“But my girlie, you don't understand” – how Rosalind Lake evolved into one of the world’s leading cyber lawyers

While Rosalind Lake has been practising law for two decades, was made a competition law partner in her 20s, and in May was the only African lawyer named in the 2026 Lawdragon 500 Leading Global Cyber Lawyers guide (for her third straight year), the leader of the cybersecurity, data privacy, and AI team at Deneys says her job has very little to do with what the law actually says.

“It’s very much about managing a crisis, finding the best kind of commercial outcome within the framework, negotiating with regulators, finding a way for clients to act in a compliant way, and still achieve their commercial outcomes.”

Some of that, perhaps, is also because Rosalind and her Deneys team operate on the cutting edge of legal practice, handling matters where laws and regulations often lag (far) behind fast-evolving technology. “No one is prepared for how quickly things are moving and how rapidly things are happening,” she says.

Rosalind’s role involves helping clients with practical challenges as much as regulatory issues, including “the very exciting world” of supporting and advising organisations who’ve suffered ransomware or other serious cyber-attacks.

It’s an ideal fit for someone who’s inherently curious, loves to learn new things, and has a passion for investigating what’s gone wrong then creating a solution.

“A lot of the time when you’re dealing with areas that are not well-developed, a lot of it is just really innovative,” says Rosalind. “You’ve got to make a call on something where there’s no precedent. One thing Deneys is amazing at is if you’ve got an idea and you back it, we’re given the freedom to really go and explore new areas of law. I’ve had some wonderful mentors who supported me through that.”

Rosalind celebrated her 20th anniversary with the firm earlier this year, having joined what was then Deneys Reitz as a Candidate Attorney in January 2006. She became a Director within six years, but says her early years were very hard.

Rosalind recalls being twice rejected by the firm before securing a Candidate Attorney spot thanks to Marelise van der Westhuizen (who she’d done vacation work for), who would later go on to become the first female CEO of Norton Rose Fulbright South Africa. A regular refrain Rosalind heard in her early years, from clients and opposing counsel, was “but my girlie, you don’t understand the law”.

Dress codes in law were “oppressively restrictive”, female partners had to lean into masculine traits to succeed, showing no vulnerability, and clients struggled with a young female lawyer advising them on what they could or couldn’t do.

“Being a competition lawyer, generally I was telling people things they didn’t want to hear,” recalls Rosalind. “That meant I had them swearing at me, and again the ‘my girlie’ thing, and treating you in a way that you just wouldn’t even imagine.”

Fortunately, like the technologies she now works with and advises clients on, legal practice itself has undergone “a radical shift” during the course of Rosalind’s career. It’s been “such a wonderful evolution”, she says, that “women can finally be themselves in the workplace, and bring femininity”. Rosalind didn’t want to become someone who had to negate their femininity to be successful. She’s also grateful to have worked at “a very supportive firm” in Deneys, throughout.

“We are very accepting of people’s authenticity, of how you turn up and be your best self,” she says. “I don’t know what it’s like in other law firms, but we’re much more interested in people’s brains than how they look or how you dress.”

Nowadays, women make up the clear majority (around 57%, per the Law Society of South Africa) of new law graduates and incoming Candidate Attorneys. Newer areas of law, and particularly regulatory practices like cybersecurity, AI, and data privacy seem to attract female attorneys, says Rosalind.

She’s not sure why; perhaps given the need for empathy and multi-tasking.in these fast-moving fields, many women are well suited to the areas of work.

Whether you’re operating in new areas like cybersecurity and AI where ‘the law’ is still being formed, or traditional practice areas, relationships and the human side of law are vital, says Rosalind, along with an ability to know and manage yourself.

“I think working on your relationship skills and bringing an understanding of yourself at a deep level is the best thing you can do for your colleagues and your clients,” she says. “The thing I say to everyone who comes to work for me is you need to sort out your relationship with your parents, because everything in life, and particularly in the job of law, is about relationships. So if you have issues from your formative relationships that trigger you or make you feel insecure, you need to be aware of those so they don’t cause you harm in the work environment.”

And whether its legal practice or the use of AI tools in an increasingly technology-soaked world, boundaries are the key to doing a good job, believes Rosalind.

It’s far too easy to become over-reliant on AI; if we don’t use it responsibly and in a way that stimulates our cognitive abilities, then it risks taking away our ability to think, says Rosalind. Similarly, law is a profession that can become all-consuming.

Succeeding in the law always require some personal sacrifice, she says, but If you allow it, it will take everything from you. “What I always say to people is that you need to make sure you have enough of the things in your life that fill your cup,” says Rosalind, “so it gives you strength to do the things you need to do”.