My name is Tanya Dolan, Senior Legal Counsel at AstraZeneca and Co-Founder of the Female Lawyers Breakfast Networking group (FLBN), an EDI initiative which was launched in London in March 2023.
I am the UK Co-Chair of IAWA (International Aviation Women’s Association) and a volunteer at LawCare (a legal mental health and well being charity). I am also part of the UK DEI Legal group within AstraZeneca, which is a group of lawyers within London, Cambridge and Macclesfield working together on EDI initiatives which are focused on supporting a more diverse and inclusive environment for future joiners to the legal profession. This includes working together on AstraZeneca legal internship programmes in partnership with Aspiring Solicitors and the Stephen Lawrence Scholarship Scheme, mentoring schemes and raising awareness of our work to our counterparts across the globe.
My drive and passion for the promotion and support of women within the legal profession started many years ago when I was working as an aviation lawyer in private practice. In private practice, I was heavily involved in EDI work within the aviation industry through my roles as Chair of Funding and Finance Strategy for the Women in Aviation and Aerospace Charter and as UK Co-Chair of IAWA. I helped with bringing IAWA scholarships to the UK, helping to increase opportunities for young women studying aviation and aerospace and I also organised an event which led to the launch of the government-led Women in Aviation and Aerospace Charter in July 2018. I was invited to become a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society in recognition of the efforts that I have made to EDI in aviation and aerospace.
The idea for Female Lawyers Breakfast Networking started in January 2023 when I was matched with Maddie Drabble as part of the AstraZeneca and Aspiring Solicitors Reverse Mentoring Programme. Aspiring Solicitors is a legal diversity focused organisation which helps to remove barriers to entry and increase inclusion within the profession. Maddie and I discussed how little opportunities were given to junior lawyers to network and how few events there were for female lawyers to share experiences. We also discussed how helpful networking had been for me over the years especially since I realised how rewarding I found it building up my own personal network over time and how I wished that I had been introduced to it earlier in my career. I have a passion for networking and seeing the bigger picture of how this helps retain more women within different industries as my career has spanned through aviation, central government and now life sciences – this helped with the idea of extending FLBN as a forum for cross-industry collaboration on EDI. FLBN helps break down barriers in the legal profession by creating unique opportunities that would not otherwise be there and reach out to individuals ranging from school age to senior lawyers within law firms and in house, barristers and partners. In addition to providing networking opportunities, FLBN gives the host organisation the chance to showcase its EDI initiatives at each event and our FLBN LinkedIn group helps people in continuing to build these important connections.
I am so proud that FLBN is very popular with so many people and across many different industries. Since our launch event in London in March 2023 we have continued to host FLBN quarterly in London and launched our first regional FLBN in Manchester in November 2023, with regular events being now held in Manchester. We launched our first international FLBN in Paris in September 2024 and plan to launch more regional and international FLBN events in 2025!
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