FeMale Leaders - Switzerland Event, Zurich | 26 March 2026
Baker McKenzie Switzerland recently hosted the FeMale Leaders event at its Zurich office, featuring neuro-coaching expert Mona Ghazi. The session was highly interactive, with participants lively engaging throughout. Mona Ghazi shared valuable insights on resilience and neuroscience, offering practical strategies for female leaders to manage stress, make confident decisions, and empower their teams.
FeMale Leaders – Christmas Market, Germany Event, Frankfurt/Main | 10 December 2025
On 10 December 2025, we were delighted to welcome more than 125 inspiring FeMale Leaders from business and media to our Christmas Market on the rooftop terrace of Kreisler in Frankfurt. In a special atmosphere, the evening offered meaningful exchange, fresh perspectives, and valuable networking opportunities.
A highlight of the evening was the keynote by Jeanine Morina, IT Area Lead Home at ING Germany. In her talk, “Rethinking Leadership – Balancing Career, Family and the Courage to Step into New Roles,” she shared insights into modern leadership, taking responsibility in new roles, and leading with a baby - a topic that inspires confidence and opens up new perspectives.
FeMale Leaders supports women who already hold leadership positions or are on their way to becoming one - by providing inspiration, networking opportunities, and empowerment.
We are proud that our partners Katharina Stüber and Katja Häferer were honored with the Inclusion, Diversity & Equity Impact Award 2025 by Baker McKenzie for their outstanding commitment and leadership in promoting gender diversity and strengthening female talent through the FeMale Leaders initiative.
FeMale Leaders — Switzerland event, Geneva | 16 October 2025
The recent FeMale Leaders event at Baker McKenzie Switzerland’s Geneva office brought together participants for an evening of networking and conversation. Wine District led a tasting featuring Burgundy wines and sparkling champagnes produced by women, many from estates with biodynamic certification and focused on sustainability. Accompanied by artisanal cheeses, the event encouraged discussion and highlighted both French wine regions and the contributions of women in the industry.
FeMale Leaders - Switzerland Event, Zurich | 7 October 2025
The recent FeMaleLeaders event at Baker McKenzie Switzerland gathered FeMale leaders and male allies for a master class on negotiation skills. Participants learned why negotiations can go off track and how to manage them, including how to handle colleagues’ reactions under pressure.
Featured speaker Matthias Schranner, an expert negotiator, explained how emotions impact high stakes talks and shared practical tips for using emotions strategically. He also helped participants understand their personality traits, strengths and blind spots, providing them with tools for handling emotional situations with confidence.
FeMale Leaders – Germany, Frankfurt/Main | 1 July 2025
On 1 July 2025, we welcomed numerous guests to the FeMale Leaders event at the event location and youth culture church Sankt Peter in Frankfurt am Main. Under the motto ‘Transformation. Courage. Attitude. Passion. Action!’, outstanding female leaders discussed the challenges and opportunities of change and leadership with the audience.
The evening kicked off with a joint opening speech by our Baker McKenzie partners Katharina Stüber and Katja Häferer, who emphasised the importance of diversity, visibility and active networking in the context of leadership. Their impulse set the tone for an evening full of inspiration and exchange.
A particular highlight was the high-calibre panel featuring Christina Diem-Puello (founder & managing director of Deutsche Dienstrad GmbH, president of the Association of Women Entrepreneurs in Germany), Dr Arina Freitag (CFO, TenneT Holding BV), Friederike Helfer (partner, Cevian Capital) and Bettina Kramer-Braun (general counsel, Deutsche Börse Group). The discussion was moderated by Claudia Schick, who guided the programme with a keen sense for the topics of the evening.
We were also particularly pleased with the active participation of our guests. At FeMale Leaders, we not only bring committed women together, but also consciously involve male allies in the dialogue – in line with our motto: ‘Shaping a better future, together.’
‘This was my first time attending the event, as other commitments had always prevented me from coming before, and I am absolutely thrilled with it. It's fantastic and so dynamically different. I will definitely try to attend all future events and look forward to further exchanges.’
– Participant
The #FeMaleLeaders initiative promotes more women in leadership positions – supported by the commitment of our partners Katharina Stüber and Katja Häferer, who once again brought together strong personalities for the event and effectively connected them with each other.
We look forward to seeing you again at FeMale Leaders!
FeMale Leaders - Switzerland Event, Zurich | 11 June 2025
Our recent FeMale Leaders event in Zurich was a resounding success.
