a top priority in my presidential plan. I am determined to leave the legal profession a more diverse and inclusive one than I entered. More must be done to remove barriers, open doors and confront unacceptable behaviours that do not allow everyone the opportunity to succeed and make the most of their talents.
This year marks 35 years since Black History Month began in the UK. The Black Lives Matter m
