Dannielle Ford

Laying down the law

A 2015 Law Society of NSW survey makes for interesting reading. It found that some 75% of private female legal practitioners were employees and less than 13% were principal solicitors in a law practice. Not only that, but the estimated mean income of female lawyers was 10% lower than the profession as a whole, a trend supported more recently by the Australian Taxation Office.

There's no getting away from it, law remains a profession still largely dominated by men, especially at the top of the profession. Which makes the firm Cheney Suthers Lawyers in Orange, NSW, and the achievements of Dannielle Ford worth celebrating.

UNE alumna Dannielle became a director of the firm in April 2019, when she joined forces with fellow partners Kirsty Evans and Alice Byrnes to create the first all-female legal practice in her home city. For Dannielle, it was the culmination of 12 years at Cheney Suthers (formerly known as Cheney and Wilson) - first combining full-time work as a legal secretary with full-time study (Bachelor of Criminology/Bachelor of Laws at UNE) and then her work as a solicitor with motherhood.

However, like her fellow directors, Dannielle says she would prefer not to be defined by her gender. "We have clients who are male, female, boards of directors, partners, etc, who are from all walks of life,” she says. "We think we run a good business, we are incredibly good at what we do and it just so happens we are all female."

The trio has worked hard to create a workplace that is supportive of all staff and their individual ambitions. "My son Mack wasn't quite two, Kirsty had a six-month-old baby (her second child) and Alice's son (also her second child) was about 13 months old when we went into partnership," Dannielle says. "Our practice works because we agreed we had to be open and honest, we know there are things we have to plan for, like parental leave. It's great to all be on the same page with sleepless nights, sick kids and family responsibilities. We all just get it. I always say that I gained two wives in the process."

Still, Dannielle is pleased to see more women taking on high-profile leadership roles in the Law Society of NSW, Bar Associations and Law Councils. The society's relaunch of its Charter for the Advancement of Women is another positive step. "It focuses on the promotion of women into leadership positions and has prompted transparent sexual discrimination practices and complaints processes," Dannielle says. "Businesses are encouraged to sign up to the charter, to call out any offensive or intimidating behaviour and ensure that workplace sexual harassment or bullying is not tolerated." Of course, Cheney Suthers is a signatory to the charter.

Fortunately, Dannielle has experienced none of that herself. Her former employers were supportive of both her study and parental leave, and floated the idea of her becoming a partner even before Dannielle had contemplated it herself. "I brushed off the thought of owning a law firm; it was something that I thought I might do when I was in my mid-40s," says the 30-year-old.

Since November 2020 Dannielle has been president of the Central West Law Society and, from 2016-18, was an executive councillor of NSW Young Lawyers. Mack accompanied her to Sydney for council meetings, "either babbling or screaming or both".

Accustomed to "doing it all" for so long, especially combining full-time work and full-time study, Dannielle says she did find the juggling act decidedly more difficult when Mack came along. "I was someone who always made sure I was on top of things, so I struggled for a time," she says. "But then I heard about author Nora Roberts' glass ball theory and that the key to juggling is knowing that some of the balls you have up in the air are made of plastic and some are made of glass, and you have to work out which ones you can and can't drop.

"Before taking over the law firm I would probably have beaten myself up about some of the plastic balls, but now, if they drop from time to time, it's not the end of the world. Taking a step back brings a great deal of relief."

Taking over ownership of the law firm was nevertheless a big undertaking. "I would never have done it on my own, absolutely not, but knowing that there are three of us, we do what we need to do to get the job done and we have a really great time doing it," Dannielle says. "The staff (who happen to all be female, except for two male consultants) have backed us from day one and I love working with members of our team every day. We have a team lunch once a month, to catch up, discuss what we can do better and how we can improve the staff experience within our office, as well as our service to clients.

"We deal with clients on some of the most important transactions or matters in their lives and, being in regional Australia, you will often see those clients out on the street. Client referrals are such a huge part of our work and you want to leave a good impression. You need to know how to talk to people."

But there is one part of her role that Dannielle finds challenging, even today - job interviews. "I have only ever had one myself, when I was appointed to the role of legal secretary with Cheney and Wilson (as it then was) 12-odd years ago, just after my 19^th birthday," she says. “That interview was done by phone while I sat in the dining room at Robb College. I had no idea at that time that I was having an interview to work in the firm that I would, one day, own.”