Aniela is a dually qualified experienced executive with over two decades of international legal and compliance experience in UK, EMEA and US. Aniela is Vice President with GreenScale Data Centers, previously she held leadership roles with various tech and private equity companies including over 15 years with Siemens, where she broke ground as the company’s first woman General Counsel in Europe having worked on the development of over 7GW of renewables projects from the inception to construction and beyond.
Aniela is also an ambassador of POWERful Women (an organisation driving D&I in the energy sector), a mentor in the legal community and serving on the Board of Women’s Engineering Society (an organisation driving D&I in the STEM professions). She uses her broad knowledge, heritage, and leadership experience to promote and support the energy transition, several diversity and inclusion initiatives while championing change in the legal profession.
Clare Murray is the founder and Managing Partner of CM Murray LLP, specialising in partnership and employment law.
Clare acts for US and UK professional services firms (particularly in the legal sector), and for equity partners in professional services and investment management firms.
She has particular expertise in the strategic handling of partner conduct and performance issues, partner exits, team moves and restrictive covenants, as well as partner discrimination and whistleblowing complaints and litigation.
Clare has advised on many sexual harassment matters in law and accounting firms, and in multi-national organisations, and has extensive experience of representing complainants, firms and employers, and those accused of alleged harassment. In March 2018, Clare was appointed as the specialist adviser to the House of Commons Women & Equalities Committee in respect of its Sexual Harassment in the Workplace Inquiry.
Clare played a leading role in the creation of the Professional Practices Alliance. Clare is also regarded as a market leader in providing strategic advice to senior executives, founders, US and multi-national companies with UK operations, and US and UK law firms on their employment law issues.
Many of the employment law matters in which Clare is involved are cross-border.
Clare was instrumental in setting up global employment law alliance, Innangard. Clare has been ranked by Spear’s Magazine as ‘Top Recommended’ in the Spear’s 2023 Employment Lawyers Index.
Chambers and Partners UK 2023 ranked Clare as an “Eminent Practitioner” for both Partnership (Contentious) and Partnership (Non-Contentious), “her legal knowledge is fantastic and her people skills are amazing. If I had a partnership dispute, I would head to Clare.” “She is a real inspiration and leads a fantastic team.”
Clare is also ranked as an “Eminent Practitioner” for Employment (Senior Executive), “Clare is simply outstanding. She is at the top of her game and the go-to person for employment and partnership matters. There is no one else in the City or the wider UK market who comes anywhere close in terms of ability, acumen and commerciality.” “Clare is stand out. She is very sharp and very impressive.”
“Clare Murray is a superb solicitor.”
Legal 500 UK 2023 ranked Clare in the “Hall of Fame” for Partnership. She is recognised as “The deserving star of the practice who is ‘fizzing with ideas’. Extremely hard working, thoroughly thoughtful, a pleasure to work with, and the authority on partnership law.”
Clare is also ranked in the “Hall of Fame” for Employment (Senior Executives), she is recognised as “not only the founder, but the glue who brings her extraordinary team of experts together and clearly empowers them to be the best in the class. She is supremely knowledgeable, gets quickly to the nub of the legal issues and is a forceful and tenacious advocate while being warm and supportive to her clients.” “Clare Murray and her team are experts in their field. They are both practical and resourceful. Clare’s attention to detail is extraordinary, but what sets her apart is her compassion to her clients.”
Lesley has been a voracious champion of D&I throughout her career. In her previous role at Lloyds Banking Group, she supported all strands of diversity by fostering a positive culture where people’s different backgrounds, views and values are given appropriate respect at work. She led the hugely successful Breakthrough Mentoring programme to promote and retain female talent – the success of which she then used to raise the profile of other diversity initiatives including, the Rainbow Network.
Lesley is on the board of EurOut at London Business School and is a regular keynote speaker on LGBT+ issues. She is the Founder and CEO of Through the Looking Glass Charity (which provides less affluent students with rare insight into City professions) and Founder and President of The Eagle Club (which helps women in leadership positions to realise their potential and build strong support structures).
