A WINCHESTER lawyer has published a book, with a determination to improve family law by recognising the impact of menopause.
Friends, colleagues and menopause experts gathered for the launch of Jennifer Williamson’s first book, ‘A practical guide to menopause and family law’ at the Hotel Du Vin in Winchester.
The Blake Morgan partner from Kings Worthy was inspired to write the guide after reading a book on holiday about the different ways male and female brains age.
Realising that the average age of divorce is similar to the average age of the onset of menopausal symptoms, the lawyer wanted to highlight the difficulties women might be going through at the same time as family law cases and how lawyers can better advise their clients.
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Mrs Williamson, 43, said: “If you are suffering from symptoms like brain fog and going through the legal process as well, to put myself in their shoes I would feel really vulnerable. We need to know what our clients are dealing with and often they don’t realise themselves.
“If they had been spoken to about HRT, that might make a difference.
“It’s a bit surreal because I never thought I would write a book. It’s an organic result of everything I have read and my passion for my clients.
“I’m a lawyer so I obviously love writing but there are no planned sequels at present.
“I don’t envisage that there are going to be significant changes to family law because of menopausal symptoms.
“I think a far higher level of attention and action is required to address a lot of issues – such as access to appropriate medication and health and lifestyle information, menopause-related or the gender pension pay gap, the need for menopause policies in the workplace, avoiding menopause related discrimination and so on and so forth. These things need attending to by the government and employers, not family lawyers.
“I’ve had amazing support from my colleagues, they’ve been so good at celebrating the book whereas I’m quite prone to down-playing things.”
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Speaking at the launch on Thursday, September 14 at the Hotel Du Vin in Southgate Street, fellow Blake Morgan lawyer Helen Bunker, said: “On a call earlier on in the week we acknowledged that none of us have written a book so we are incredibly proud of Jenny.
“We know that a lot of good will come out of this and I hope everyone can really enjoy and celebrate Jenny.”
The book, published by Law Brief Publishing Ltd, is available for £49.99 on Amazon and other sites.
All royalties will be donated to The Menopause Charity which supports people in understanding perimenopause and menopause.
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