We addressed the significant impact of (peri)menopause on women's careers as our guest, Bettina von Seefried, founder of “gynhealth” and a distinguished specialist in gynecology and obstetrics, provided invaluable insights on the economic impacts, workplace support and hormonal changes associated with this life phase and appealed to the audience to raise awareness of the topic.
Participants had the unique opportunity to learn, discuss, network and connect, gaining practical knowledge to support themselves or others during this significant phase. We express our sincere gratitude for the high interest and lively participation.
FeMale Leaders - Switzerland Event, Geneva | 15 April 2025
For our spring edition of the FeMale Leaders event at our Geneva office, we offered a masterclass on authentic storytelling. Our speaker, Polina Nesterenko, senior director of Analytics and Insights at Procter & Gamble, provided invaluable insights into enhancing storytelling by understanding its transformative potential, crafting impactful stories for various contexts, adjusting stories to stakeholders and applying storytelling beyond social media.
The interactive seminar aimed to equip our guests with skills to make a memorable impact and was highly appreciated, ending the evening with further discussions over a pleasant apéro.
FeMale Leaders - Event Germany | Christmas Market | 11 December 2024
On 11 December 2024, over 160 impressive FeMale Leaders met at the annual Christmas Market for "power networking" at the Villa Main Suites in Frankfurt's Westhafen. Christine Thoma, Head of "People and Corporate Culture" at Eintracht Frankfurt Fußball AG, gave an inspiring keynote speech about her experiences as an active footballer and how they can be transferred to professional life.
The festive atmosphere and the breathtaking view of the River Main provided the ideal setting for intensive discussions and valuable networking. Our Baker McKenzie partners Katharina Stueber and Katja Haeferer are delighted with the many inspiring encounters and new connections that we were able to create through our FeMale Leaders event.
One participant commented enthusiastically: "Thank you so much for having me! You created an extraordinarily inspiring and empowering event. And the setting was fantastic."
Another participant added: "Thank you very, very much for the wonderful invitation, the inspiring evening and the highly interesting new professional contacts! In my opinion, your law firm has created a strikingly high-calibre and sustainable format with this series of events that is truly unparalleled! Thank you for letting me be a part of it!".
FeMale Leaders — Switzerland Event | 7 November 2024
It was a great pleasure to host our second FeMale Leaders event at our Geneva offices. This time, we dove into a topic that is currently all over the media: "What can we learn from Harris and Trump when it comes to the art of public speaking?"
Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are both masters of public speaking in their own way. What can we learn from them when it comes to speeches? We were delighted to offer an interactive masterclass on public speaking techniques in which Simon Ntah analyzed the rhetorical techniques and strategies applied by Harris and Trump and provided practical tips that we can use when we’re asked to present or speak in public
Our guests greatly appreciated the insightful seminar, and we ended the evening with further discussions over a nice apéro.
FeMale Leaders — Switzerland Event | Leadership in the age of AI meets future of work | 18 September 2024
Our autumn edition of FeMale Leaders in Zurich dived into a topic that is currently on everyone's lips: artificial intelligence! However, we were not focusing on the technical aspects, AI governance frameworks or legal risks of AI. We were instead delighted that our guest, Katrin J. Yuan, was showing us the opportunities that artificial intelligence presents in leadership and work. After unleashing the secrets of AI, we continued the discussions with Katrin and among ourselves at a lovely networking aperitif.
FeMale Leaders — Switzerland Event | 13 June 2024
It was a great pleasure to host the first FeMale Leaders session in Baker McKenzie Switzerland's Geneva office. We were delighted to have Roula Clerc-Nassar, founder of Ellumine Consulting & Coaching, with us. For many years, Roula has been on a successful mission of inspiring women in business to lead fulfilling careers and lives. She spoke to us about the five main barriers that can undermine our achievements and offered her personal reflections on how to overcome them.
This insightful and interactive session was followed by a relaxed apéro, where we all had the chance to continue our conversation with Roula. We are already looking forward to our next FeMale Leaders event.
FeMale Leaders Germany - "Are you still working or enjoying life already?" | 11 June 2024, Frankfurt/Main
The network continues to grow! On 11 June 2024, around 220 successful and inspiring women followed Baker McKenzie Germany's invitation to the art gallery of the Frankfurt Kunstverein Familie Montez. At the largest FeMale Leaders event to date, female managers from various industries once again had the opportunity to exchange ideas and network in a unique atmosphere.
