Solicitors’ Livery Dinner
2nd November 2023I first met Sarah De Gay in Harrogate. I was seated next to her husband and fellow lawyer, Howard Kleiman. Sarah was the first Chief Legal Counsel at Slaughter and May. She now serves as a special advisor to the firm. Sarah is an incredible professional. She is co-author of The In-Houser, the Slaughter and May publication which translates SRA rules for in-house lawyers, and regularly speaks to clients on that topic and on ethics-related matters more generally.
She is also a Visiting Professor of UCL’s Faculty of Laws, an independent lay member of the Editors’ Code of Practice Committee, Senior Warden of the City of London Solicitors’ Company and a Member of the Editorial Board of Cordery on Legal Services. Sarah was given the Chief Compliance Officer of the year award in 2015 (awarded by Women in Compliance to the woman whose abilities are recognised as outstanding by peers across the global compliance community).
Sarah is a great Master who has elevated the Solicitors’ Company and its charities, as they promote the interests of solicitors in the City of London. According to their website, The Company was the brainchild of four solicitors practising in the City who called a meeting of interested parties in Innholders' Hall on 16 June 1908 at which it was resolved "to form a Company of City Solicitors practising within the City be formed on the model of the Ancient City Guilds". The proposals were approved and the Company was registered in March 1909. Early records show that professional matters were at the heart of the Company from the outset with regular lectures being held and a law library being established. A number of Committees were also formed to comment on a wide range of legal matters.
Sarah promises not only to make her mark as a Master; but, as a friend. One of the attributes I admire about Sarah is her ability to tackle a topic head on. As one of a small percentages of women Masters, Sarah deftly addressed the subject during her Livery Dinner. I was honoured to be in attendance.
From Sarah’s speech:
“Four months in, I have met many members of both the profession and other livery companies. And to my surprise the question I have been most frequently asked is this - “Why are you Master?”.
Initially, I found the meaning of that question hard to divine. But I have come to realise, it’s all in the emphasis.
“Why are you Master?” might suggest I lack the necessary credentials for the job.
Whereas “Why are you Master?” might suggest the job is not worth having.
But once I’d been asked the question a few times, and sought clarification from those posing it, it has become clear that in all cases the emphasis is in fact on the word “Master”. “Why are you Master?” is simply another way of saying “Why aren’t you Mistress?”.
Now I understand the question, the answer is very easy to deliver – “It’s because my livery company thinks that women as well as men can be masterful.”
Trotting out this response on multiple occasions has given me cause to consider what it means to be “masterful”. Sir Thomas Lund who was Master of the Solicitors Company in 1959/60 was her inspiration. Beyond the customary attributes: “• curious and inventive;
• interested in exploring what professionalism and charity require of us as City solicitors; and
• above all things committed to access to justice and the rule of law.“…. “There was a part of Sir Thomas which just wanted to have fun. This fondness for socialising, networking and fellowship is indeed something which is important not just to Masters but also our wider membership. It is an important part of what makes our Company special.”
Fundamentally Sir Thomas Lund’s talents are ones that every Master aspires to and ones that make each company special and successful. They are certainly ones that Sarah De Gay can claim as her own and I am proud to say ones that our own Company possesses as well!