Lisa Ardley-Price is a Managing Legal Counsel at National Westminster Bank and previous winner of In-House Counsel of the Year, Women and Diversity in Law Awards 2023 for her empowering work in coaching, wellbeing and diversity. Lisa is Global Co-Chair of NatWest’s Gender Network and co-leads seven sub-committees and a global network of approx. 300 volunteers and 9,000 members, focusing on allyship, intersectionality gender-specific wellbeing and career development. Lisa is also a certified coach and yoga teacher who has driven initiatives to improve colleague wellbeing. Lisa has coached and mentored individuals internally and through external programmes, fostering growth, confidence and connection. Lisa's impactful work includes speaking at events including championing social mobility, DEI and wellbeing at The Lawyer and Legal 500 industry conferences and the ERG Leaders Summit this year. She facilitates training sessions internally and is a guest presenter for Women in Banking and Finance’s Personal Excellence Programme. Lisa also serves as a European Representative for the Global BAFT Women in Transaction Banking Committee and this year has also been shortlisted as Mentor of the Year in the Women in Power and Influence in Law Awards, Mentor and DEI Champion in a Legal Role in the Women and Diversity in Law Awards and DE&I Champion of the Year, Legal 500 ESG Awards 2024.
Lubna Shuja is a Former President of the Law Society of England and Wales (2022/23) which was established in 1825, 200 years ago. She is the first Asian, the first Muslim and only the 7th female to take office as President. She was on the Law Society Board for 5½ years. She is a member of the Ministry of Justice’s Online Procedure Rule Sub-Committee.
Lubna has been a solicitor for over 32 years and a Mediator for 19 years. She has her own firm, Legal Swan Solicitors in Birmingham, UK. Lubna spent many years as a litigator and has specialised in professional regulation for 18 years. She is currently a Legally Qualified Chair for the General Pharmaceutical Council, the Architects Registration Board and Social Work England where she deals with misconduct and disciplinary hearings, work she has done over many years for various professional regulators. She was a Deputy Clerk at the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal for over 13 years.
Lubna is a past Chair of the Law Society’s Strategic Litigation Group and was a member of the Law Society Council for 12 years, representing the interests of sole solicitors.
Lubna has extensive experience of public speaking internationally and in the UK. She has frequently appeared in the media discussing and writing about a wide range of legal issues.
In 2025 Lubna received an Honorary Doctor of Law from the University of West London. In 2024 Lubna received an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from Aston University and in 2022 she received an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from the University of Law. In 2023 she received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the University of Westminster and an Outstanding Achievement Award from the Asian Legal Awards. In 2021 she was awarded the Sole Practitioner of the Year Award from the Black Solicitors Network.
LinkedIn – Lubna Shuja X - @lubnashuja
Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/lubna-shuja-2801711b/
Nina Goswami is Clifford Chance's first Head of Inclusion UK. She is responsible for developing and implementing the law firm's inclusion policies and campaigns within the London and Newcastle offices. Before Clifford Chance, Nina was the BBC's Creative Diversity Lead and headed up 50:50 The Equality Project. The multi-award-winning initiative uses data monitoring to ensure media content better reflects society. She also led work around inclusive language and supported BBC News with its diversity and inclusion strategy. This included launching impact-driven partnerships such as Reframing Disability with the Media Trust. Nina also worked as a journalist for The Sunday Times, The Sunday Telegraph and the legal press. This was prior to her roles at the BBC, which included TV News Editor. Nina has named as Inspirational d&i Leader 2024. Nina has also featured in the Global Diversity List as Head of Diversity (2023), Champion (2021) and Diversity Professional (2020).
Patrick is the Chief Executive of the City of London Law Society and the co-CEO of City Century, a solicitor apprentice initiative with around 50 law firms, currently recruiting 150 school-leavers, most of whom are low SEB, into remunerative City law careers.
He is co-founder of the Social Welfare Solicitors’ Qualification Fund, for which he has raised over £1.5m, allowing 140 legal aid workers to qualify.
Patrick is the immediate past Director of Learning at Linklaters, where he led the firm’s global L&D strategy, and is the immediate past Chair of the City of London Law Society Training Committee.
He is the founder of two legal queer recruitment initiatives: DiversCity (2012) and Queer City Law Career (2024).
Patrick also led #TheLLP!, which won Best LGBT+ Initiative at the 2025 Women & Diversity in Law Awards and the 2025 Legal 500 ESG Awards. Patrick is the 2024 UK Social Mobility Awards’ Champion of the Year, received a Special Mention at the 2024 British LGBT Awards and was shortlisted in the 2025 Women & Diversity in Law Awards’ LGBT Person of the Year category. The projects and teams he has led have been shortlisted for 25 national awards in the last two months, to date winning over half.
