I'm an Associate Director in the Employment team in the UK. I focus on providing advisory, transactional and litigation employment support to employers particularly in the private equity field. I also Co-Chair the Social Diversity Committee at Osborne Clarke so I am actively involved in promoting the firm's diversity initiatives. Having been state school educated in a town in South Wales, I was actively discouraged from pursuing a career in law due to my background. This has made me all the more passionate about advocating for diversity within the legal profession (including from the perspectives of gender and social diversity).
I think it's important to break the bias because gender bias can inhibit female development (both personally and professionally) and limit the opportunities available to women. Breaking Bias has also been key to my role with the Social Diversity Committee as our objectives include promoting the important message to not just talk about your background but to be proud of it!
We officially launched the OC Social Diversity Committee in June 2021 and we have been able to really gather momentum, attracting lots of volunteers and enabling a variety of collaborations with both our internal Osborne Clarke diversity networks - including OC Gender (our gender diversity network) - and external social mobility organisations (including upReach, STRIVE and The 93% Club). It's been really rewarding to see our hard work pay off.
As I trained and qualified at Osborne Clarke and having worked for the firm for almost eight years, I have had the privilege of working closely with and learning from a variety of excellent female lawyers including, in particular, those within my own team (Employment) and the Corporate/Private Equity team.
My greatest career achievement to date has been being shortlisted (result still TBC) for the Rising Star in Diversity Change at the Women, Influence & Power in Law UK 2022 Awards for my work co-launching our social diversity employee network. Osborne Clarke was also recognised as UK Law Firm of the Year at Law.com International's British Legal Awards and highlighted in a number of areas including its clear understanding of the importance of diversity.
