Eversheds Sutherland alumna Liz Rivers shares her journey from litigator to one of the UK's first female mediators, and her passion for empowering women leaders using an innovative mind-body approach.
A decade at Eversheds Sutherland
Liz Rivers' decade at Eversheds Sutherland from 1986 to 1996 was a period of immense change and growth; both for Liz herself and the legal profession in general. She joined a “quaint” medium-sized London City firm, Jaques & Lewis (later to merge with Eversheds Sutherland), which was steeped in tradition, where technology was scarce and strict dress codes required women to wear skirts or dresses – a policy she eventually helped overturn.
She fondly recalls the outstanding mentorship she received from bosses Tim Maloney and Harold Lewis. “They believed in me, they pushed me forward to do things that, on my own, I would have thought ‘I’m not ready for that,’” she recounts. Their unwavering trust and confidence in her abilities were invaluable catalysts for her professional development.
A particular proud moment was securing a voluntary arrangement to prevent a property developer client’s personal bankruptcy during the early 90s recession, prompting him to gift her a coveted handbag from Asprey as a token of appreciation. “My best friend at the firm joked, ‘That’s the pinnacle of your career, you're never going to beat that!’” Liz laughs.
Liz remembers current CEO Lee Ranson's first day in the office as a newly-qualified solicitor. “He was fun, hard-working and very bright,” she recalls. “Even in those early years, Lee had that ‘star quality’ of someone who was going places.” Their paths eventually diverged, but not before sharing a joint leaving do together when Lee transferred to the firm's Manchester office and Liz departed to pursue the next chapter in her career.
A leap into mediation
While appreciative of the litigation skills she honed – such as helping clients to make strategic choices, constructing a compelling case, negotiation skills and assertiveness – Liz felt the adversarial process often fueled conflict rather than resolution. “It encourages you to be right/wrong, black and white, positional, blaming,” she explains. “The more subjective aspects of disputes, like the psychology and the human perspective…I realized the litigation process didn't really allow space for them.”
Seeking a more holistic approach, Liz trained as one of the first mediators in the UK at age 28, with Eversheds Sutherland's backing. “I thought, ‘Oh, this makes more sense to me, you get all the key decision makers and advisers together at the same time, find out what it's really about (often an emotional blockage to decision-making), and sort it out in a day so clients can get on with their business,’” she says.
This strategic, conflict-resolving model resonated deeply, and after juggling mediation with her legal work for a few years, she took the leap to become a full-time mediator when the field was still uncharted territory.
The art of workplace mediating
Today, Liz specializes in workplace mediation, helping sparring colleagues de-escalate disputes and restore frayed relationships. She emphasizes the power of effective communication and self-awareness, encouraging parties to view conflicts as a mirror reflecting aspects of themselves they may be reluctant to confront.
“If both sides can feel strong enough to look in the mirror and think, ‘What is this teaching me about myself?’, then it's powerfully developmental,” she says.
Liz finds fulfilment when she facilitates these breakthroughs, enabling people to rehumanize one another. One of her most rewarding experiences was coaching a team leader to stop frequently interrupting his colleagues in meetings: a seemingly small adjustment that he later credited with transforming his rapport with them. “I was able to hold that mirror up and suggest a simple behavioral change which broke the deadlock,” she explains.
Empowering women leaders
Parallel to her mediation practice, Liz trained as a psychotherapist and leadership coach and now runs Purpose Power Presence with her partners Hetty Einzig and Tracey Fox. Their innovative leadership programs blend traditional training with embodiment practices drawn from disciplines like martial arts, breathwork, mindfulness, and transpersonal psychology.
“As professionals we spend years developing our intellect and analytical skills, but we don't cultivate the use of our body and imagination to the same degree, and it creates a lot of unbalanced leadership,” says Liz. Their mind-body approach aims to integrate the backbone qualities of courage and integrity with the heart capacities for creativity, connection and motivation.
“Historically those qualities have been stereotypically gendered – men have the backbone, women have the heart,” she notes. “The challenge now for leaders is to combine backbone and heart at the same time. This is what we show women how to do in our programs”.
A life in cycles
Beyond her professional pursuits, Liz has developed an unexpected passion for the ancient Celtic calendar, which she has begun incorporating into her leadership work. “Business promotes perpetual growth and expansion – a constant summer, but life is inherently cyclical, with rhythms and an ebb and flow we need to respect,” she muses.
This holistic outlook exemplifies her journey; from the early years as a litigation lawyer, to pioneering mediation in the UK, to now empowering leaders to bring their whole, authentic selves to their work. It's a path guided by an openness to new perspectives, an integrative spirit across diverse philosophies, and a willingness to continually evolve.