Patrick is also one of the most visible LGBTQ+ professionals in the UK legal sector, with nearly 20,000 followers and over 2 million views annually on LinkedIn, currently ranking 6th worldwide.
He is out as queer, #StateSchoolProud and late-diagnosed neurodiverse.
Phoebe Waters is Co-Founder and Partner of Optimising Potential ('OP'), a strategic business consultancy - specialising in high impact leadership - with an emphasis on supporting women and breaking down systemic inequalities. OP works in-depth with individuals and teams as impactful improvement partners, particularly through periods of transformational change.
Phoebe is a two-time winner of Management Today's 35 Women Under 35 Awards, a UK-wide initiative recognising the best of female business talent. She is now Chair of Judges for these 35//35 Awards, in addition to being a Judge for the Women and Diversity in Law Awards, and a Judge for the UK StartUp Awards. Phoebe is the Co-Founder of London's 'Female City Supper Club'.
Phoebe is a former corporate investigator specilalising in asset recovery and enforcement, and is previous Chair of the Female Fraud Forum. She is a faculty member at the University of Cambridge's Institute of Sustainability Leadership, tutoring on two internationally renowned courses. These courses are 'Women Leading Change: Shaping Our Future' and 'High Impact Leadership' at CISL.
OP was UN Women UK's sole leadership partner for the Commission on the Status of Women in 2024 (CSW is the principal global intergovernmental body exclusively dedicated to gender), and again for 2025 - with Phoebe presenting to hundreds of UN Women UK delegates (of all genders) in a range of sectors and industries, on how to break down systemic inequalities at the micro, meso and macro levels. Phoebe is a visiting lecturer on the foundations of gender equity and equality at other UK universities, supporting students moving into a broad variety of sectors and industries.
Phoebe is also the Co-Founder of Project UpLift, a non-profit forum that provides support, networking, advocacy and mentoring for LGBTQI+ and allies working in the legal, investigations and forensic fields, and is a member of the Aspen Rising Leaders Fellowship. She has worked for organisations including Goldman Sachs, Burford Capital and Schillings.
First woman to be President of the Federation of European Bar Associations.
Professor Sara Chandler KC (Hon) is a solicitor in London South Bank University’s Legal Advice Clinic, and was a Council Member of the Law Society of England & Wales (LSEW), representing solicitors in the voluntary sector from 2002 to 2021. She is also active in local law societies and is Past President of Westminster & Holborn Law Society and Past President of South London Law Society. She was Chair of the Law Society’s Human Rights Committee from 2011 to 2015 and continues as an active member with particular responsibility for Colombia.
Sara has a background in free legal services having worked for 15 years in Law Centres, 5 years in legal aid firms, 9 years in the University of Law Legal Advice Centre, and joined London South Bank University in 2012. Her work in the Legal Advice Clinic involves training and supervising law students to give free legal services to members of the public.
In 2016 Sara was made Honorary QC for her work in human rights, pro bono and clinical legal education. During 2003 to 2012 Sara worked pro bono in training programmes of the Law Society of England & Wales with the legal professions of Nigeria, Uganda, Zambia and the Eastern Caribbean on access to justice, promoting legal aid schemes and free legal services.
From 1982 to 92 she worked in North Lewisham Law Centre as a welfare rights worker and in 1995 she qualified as a solicitor, working in a legal aid firm assisting homeless people as a solicitor specialising in Housing Law.
Sara has been a member of the Human Rights Commission of the Federation of European Bars (FBE) since 2006, and in 2011 she became President of the Human Rights Commission until 2015, when she joined the FBE Presidency. She is currently the Secretary to the Commission.
In 2017 she became the first female President of the European Bars Federation (FBE), and campaigns for Women in Leadership in the Law. Since 2018 she has been the Chair Law Society’s Equality Diversity and Inclusion Committee and is working to achieve a more diverse and inclusive legal profession.
Rachel Walker is General Counsel & Chief Administrative Officer (Europe) at GLP Capital Partners where she set up the in-house Legal, Compliance and Governance function when she joined in 2014. She oversees the Legal, Governance, Risk and Regulatory programmes, as well as Marketing and Communications and GLP’s Luxembourg team.
