Clark now is a special counsel in the public law team for Kensington Swan, which this year picked up honours at the Australasian Women in Law Awards including best New Zealand firm for women in business law.
The award acknowledges the firm as instrumental in instigating an inclusive workplace for women - and the opportunities it gives them.
Clark says, "One of the attractions of KS was that it had more women in more senior positions and more women with children working at mid-levels. The firm has a commitment to making flexible hours work and as a working mother that is essential."
Chief executive Alastair Carruthers says Kensington Swan has worked towards being a law firm everyone wants to work at, regardless of gender or circumstances.
"But we have also recognised that women have not found it easy to get ahead in commercial law, so aspects of the system and our thinking need to change. Our strategy has three prongs: getting policies right for everyone, recognising unconscious bias, and providing training that meets the particular needs of women."
The firm has offices in Auckland and Wellington, with 80 lawyers in each office. Fifty-five per cent of KS lawyers are female.
The firm is also well aware that while the majority of new lawyers graduating in New Zealand are women, most partnerships are overwhelmingly led by men.
Carruthers says Kensington Swan is addressing the way its key people think about things such as who is promoted, who applies for roles, and ensuring the firm has a larger number of women in leadership.
"Our current number of female partners stands at approximately 30 per cent, which is significantly higher than other large New Zealand law firms. The tipping point for women to believe they can make it in corporate culture is thought to be when the most senior roles are held by at least 25 per cent."
Charlotte Parkhill, senior associate in the employment team, believes opportunities for women in law in New Zealand are generally very good, "provided that the female lawyer finds a job as a graduate. It is an incredibly competitive market for both male and female lawyers at the graduate level."
She is encouraged by how Kensington Swan has been proactive at encouraging women lawyers to succeed and how it is addressing the issue of women in leadership.
"Rather than ignoring it or relying on the 'meritocracy' argument, the firm has implemented a number of workshops aimed at addressing the lack of women in senior roles within the firm and has also appointed a number of female partners recently.
"The most difficult barrier that women lawyers face is the fact that they reach senior associate level in private practice often at exactly the same time that they are considering starting a family. The next step in the ladder is partnership, which is the biggest step of all in the career path of any lawyer.
"Starting a family at this time has traditionally been perceived as being detrimental to a woman's career. Further, for those who succeed in making it to partnership, balancing family commitments with work commitments can be incredibly difficult. This can result in female lawyers moving away from private practice."
Carruthers says Kensington Swan attracts high-calibre women at all levels, "not least because of the flexibility we provide. Our solicitors have benefited from being trained and mentored by these very talented colleagues, and our clients have a wider range of choices. It's a win-win situation."
The firm organises career development and leadership workshops for its women lawyers.
"We were lucky enough to have hosted Mary Cranston, a leading international company director and former top 100 Global Lawyer," says Carruthers. "She led unconscious bias workshops for everyone in the firm.
"When you consider that 61 per cent of lawyers admitted to the legal profession in 2012 were female, we need to reflect that in our workforce and ensure that we have a large number and range of women in leadership so juniors have a variety of role models."
He says Kensington Swan has not experienced retention issues. "We avoid policies which gender stereotype women's needs and marginalise them or take them off career track. The reality is that partnership slots are rare for everyone - women and men."
Also, flexible working arrangements are offered to anyone by individual agreement, regardless of gender, including flexible hours, working from home/office and performance measures that suit part-time and flexible workers.
"We think it's a myth that high-performing lawyers wanting a fulfilled life must make a choice," he says. "We also do not think that partnerships have to be full-time ... the highest achievements at work needn't curtail anyone's ambitions to have a life outside law."
