Partner Janet Peyton received the “Intellectual Property Up and Coming Lawyer of the Year” award during the 2013 Chambers USA Women in Law Awards ceremony on Jan. 15. The awards honor the commercial achievements of female lawyers as well as their outstanding contributions to furthering the advancement of women in the law. Winners were selected based on their involvement in gender and equality initiatives, mentoring, public service and social activism.
Janet, who chairs McGuireWoods’ transactional intellectual property practice group, has been an advocate for creating successful work-life balance programs inside McGuireWoods for many years. Her commitment, both by working towards policy changes and by personal example, has helped a large number of women find ways to be successful lawyers and involved parents.
Janet was instrumental in helping to shape the firm’s policies about reduced billable hours. While an associate, she served on the firm’s associate retention task force, the goal of which was, in part, to help the firm retain women lawyers who might struggle with the decision to return to work after having a baby, and acknowledge the realities and challenges for parents returning to work.
She has served as both the Richmond office chair and the firmwide vice-chair of McGuireWoods’ Women’s Leadership Forum. The purpose of the forum is both to provide internal support for women’s marketing efforts and to provide an external forum to provide networking opportunities and leadership training for both McGuireWoods’ women and our women clients.
About 200 guests attended the presentation of the Chambers USA Women in Law Awards, held at the Harvard Club in New York City. To view the full list of winners, click here.