FeMale Leaders

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!