Rachel is passionate about talent development and initiated GLP Europe’s pan-European mentoring programme as well as the “G-Academy” talent development programme for her team. She is an active member of GLP’s DEI&B group, and chairs GLP Europe’s Charity Committee.
Rachel has a law degree from Oxford University and prior to GLP she spent 10 years at Herbert Smith Freehills LLP. Previously she has contributed to publications of the International Comparative Legal Guide to Real Estate and other legal journals.
Sara is an employed barrister with over 27 years’ experience in the criminal justice, public policy and international sectors. Much of her career has been spent working for government, including as Director of Strategic Policy at the Crown Prosecution Service before joining the IBA in 2019.
Sara has led the legal teams on two public inquiries (The Baha Mousa Inquiry and the Detainee Inquiry) and spent 3 years as a legal and policy advisor to the Senior Presiding Judge and Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales. She has sat in a judicial capacity on the Council of the Inns of Court Disciplinary Tribunal between 2013 and 2020 and was appointed as a reviewer for the National Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel in 2019. She currently heads up the Legal Policy and Research Unit at the International Bar Association, working across all Committees and Divisions to lead and support a wide range of IBA projects. This frequently involves collaboration with external stakeholders, including the United Nations, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), European Union institutions and World Bank. Current project work includes gender parity in the legal profession, business and human rights and sustainability, Anti-Corruption and ethics, rule of law and mental well-being in the legal profession.
Sara is also a trustee for the homeless charity, Under One Sky.
Collaboration, creativity and confidence are core to Sunita Harley’s work with law firms over the last 18 years as an award-winning Inclusion and Professional Development Specialist. Through her consultancy Collective Insight launched in 2016, Sunita and her team deliver engaging inclusion sessions, inspiring career management programmes and insightful leadership sessions for law firms, chambers and other corporate organisations including Lloyds Banking Group, Marie Curie, Meta and Coursera.
She is proud to have delivered award-nominee programmes to equip professionals at all stages of their careers. Her clients value the unique career management programmes for women and diverse professionals, inspiring group coaching sessions, exec coaching conversations and leadership development workshops she delivers for a number of leading law firms.
Sunita’s expertise has been featured in Psychologies, People Management, Elle and on the BBC. In 2023, Collective Insight won the Diversity Champion of the Year in a Specialist Role award at the Women and Diversity in Law Awards. When collecting this award, Sunita told Baroness Floella Benjamin that she was dedicating the award to her late best friend Natasha. In 2024, Sunita was selected as one of the four finalists for the Outstanding Achievement Award by University of Westminster.
Sunita worked in-house as an HR leader at Herbert Smith Freehills, Slaughter and May and Addleshaw Goddard. Sunita is previously the Co-Chair of the Cultural Diversity Network at Taylor Wessing and the Chair of the Family Network at Slaughter and May.
She kicked off her earlier career working as a DJ and in fashion where, despite being one of the few British Mauritian South Asian professionals in her sector, she was selected for assignments with global brands including Nike, The Body Shop and Vogue.
Her podcast Lucky Things focuses on looking after our careers, confidence and wellbeing. She is a proud mental-health advocate having navigated numerous life setbacks. Sunita is often asked to deliver talks for colleagues throughout the year as well as for Mental Health Awareness Week, International Women’s Day and South Asian Heritage Month. Sunita loves sharing practical know-how via her LinkedIn corner and often reminds all of us to celebrate our career achievements. She looks forward to celebrating all of the nominees and finalists for the 2025 Women and Diversity in Law Awards.
Yasmin Waljee OBE, is responsible for shaping the International Pro bono Practice at Hogan Lovells Cadwalader. Her appointment in 1997 was the first of its kind in Europe and her appointment to the partnership was the first such appointment in the UK.
Yasmin is an expert in the field of human rights with a focus on victims and reparations work. She has practiced in this area at Hogan Lovells Cadwalader for 27 years, starting on Privy Council appeals against the death penalty and working on many ground breaking and law changing matters. She has expertise in human trafficking and sexual violence, including formerly sitting on the Advisory Panel to the UK's Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner. She is also a Council of Europe member of the network of lawyers on anti-human trafficking (GRETA), Trustee of the IBA Human Rights Institute, Director of the Global Board of Equality Now and Trustee of the Chancery Lane Project and Advisory Board member to the Patchwork Foundation