True to the motto, "Shaping a better future, together," with which Baker McKenzie wants to take innovative steps on the "Inclusion, Diversity & Equity Journey," male guests, so-called allies, were also invited to this exclusive event this year. They also support our goal of sustainably increasing the proportion of female managers.
To the panel discussion which was moderated by Claudia Schick (Hessischer Rundfunk), Baker McKenzie partners Katharina Stüber and Katja Haeferer welcomed the high-calibre panel of female managers from various industries to the topic, "Are you still working or enjoying life already?": Karin Dohm (CFO, Hornbach Holding AG & Co. KGaA and member of the supervisory board at Ceconomy and Danfoss), Julia Kranenberg (CHRO/COO Ground Services, Fraport AG), Dagmar Mundani (General Counsel, Siemens Healthineers AG) and Astrid Teckentrup (CEO, Procter & Gamble in Germany, Austria and Switzerland).
In the urban and creative ambience, our guests were able to admire the current exhibition, "Transformation Solo Exhibition," by Firoozeh Akhlaghi in addition to the permanent exhibition of the Montez Family Art Gallery. The power networking with, among other things, a phenomenal view of the sky tower of the European Central Bank was very inspiring and a great pleasure!
We are already looking forward to further events — it goes on!
FeMale Leaders — Switzerland Event | 20 March 2024
Baker McKenzie Switzerland has joined the Europe-wide Baker McKenzie campaign "FeMale Leaders" in 2024 and recently held its first event under the new name.
We had a discussion with female leaders about new beginnings, and we were delighted to welcome Manuela Leonhard, who, after an unusual career path, started a social media career at age 50. Manuela has always followed her own path and done things differently: from being a mother of four to being a flight attendant, to working as the mayor of Zurich's assistant, to now becoming a social media star.
We spoke with Manuela about why she built her career "anti-cyclically" and where she found the strength for change. Of course, we also wanted to get some tips from her on reorientation and success on social media.
FeMale Leaders - Christmas Market | 5 December 2023
Power networking with “FeMale Leaders”: Again a successful event full of inspiration. On 5th December 2023 around 140 women attended the “FeMale Leaders Christmas Market” and enjoyed the Christmas atmosphere at the roof terrace of the Ruby Louise Hotel Frankfurt.
The aim of our “FeMale Leaders” event series is to steadily increase the ratio of female executives in the business world. Our Baker McKenzie Germany partners Katharina Stueber and Katja Haeferer have brought together fantastic women for this high-calibre networking event. Anna Hinrichsen held an inspiring keynote speech "Start-up myths in check - experiences of courage and reality". The discussions between those female role models from business and media sector and our Baker McKenzie colleagues were pure joy!
FeMale Leaders at the Frankfurt Goethe-Haus | „Can we save the world with AI?“, 12 July 2023
The second event in our "FeMale Leaders" series took place on 12 July 2023 at the Goethe-Haus in Frankfurt – it was an extremely successful event, with Katharina Stueber and Katja Haeferer as lead partners.
At the end of last year, in December 2022, Katharina Stueber initially launched the FeMale Leaders initiative with a successful kick-off even with more than 130 female guests. With this ID&E initiative, Baker McKenzie Germany is breaking new ground: FeMale Leaders is primarily intended to address women who are or will be in leadership roles in companies or institutions of interest to our firm.
More than 190 successful and inspiring women took part in the FeMale Leaders event this time. For the first time, male supporters were also involved as "Allies" - true to the motto: "Unleash Our Potential".
With Claudia Schick (TV presenter at Hessischer Rundfunk) as moderator as well as Katharina Stueber and Katja Haeferer, a lively and stimulating discussion on the topic of "Can we save the world with AI?" unfolded in the top-class panel, which this time included Isabelle Adelt (CFO of Fuchs SE), Heike Eckert (Member of the Executive Board of Deutsche Börse), Melanie Kehr (Member of the Executive Board of KfW, CIO and COO) and Christine Lutz (Co-Founder and Managing Director great2know). The evening then continued with a power networking session which, according to the many positive responses, was very well received by all participants.
FeMale Leaders - Christmas Market | 13 December 2022
A great evening - it was pure inspiration and joy! More than 130 successful and inspiring women kicked off Baker McKenzie's FeMale Leaders event series on 13th December 2022 and turned the roof terrace of the Ruby Louise Hotel into a networking hotspot in Frankfurt.
Over mulled wine & co., female role models from business and media met with our colleagues at the FeMale Leaders Christmas Market to exchange ideas and network in a particularly beautiful Christmas atmosphere.
