I am grateful to Legal Week readers for their interest in my column so far, and especially to those who take their time to post comments - some of which, I note, appear to be a little distracted from the content of the writing by the accompanying picture of a woman's legs (as modest as it is). I would much prefer to hear your views on the substantive issues I focus on. Besides, I must confess that I cannot claim ownership of those legs and I did not choose the photo. Had I been given the choice, I would have picked one with much better shoes.

The comments have presented me with a great opportunity to consider an important issue: is being attractive a curse or a blessing for a woman in the City? First things first, in my view, any woman in the professional world has to overcome the presumption that she won't be able to fully cope in what is essentially a male environment. This means that in order to succeed she has to be more robust, more hardworking and more adaptable than the average man in her position. The challenge obviously gets even harder if she wants to start a family and keep her career.

If a woman is lucky enough to have beauty and brains, then she has to be smart enough to persuade men to accept her femininity while not denying her an opportunity to succeed as a professional. There are men in the legal and business worlds who are respectful and supportive of women, but, in my experience, the majority still have a lot of growing up to do.

As a senior associate at a City firm I attend a fair share of business development events. It is a daunting task for anyone, whether male or female, to walk into a room filled with unfamiliar faces, make contact with a stranger and establish rapport. I have noticed that an attractive woman in this situation tends to come across two types of response from men.

The first is that after the initial visual assessment, they ignore you and continue talking to their male acquaintances because they assume that a good looking woman cannot be a useful business contact. It's great fun to turn this situation around, especially when they realise that you might be more useful to them than they are to you.

The second response begins similarly to the first, then develops into a sleazy chat-up scenario. While looks secure the initial introduction, the benefits are short-lived as the conversation rapidly moves in the wrong direction. It requires great skill on a woman's part to deal with this situation diplomatically but firmly. If you were an employer looking for a lawyer capable of handling difficult negotiations, who would you hire: a man who cannot control his basic instincts, or a woman who can defuse a potential conflict, establish control and allow everyone involved to save face?

I am not in favour of strict political correctness rules – which, in my view, are largely artificial and ineffective. But I do think that women deserve a lot more respect than they are often given. There are many women out there who can successfully compete with men. Yet the numbers of female partners are still disappointingly low. It would be advantageous for law firms to acknowledge this fact and give us an opportunity to prove our worth.

Kate Karakuli (name changed) is a senior associate at a top UK firm. For more from Kate, see Redundancy: a scary prospect, Fighting for survival and Path to partnership.