Celebrating International Women's Day, 2024 - Spotlight on Susan Thompson

Today, we turn our spotlight on an inspiring lawyer who has developed an outstanding practice in the field of employment law – Susan Thompson. Susan shares her story and discusses her commitment to supporting International Women’s Day.

Growing up Susan attributes her career aspirations to two distinctly different women from her childhood: the real-life Baroness Helena Kennedy KC and the fictional character Joyce Davenport from the US police series Hill Street Blues in the 1980’s. “I have watched Baroness Helena Kennedy KC being interviewed and presenting many times and I have always been struck by her eloquence and gravitas. Joyce Davenport was a public defender – and, although she practised in criminal law, her determination to do her best for her clients genuinely left a mark on the young me. She was someone I wanted to emulate.”  

Susan’s inspiration to move into employment law came from another contrasting – but once again strong – character, Margaret Thatcher. “I grew up in Scotland in the 1980’s at a time of much industrial relations change and conflict, and employment law became my favourite subject at university. My enthusiasm for the subject has never waned.”

Susan acknowledges the unique balancing act women must maintain in careers like law. “Any career in which high demands are made of you by your clients, work colleagues and peers whilst also trying to combine that with family commitments was, and is still, very tough. Modern technology has helped enormously. Being able to work remotely was a god-send to me when it started to appear approximately 25 years ago… as was the BlackBerry!”

“It is too easy to dismiss the achievements of those who went before us as no longer relevant to the modern woman” Susan says. “International Women’s Day allows us to reflect on and celebrate those achievements, but also reminds us there is still much to be done in improving women’s right worldwide. Education, healthcare and the opportunity to pursue a career is still denied to many women simply by reason of the fact they are female.”

As Simkins’ lead advocate for International Women’s Day, Susan thinks that “getting behind International Women’s Day and what it stands for is really important to me – we started off small about 4 years ago interviewing female colleagues internally and now we are hosting our International Women’s Day networking evening which is shaping up to be a popular, lively and productive evening – which I’m delighted about.”

Susan has always sought to ‘Inspire Inclusion’ within Simkins. She strongly believes that women will continue to rise in the legal industry but recognises that there is still progress to be made. “We now have a Lady Chief Justice, but there is still only two female Supreme Court Justice out of twelve!”

Susan believes strongly in mentoring – both for the step-up it gives young lawyers, but also the satisfaction that the mentors themselves experience. “Watching young lawyers I have worked with ‘get it’ and become fully fledged, amazing lawyers gives me enormous personal satisfaction.” And she offers some simple advice to aspiring female lawyers – "Just go for it!  Work hard and remain genuinely interested in those you work with and the clients you serve."

As we celebrate International Women's Day, it is women like Susan who remind us of what can be achieved and inspire us to continue the drive for true equality of opportunity.