The Ham&High asked a top media lawyer who has reached career heights while raising three young children to respond to the furore over Vivienne Durham’s controversial comments on work and motherhood.

Law firm partner Charlotte Harris, who represented victims of the phone hacking scandal, says schools should teach pupils about equality in the workplace and shared parenthood, and not solely that working women still face a glass ceiling.

Ms Harris, of Hampstead, added that some mothers do not have a choice because of financial concerns, and that many want to work without necessarily pursuing career heights.

She was speaking on the issue after the Francis Holland School headteacher made comments in the national press that women have to plan their futures around motherhood if they want to be a parent. Ms Harris said: “Certainly, the idea of a woman going to work merely to fulfil her ‘ambitions’ is old-fashioned thinking.

‘‘Women are people, with complex lives, different circumstances and different goals.”