The future is bright for female solicitors in Dundee, according to a local lawyer, with more women than ever choosing to enter the legal profession.
There are more female solicitors than male in Scotland for the first time, with new figures showing 53% of lawyers in Dundee are women.
Kym Samson, 26, who works for Dundee legal firm Duncan and McConnell, said: “I wanted to be a solicitor from a very young age and I’m not surprised at all that the majority of solicitors in Scotland are female.
“More women than ever want to practise law. Certainly in Dundee, I get on very well with everybody and it’s not a macho environment at all everyone is treated the same.
“There are more women solicitors appearing in the courts and I see that as very positive,
“I don’t see a barrier at all. Dundee is a very friendly environment and I think the figures for female solicitors will continue to rise.”
A Law Society of Scotland report revealed 51% of Scotland’s 11,000+ practising solicitors are female following an influx of women entering the profession in recent years.
The report said 60% of in-house solicitors in the public and private sectors are female compared to 47% of solicitors working in private practice.
There are marginal differences between Scotland’s big cities, with 53% of Dundee and Edinburgh solicitors being female, compared to Glasgow (52%), Aberdeen (51%) and Inverness (48%).
Christine McLintock, president of the Law Society of Scotland, said: “Increasing numbers of women have joined the legal profession over the past decade and it’s great that so many women see their future in law.
“There are many talented men and women working in the legal profession in Scotland and it’s encouraging to see the legal profession continue to grow.
“Although women outnumber men as newly admitted solicitors each year, they continue to be relatively under-represented in senior positions, for example as partners in private practice.
“What is clear is that employers have to take notice of the increasing numbers of young, ambitious women choosing to enter the legal profession and plan accordingly to avoid losing talented individuals from their business.”