A legal “pioneer” who was both one of the 海角视频’s first woman solicitors and Manchester’s first female law society president says the sector is “much less stuffy” than when she started - but that there’s still a way to go.
Katharine Mellor was awarded the Lifetime Achievement gong at last month’s Manchester Legal Awards after a 45-year career working on mergers and acquisitions, reorganisations, charities, partnerships and LLPs - serving several hundred clients.
Speaking to BusinessLive, Ms Mellor, who retired from her position as partner of Slater Heelis in March, spoke about challenges in the industry, the effects of the pandemic - and what’s next after hanging up her quill pen.
She said: “It’s very different now from when I came in and it's much, much less stuffy.
“There's far fewer pompous people full of their own self importance which lots of blokes certainly were.
“That sort of public school boy ethos is definitely going. But I'm not saying it's totally gone. I've been to events where it's still a bit like an old boys club - and women don't work like that.”
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She said despite progression, the question of whether the legal sector has achieved gender equality is currently unanswerable.
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She explained: “Until the bulk of women have got a certain number of years under their belt in practice, I don't think you can really answer that question.
“There's certain positions that you're not going to get - you're not going to be the senior partner of a large firm if you qualified two years ago.
“So things are changing and it is moving - we are seeing women being appointed managing partners of big city firms - but I'm not going to get excited.
“When you see the press asking why aren't there more women on the bench - it's an age thing.
“You've just got to have been doing it for a while.”
Starting out, rather than reading law, Ms Mellor studied classics and ancient history at the University of St Andrews before doing her law training in Manchester. She went on to spend “virtually all” her working life in the city.
In 1979, she joined law firm Elliott’s & Company - at a time when there were fewer than 1,000 female solicitors in the entire country. She said although its founder John Elliott - one of the few provincial lawyers to open a London office - was a “traditional man’s man”, he was “very keen to encourage talent”.
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She recalled how after one of her first meetings soon after becoming a salaried partner, he told her “you aren’t going to put the tea out - you’re not here to do that” - which she described as "quite illuminating”.
Described as a “pioneering voice for women” Ms Mellor developed her growing reputation in the Manchester Law Society throughout the 1980s.
At the end of the decade, she was elected as the first ever female president of the organisation - an “unprecedented appointment” at a time when the society and selection committees were entirely male - paving the way for female lawyers to break down barriers in law firms.
Elliott’s then merged with Ricksons Solicitors, where she worked for three years before another merger with DWF at the start of 2007.
Six years later, she left DWF for Slater Heelis, where she had a “very happy seven years” before retiring in 2021.
Described as “formidable, inspiring” and with a legal knowledge “second to none”, Ms Mellor was later recognised in the Legal 500 directory.
Her work with Slater Heelis saw her help grow the corporate team from three people to becoming “one of the most prolific corporate teams in the North West”.
Ms Mellor was honoured at the prestigious Manchester Law Society's Legal Awards that took place online on June 17, at which one of the big winners was Deansgate-based criminal defence lawyer Olliers Solicitors, who took home four awards.
Announcing Ms Mellor's award at the ceremony, current society president Matthew Taylor said: “Our winner certainly has had a lifetime of achievement.
“She retired in March 2021 but in a career spanning 45 years, has touched those she worked with, rallied communities, extensively volunteered her time and expertise across multiple charitable roles, and innovated across the commercial law sector.
“She has been at once a mentor for junior lawyers, a fierce advocate for women in law, and a multifaceted corporate lawyer.”
When asked whether qualifying as one of the country’s first female solicitors came as a challenge, she said: “I never thought about it, really. I possibly headed them off at the pass, I don't know.
“I expected to be in the minority, and in choosing the career to become a solicitor when I was 21, I considered it would be a man's world that I was going to live in, and actually I was very happy with that.
“To be in such a minority - people can't forget you the same. You're not just another man in a grey suit.
“So in some respects, I would say it was an advantage.”
She added: “I think maybe I would say that possibly I didn't see or allow potential discriminations to creep in.
“I don't have any brothers at all so if anybody was going to do anything in the family, it was bound to be a girl that was going to do it - and we were all going to be treated as equally as possible. My parents felt quite strongly about that.”
On becoming the Manchester Law Society’s first ever female president, she said: “In my acceptance speech, to put things in context, I became president as the Berlin Wall came down.
“Now, that's history even to me, to think about the Berlin Wall and what's happened in Europe since then.
“So it is quite a long time ago, in all sorts of respects. And that was for me a highlight both professionally and personally doing that.
“I enjoyed doing the role. It was a lot of work being president of a big society like Manchester, there was a lot to do in normal times.
“In a season, you've got a succession of dinners and other functions to attend, and you still have to fit your fielding work in around all of that.”
Ms Mellor officially hung up her quill pen in March - during the third English lockdown.
She said: “The last 12 months, of course, was just working from home. So it was a funny way to retire.
“But in some respects, it was easier saying to people ‘I'm going, I can't take you out for lunch. I love you very much, all the best.
“I had some very nice letters from people. I'd like to think we'll celebrate once things open.
“But I also accept that life moves on. So people who say, ‘we must have lunch’ - well, I'll wait to see if it happens.”
Ms Mellor, who lives in Bowden and admitted “we didn’t even have pocket calculators” when she started out in the sector, said the acceleration to online working has had both positive and negative effects on working.
She said: “It's about having to work differently.
“I'm glad, really, that I didn't have to cope with [the effects of the pandemic].
“How do you do networking in the time of Covid? How do you meet people, how do you interact with people?
“Let's say you've done a deal. In normal times, you'd have a glass of champagne when you've signed everything and you’d just relax together, get to know them.
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“You can do a Zoom meeting, and have a virtual glass of champagne, but it's not the same and it must be very hard.
“They're actually just sitting at home getting on with the work on screen, but actually that’s also great, because you get a lot less interruptions.
“But you're not building your team, either.
“We have all learnt a lot about new possibilities, and there will be a different attitude now to whether you must be in the office. It'll be interesting to see what develops there.
“But like most people, I'm getting a bit bored with lockdown now.”
On advice for budding lawyers, Ms Mellor said her first piece of advice would be “don’t think you’ve got to do law at university”.
She said: “Go and do the thing that you enjoy the most, and then decide what you're going to do after.
“Because the choice you're going to make when you're 20 or 21 may be very different to the choice that you've fallen into at 17.
“Find out as much as you can about it, see if you can get a week's experience somewhere.
“But stick at it, be prepared to be disappointed.
“Ultimately, believe in yourself. If you don't believe in yourself - and tell yourself that you can’t do it - you won't do it.”
Ms Mellor said post-retirement, she plans to spend more time with family, as well as cook, garden and - once Covid restrictions allow - travel.