International Women’s Day 2026: spotlighting community and female leadership at Sydney Mitchell
8 March is International Women’s Day, a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. The annual event’s theme this year is ‘Give to Gain’.
As a firm dedicated to fostering a workplace that is both diverse and inclusive, here we shine a light on two of our partners who epitomise the focus of International Women’s Day 2026 by being tirelessly committed to supporting our team, local communities and other business by sharing their knowledge, time, mentoring, resources, advocacy and training.
Emma-Louise Hewitt leads our Employment team and also serves as President of the Solihull Chamber of Commerce. With a career rooted deeply in her community, Emma-Louise is an advocate for local businesses, ensuring their voices are heard by government and media at both local and national levels.
Appointed President in March last year (2025), Emma-Louise’s presidency so far has included facilitating dialogues with key figures like Mark Wild, CEO of HS2, to ensure that Solihull businesses have direct access to strategic infrastructure discussions. She has also represented regional employers at a roundtable in Westminster, and appeared on the BBC news to highlight the impact on new tariffs imposed by America on local businesses.
As a highly respected employment lawyer, her expertise and dedication have earned her numerous accolades including recognition as leading partner by the legal profession’s respected directory, Legal 500. Emma-Louise is also a mentor for Future Faces, has also been shortlisted or commended in multiple major awards, including the Birmingham Law Society Awards (Partner of the Year 2024), Solihull Chamber Awards (Rising Star Future Leader 2023), Greater Birmingham Future Faces (Future Face of Legal 2017), and Woman Who Achieves in Business (Commended 2017).
Tracy Creed is head of Sydney Mitchell’s Private Client team and has been practicing for over twenty-six years, specialising in the field of care advice, care funding issues, care assessments and appeals. This work requires an unusual combination of clinical understanding and legal knowledge, to enable her to support patients or residents and their families at what is usually an emotionally difficult and worrying time
Tracy’s supportive nature extends beyond legal practice because she actively mentors and supports the next generation of legal professionals at Sydney Mitchell. This and her leadership has been pivotal in the growth of Sydney Mitchell’s Private Client team, thanks in no small way to her commitment to guiding and supporting the professional development of the firm’s future private client lawyers through their legal qualification journeys. This dedication starts at the recruitment stage, of paralegals, trainees and support staff, and contuse throughout their career at the firm, with Tracy championing their professional development and guiding them to the route best suited to them including the equivalent means application route and the SQE via apprenticeship programs.
The evidence of Tracy’s mentoring support is clear to see with many of her team advancing into senior roles within the firm. Among these are Charlotte Jones, who joined Sydney Mitchell as a wills assistant in 2018 and was promoted to senior associate in April 2025, Hayley Caprani-Warner who joined Sydney Mitchell in 2019, and last year qualified as a solicitor specialising in contentious trusts and probate, and Samatha Elsmore who qualified as a charted legal executive in 2024.
The current cohort includes rising stars Katie Fitzpatrick, Kevin Dhanda and Tayyab Hussain, who all currently work as within the team as paralegals under Tracy’s mentorship, and will hopefully qualify as solicitors in 2027.
Together, Emma-Louise and Tracy characterise the spirit of International Women’s Day’s “Give to Gain” theme – not only do they both enrich the firm, its culture and ambition and inspire its next generation of legal specialists, but also empower the broader business community and the future leaders within it. Their achievements underscore the importance of mentorship, advocacy, and community involvement.
Find out more about International Women’s Day here.
