Speakers

Jenny is Chief Executive of the Bridge Group, with overall responsibility for strategy, compliance and resources. Jenny also contributes to the Charity’s research programmes and advisory work, mainly with employers.

Jenny is a highly respected leader in social equality and inclusion and brings extensive experience in advancing change to realise social impact. She joined the Bridge Group from KPMG UK, where she was formerly Head of Social Mobility and then Director and Head of Inclusion, Diversity and Equity.

At KPMG, Jenny oversaw one of the most progressive approaches to socio-economic diversity and inclusion in the UK. In her role she advised major organisations on social mobility best practices, spanning work with the public, corporate and charity sectors – and played a key role in shaping engagement with policymakers and industry bodies.

Jenny is a Fellow Chartered Accountant and holds a Postgraduate Certificate in Sustainable Business.

Karen Baxter is an experienced employment and partnership lawyer, with particular expertise in conducting sensitive and high-profile investigations. She advises on complex and high value discrimination issues and Employment tribunal claims, negotiating the hiring and exit of senior employees or partners and on SRA reporting obligations and related investigations.

She specialises in advising, and conducting investigations, for organisations which place their reputations at the heart of what they do and works with many leading UK and US headquartered law firms on people and partnership matters.

Nareen Chambers is the EMEA Director of People & Culture Business Partnering and Partner Performance & Development and she has extensive experience in various HR / People & Culture roles across the legal industry. Nareen brings a diverse background and perspective, shaped by her international exposure, including living and working in the Middle East and her passion for people development. Many of her roles have required the delivery of complex HR transformation and change across multiple jurisdictions.

In her current role, Nareen leads the business partnering and employee relations functions across EMEA and she is responsible for supporting the EMEA Partner population including spearheading initiatives related to Partner performance and development such as talent assessment and succession strategies.

Declan Curry has been a writer and broadcaster for more than twenty-five years covering business, the economy and politics. He contributes regularly on LBC News. He was the business presenter on BBC One’s breakfast TV for almost a decade. He presented BBC Two's Working Lunch, and his own programmes on BBC Radio 5 live and the BBC News TV channel.

He chairs conferences and speaks at events around the world, in person and virtually on Zoom or other digital platforms. He has won several awards for his broadcasting, and is an honorary doctor of Middlesex University.

Katie is an accomplished HR leader with extensive experience in shaping and delivering people strategies across diverse regions. Katie has spent most of her career working for UK and US law firms, with remits across the UK, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. She spent eight years working in Hong Kong earlier in her career, working for two global law firms and returned to London in 2012.

Katie has a proven track record in aligning people initiatives with business objectives, collaborating closely with firm leadership to deliver transformative programmes that drive engagement, innovation and operational efficiency. Katie is a passionate people leader, developing and enabling her teams to deliver in high performance cultures. In her current role, Katie oversees all aspects of the People function outside of the US, including engagement, recruitment, compensation, benefits and wellbeing, employee relations, performance management, learning & development and inclusion & belonging, as well as driving operational excellence across the UK. Katie holds a degree in Politics & International Relations from Reading University and is a Chartered fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.

Matthew oversees all aspects of Howden’s proposition for Corporate clients. He has over 23 years’ experience in employee benefits, including a large portion of his career helping shape the flexible benefits market in the UK. Matthew has personally helped many large and complex employers introduce transformational change to their pension and benefits programmes, working with providers and partners in industry to innovate and maximise the value they bring to clients.

David is a leadership advisor, executive coach, and former CEO with over 20 years of experience developing high-performing teams in both military and corporate environments. David works with senior leaders, boards, and leadership teams to help them navigate complexity, accelerate performance, and build cultures where people thrive.

David specialises in helping organisations lead multigenerational teams with confidence and clarity, with a particular focus on unlocking the potential of Gen Z in the workplace. His Gen Z leadership framework has been adopted by national and international clients seeking to reduce generational friction, improve engagement, and futureproof their leadership culture. He is frequently invited to speak on topics including unleashing the potential of Gen Z, sustainable performance, strategic communication, and leading in an AI-driven world.

As Browne Jacobson’s Social Mobility Lead, Victoria supports social mobility within the firm and beyond. Her work includes outreach, recruitment, training, inclusion and advocacy. A professional communications and social mobility expert, Victoria’s career has focused on improving workplace experiences for people from under-represented backgrounds.

Victoria’s experience spans the legal sector and academic research into workplace communication. Victoria qualified as a solicitor in 2008 and worked in large international firms before making the move into teaching law and gaining a PhD in Sociolinguistics. She has spent the last eight years supporting diverse organisations across the public and private sectors to build fairer, more productive and happier workplaces. She is passionate about good communication that makes everyone feel valued and included.

Victoria has recently co-created ground-breaking accent and socio-economic bias training in collaboration with Prof Louise Mullany at University of Nottingham. This aims to raise awareness of the impact of accent bias on entry to, and progression within, workplaces.

Victoria is a mentor supporting people into fulfilling careers. She also volunteers in grassroots junior cricket, building an inclusive environment for young people to enjoy the sport.

Carly is the Director of People and Culture at Harbottle & Lewis. She has over 20 years of HR experience, having worked in a mix of magic and silver circle, US and other international law firms. She has operated both strategically and operationally in professional and financial services environments, both in the City and internationally.

Carly brings extensive experience in designing and delivering people strategy, alongside a passion for employee engagement, talent management, reward, and more generally challenging the status quo of the people landscape.

In her role, Carly is responsible for all aspects of HR as she partners with the leadership to ensure the business is prepared for change and positioned for success.

