Speakers

David Olusoga is a British-Nigerian historian, broadcaster and film-maker. His most recent TV series include Empire (BBC Two), Black and British: A Forgotten History (BBC Two), The World’s War (BBC Two), 4 seasons of A House Through Time (BBC Two) and the BAFTA winning Britain’s Forgotten Slave Owners (BBC Two). David is also the author of Black & British: A Forgotten History which was awarded both the Longman-History Today Trustees Award and the PEN Hessell- Tiltman Prize. His other books include The World’s War, which won First World War Book of the Year in 2015, The Kaiser’s Holocaust: Germany’s Forgotten Genocide and the Colonial Roots of Nazism and Civilizations: Encounters and the Cult of Progress.

David was also a contributor to the Oxford Companion to Black British History and writes for The Guardian and is a columnist for The Observer and BBC History Magazine. He is also one of the three presenters on the BBC's landmark Arts series Civilizations. Last year he held an exclusive interview with former President of the United States, Barack Obama and his recent book Black and British: A short, essential history won the Children’s Illustrated & Non-Fiction Book of the Year at the 2021 British Book Awards.

Declan Curry has been a writer and broadcaster for more than twenty-five years covering business, the economy and politics.

He broadcasts daily 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.

Grant Eldred recently joined Clifford Chance as the firm's Chief People Officer. Grant was previously at Goldman Sachs where he spent 15 years in a number of global HR leadership roles. Grant's most recent roles include leading Goldman Sachs' global HR Transformation program and directing the business through Brexit.

He has spent three years in Bengaluru as the Chief People Officer of Goldman Sachs' business in India, during a period of significant business growth and innovation and has also held leadership roles in Reward, Benefits and Wellness in London and New York. Prior to Goldman Sachs, Grant was an HR Strategy Consultant working with a diverse portfolio of clients including law firms and investment banks.

Renowned internationally as one of the most productive psychologists in the world, Professor Adrian Furnham is an engaging and entertaining speaker and a widely published journalist, as well as one of HR Magazine’s 20 Most Influential People in HR.

Combining business with psychology, he is an expert on behavioural economics, covering topics such as the new economic mind, the psychology of behaviour at work and the psychology of money. Amongst many others, he can discuss fascinating subjects such as the psychology of theft and fraud, psychiatry literacy, personality disorders, leadership derailment, and counterwork behaviours.

A graduate of the London School of Economics and Oxford University, Adrian has lectured widely at the UK’s top universities and has held scholarships and visiting professorships at many of the world’s elite learning institutions, including the University of Hong Kong, Henley Management College and the Norwegian School of Management.

As a consultant to many major international companies, Adrian specialises in team development; management change; performance management systems; psychometric testing and leadership derailment.

With vast amounts of publications under his belt, including newspaper columns for the Financial Times, Sunday Times and Daily Telegraph, Adrian expounds his knowledge in over 1200 scientific papers and 95 books translated into 40 languages including Culture Shock; The Economic Mind; The Protestant Work Ethic; The Psychology of Behaviour at Work; Psychology of Managerial Incompetence; Heart and Mind Management; The People Business; The Psychology of Physical Attractiveness; 50 Psychology Ideas; The Elephant in the Boardroom; Body Language in Business; Bad Apples; Leadership –Everything you want to know; The New Psychology of Money; Psychology 101, Twenty Ways to Assess People. 

Adrian is unique. He does not own a mobile phone. A self-confessed ‘well-adjusted workaholic’, he rides a bike to work and loves life’s simple pleasures – travelling, writing and arguing.

Louise is responsible for ensuring that the strategic profile of the firm's people is best suited to delivering its stated goals and objectives and is currently undertaking the role of interim COO.

She introduced a values-based programme to Shoosmiths in the early 2000s that continues to serve as a strong framework for the firm’s culture, acting as a powerful tool in recruitment and retention.

Before joining Shoosmiths in 1999, Louise worked in people management for a major automotive manufacturer and prior to that worked in both the public and private sectors. She has an extensive background in HR issues, including change management, organisational development, leadership and management development, coaching, training and development, reward and benefits management and performance management.

Louise has a first class honours degree in psychology, an MBA and is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, and a member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing and the British Psychological Society.

Chris Holme has worked with and supported law firms in relation to all their “people issues” for over a decade. 

His work and advice includes:

• Dealing with the full range of employment grievances and employment claims (from unfair dismissal claims, to whistleblowing and discrimination claims);
• Managing change programmes and re-organisations, including collective consultation issues (whether as a result of proposed redundancies or transfers of employment between entities);
• Advising on partnership issues and disputes, including obligations and rights under LLP Members Agreements and Partnership deeds, concerns and complaints, and whistle-blowing and discrimination claims;
• Assisting with policy development, whether family friendly policies, to assist in diversity initiatives, or in the area of ESG.

Chris is well used to dealing with work which crosses over into regulatory matters (which is commonly the case with employment issues and complaints), and works closely with our SRA regulatory team in relation to these matters where required.  

The leading directories say about Chris: "He is experienced, he is able to explain complex aspects of law in a way that is easy for non-lawyers to understand, he always responds in a timely manner and he assists us to find the best way forward." "He really thinks things through, he can anticipate the loopholes, and he is thoughtful and pragmatic." "Chris's calm and confident manner instils trust, and a great skill of his is the ability to mould feedback into a well-crafted and robust legal response." Chambers and Partners 2022. Chris was also awarded three Acritas stars in 2018. 

Outside of his day to day practice and work, Chris is also a member of the UK management board of Clyde & Co LLP, and chair of Clyde & Co’s moderation and salaries committee. Outside of work he is a director of an School Academy Trust. From these roles and the experience gained, Chris is able to, alongside his extensive experience of dealing with people matters from a legal perspective, blend his own management and practical experience of managing issues.

Susie McDonald is Chief Executive of Tender Education & Arts, an organisation working to end domestic abuse and sexual violence. Tender has grown from a small London based organisation that focuses on educating children and young people about healthy relationships, to a national charity that reaches over half a million children each year alongside working with businesses to create cultures that are free from bullying, harassment and discrimination.

Susie has used theatre for social change for over 30 years; initially working with prisoners to develop confidence and communication skills, including directing a production of “Our Country’s Good” with lifers at Wormwood Scrubs prison. In 1998 she became an associate member of the National Theatre’s education department, writing and touring specialist interactive theatre productions across London. Susie has worked closely with the General Medical Council, the health sector, the Metropolitan Police and government, more recently giving written and oral evidence at the Women and Equalities Select Committee’s inquiry into sexual harassment in schools.

Naomi Moss is director of operations at top 40 law firm Trowers & Hamlins, helping to shape and deliver the firm's global business strategy. Naomi sits on the strategic board having developed her career in the legal sector over 36 years. She was the firm's Director of Marketing for 15 years. At board level, Naomi is a trusted advisor for the senior management team and her operations role involves managing the global operations of the firm delivering high quality services across nine offices together with responsibility for refining business procedures and streamlining business processes. Naomi has been quoted in the media stating that "…success in business is about self-confidence". Naomi has spoken candidly detailing her own experiences and offering advice on what it takes to be a successful woman in business.

Chris coaches and develops senior leadership teams and boards, helping them to achieve business success through their people, talent and inclusion strategies. He has spent his career in the City working across different sectors, predominantly in complex global international financial services companies as an HR Director and Chief Operating Officer. Chris thrives on change and progress that has a positive purpose. He joined the People in Law committee in 2019 and is part of the Wellbeing Opinion Leaders group. Further afield he is a judge for the Business Culture Awards and Governor of a local secondary school.

Born and educated in Lancaster, Chris moved to Hertfordshire over twenty years ago, having completed his degree in Birmingham and his CIPD qualifications in Suffolk. He and his wife, Sarah, have two children. Outside of a busy work life Chris enjoys participating (badly) in many sports, travelling and being a taxi service for his children!

Brett Putter is an expert in company culture development, consulted by companies and leaders worldwide on how to design, build and develop a strong, functional company culture. He is the CEO of CultureGene a Culture Leadership Platform helping high-growth companies build strong, functional cultures. Prior to founding CultureGene Brett ran an international executive search firm working with high-growth tech companies to expand their executive teams across Europe and the USA. His first book Culture Decks Decoded was published in 2018 and his second book, Own Your Culture: How to Define, Embed and Manage your Company Culture was published in September 2020. He writes a popular blog on culture-driven companies and is a sought-after speaker.

Before breaking from corporate life for the second time, he was head of the Pine Street leadership development group at Goldman Sachs International, a role he took up after running his first consultancy business, collaborating with London Business School, McKinsey and Harvard Business School. Earlier, Jason was director of leadership development at BP plc, and spent almost a decade as a leadership and organisational expert at the management consultancy McKinsey and Company, counselling senior leaders globally on transformational change.

Known as the Generation Game Changer, Henry Rose Lee is a generational expert specialising in the diversity and inclusion of all generations in the workplace today. She researches, consults and speaks about every generation. From Generation Z as they enter the workforce, to Millennials who are establishing their career, through to Generation X who are in mid-career, and on to Baby Boomers and older, as their working lives mature.

She is intensely pragmatic and also entertaining, providing practical tools and techniques for maximising all generations, whether working conventionally or in a hybrid or fully remote world. With a background in sales & business development, followed by HR diagnostics, training and coaching, she sees organisations as a family of different ages, life-stages and experiences, blending innovation, novelty and variety with structure, stability and strategy; in effect – a dream team.

As COO his focus is two-fold; to lead the firm's Business Services, less Finance, to deliver optimum support to client facing staff and clients alike; and to work with the firm's leadership to drive profitable growth and a positive culture across the firm.

Sid joined the firm from KPMG, where he spent eight years working in internal operations and projects, finishing as the COO for the Financial Services practice in the UK. Prior to joining KPMG he had a first career in the British Army, as an infantry officer on deployments around the globe and in various staff appointments within military joint headquarters.

Beyond his role at HFW, Sid is a director of the City Veterans CIC and on the Committee of the recently launched Military in Law Network (MiLNet), the key objective for both organisations is to promote and support talent leaving the military find roles in both the Financial and Legal sectors.

Gwenllian gained a B.A., M.Sc. and a Ph.D in Scotland. She is a doctor of psychology and became a chartered occupational psychologist in 1995. She is also a Meyler Campbell trained executive coach and a qualified NLP practitioner with a reputation for a no-nonsense approach to unblocking potential.

She leads projects across all deWinton-Williams service offerings and has a market reputation for bringing pragmatism and creativity in equal measure. Her work in development has contributed to two national awards from the Legal Education and Training Group and she was voted Trainer of the year in 2008. Since then her talent work has delivered several national and international awards for deWinton-Williams and our clients. Through 2020 she converted the full talent development portfolio to enable virtual delivery. Gwenllian has worked with lawyers for over 20 years and specialises in workplace resilience, using her research background to give pragmatic advice on how to look after mind, body and soul when under pressure. She has developed a range of services in this area and is currently supporting firms as they move to home-based working.

Gwenllian is also a qualified mediator and specialises in workplace and family business mediation.