A multi-award winning lawyer, public speaker, spoken word poet and social entrepreneur, Akil made history as the first student to win the Dean’s Award at Nottingham Law School for two consecutive years. He was awarded an Outstanding Alumni award by Nottingham Trent University, Excellence in Professional Services at the Black Talent Awards and Rising Star at the Legal 500 ESG Awards.

He is a popular keynote speaker and consultant, discussing law, social mobility, leadership, education and personal/professional development. He has worked with clients including General Counsel For Diversity & Inclusion, Baker Mckenzie, Stewarts, Clyde & Co, Bar Standards Board and CEL Solicitors. He is committed to equipping professionals with the tools to personally and professionally develop in their journeys, whilst authentically thriving in high-performance environments. Akil has delivered sessions across the UK and internationally, being praised for his earnestness, authenticity and relatability.

Jason was a manager with McKinsey & Co. serving clients across the US, Europe and Australia on various management topics, including organisational issues in acquiring, developing and retaining top talent.

While at McKinsey, Jason championed the firm’s recruiting efforts in the Australian offices. In addition, Jason has hands-on managerial experience in industry with Bloomberg LP. In this role, Jason also co-led the recruitment efforts in London.

Jason has an MBA from INSEAD, and undergraduate honour degrees in Computer Science, Economics and Mathematics.

Simon has a long career in strategic communications, including roles on the Executive Committees of Centrica and Vodafone as Director of Corporate Affairs. He was Vice Chair EMEA at FTI Consulting and previously spent nine years as Chief Executive of the investment banking trade body the Association for Financial Markets in Europe.

He has a longstanding interest in both education and social mobility, having chaired the UK-US Fulbright Commission from 2009-13 and currently is the Chair of Young Enterprise. He was awarded an OBE in 2014 for services to international education. Simon is also a founding member of the Speakers for Schools programme. Simon is a Non-Executive Director of Innovate Finance.

He also was the first Communication Secretary to the late Queen and Director of Communications and Official Spokesman at Number 10 for Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

Simon is Managing Partner of Lewis Advisors, providing strategic communications advice to business leaders and companies. He also co-presents a popular weekly podcast on BBC Sounds called, ‘When It Hits the Fan’.

As Managing Director of Passmore & Oliver Partners, Juliet leads a global legal regulation consultancy, helping law firms, investors, innovators and legal businesses navigate complex regulatory issues and landscapes. ​

Previously, she served as Deputy Chief Executive and General Counsel at the Solicitors Regulation Authority. In over a decade in leadership roles at the regulator, she oversaw all its major reforms. She designed the suite of standards, rules and guidance governing the authorisation and regulation of solicitors, law firms and legal businesses in England and Wales, and worked with the Government, regulators and law societies in the UK and overseas to develop regulatory strategies.​

She has worked extensively in regulation and public policy across multiple sectors. With deep expertise in regulatory strategy, governance and compliance, she is a regular contributor to national and international conferences on the subject.​ ​

Also an experienced non-executive, Juliet is currently Deputy Chair of the Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care, the oversight regulator for health and social care professionals across the UK. ​

Dr Giles Proctor qualified as a solicitor with Addleshaw Goddard in Manchester and practiced in corporate and commercial law before entering teaching and completing his PhD. Early in his legal education career, he designed and delivered commercial diploma courses and corporate training for ‘magic circle’ law firms, whilst at Nottingham Law School and the University of Law. Giles then co-founded Kaplan Law School and helped found Roehampton Law School.

He joined The College of Legal Practice as Chief Executive Officer in February 2020 and leads their business engagement, collaborating with firms and Universities to develop bespoke training programmes around the SQE. In December 2024, Giles was appointed as a Fellow of The College of Law Australia Group and he has recently been appointed to the Executive Committee of Heads of University Law Schools (CHULS).

Emma has a proven expertise in strategic and operational transformation and growth. She works with a collaborative, pragmatic, coaching mindset to achieve results, flexing her approach to meet the needs of colleagues and key stakeholders. 

Emma has over 30 years’ human resources experience across a range of industry sectors, including professional services. Her areas of interest include: employee relations, mergers and acquisitions, learning and development, coaching and leading HR transformation. She has worked both in-house and advising clients on people matters across the entire employee lifecycle, with a real passion for wellbeing, and diversity, equity and inclusion, and is always delighted to comment in the media or speak at an event.

Michael is the Head of Innovation at Harbottle & Lewis. He is responsible for the firm’s innovation strategy, including the ethical adoption of AI and emerging technologies to streamline legal service delivery.

With a legal background and circa 10 years' experience in legal tech and automation roles at international law firms, including the magic circle, and professional services firms, Michael brings extensive expertise in identifying process improvement opportunities and delivering technology-driven business transformation projects. In his role, Michael is also responsible for fostering a culture of innovation and continuous improvement across the firm.

David Yelland has had a number of careers and is still hoping to succeed in one of them. He had an eighteen year career as a newspaper journalist including being deputy editor of the New York Post and for five years Editor of The Sun, after spells at the Harvard Business School (Class of 2003) and the Promis Recovery Centre (Class of 2005). He has had an 18 year career in communications as Vice Chair, Weber Shandwick, Partner at Brunswick Group and ten years ago founded Kitchen Table Partners where he fuses all his experience to advise on crisis.

Since 2023 he has co-presented When It Hits the Fan for BBC Radio 4 and regularly appears across broadcast. He has written a novel for Penguin Books and is a Trustee of Action on Addiction. Father of two remarkable children.