Megan Castellano | Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP
Sharona Attar | Bloomberg
Suzanne Szczetnikowicz | Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP
Suzanne is a senior associate in the London office of Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy and is a member of the award-winning Project, Energy and Infrastructure Finance Group. She has experience advising project sponsors, bidders and lenders in the development, project financing and acquisition financing of significant and predominantly European, Middle Eastern and African projects and assets across a number of sectors. She has completed secondments in Abu Dhabi and with HSBC and Borealis Infrastructure in London.
Suzanne is passionate about improving the prospects of, and opportunities for, women in the legal profession and also works hard within her firm in connection with the internal Women’s Initiative, Diversity and pro bono programmes. She is Co-Founder and Chair of Women in Law London (WILL), a cross-London women's legal network of over 2400 individuals which is targeted at associate-level lawyers in private practice and in-house and seeks to ultimately promote and engage the next generation of women leaders in law.
Throughout her life, Suzanne has been heavily involved in the world of classical music, with two diplomas for her solo piano playing and much experience in the choral singing world. She is extremely excited to have this year been appointed to the Board of Trustees for the Aurora Orchestra.
Rebecca Morgan | Lawyer in the Making
I am an aspiring barrister, blogger, part time BPTC student and all round law geek.
I set up my law blog many years ago as a way of documenting my own journey into law, as well as sharing interesting cases, news, study tips, resources, legal events and much more.
I never really expected people to read my blog, but I love that so many people have. My blog is read by law students and lawyers all over the world. I have even had the opportunity to create an ebook for law students.
I love that I am able to help law students at events at universities, via YouTube videos, blog posts and social media engagement. I really feel lucky to be in a position where I can encourage and support people during their studies, in an honest way.
Denise Nurse | Halebury
Denise Nurse is an entrepreneur, lawyer and broadcaster. She successfully combines a career as CEO of Halebury, a pioneering new law firm, with her role as a television presenter and host.
Starting her legal career in the corporate commercial team at Charles Russell, Denise went on to work in-house for Sky as a technology and broadcast lawyer before co-founding legal consultancy, Halebury, in 2007 with business partner Janvi Patel.
Halebury set out to change the way legal services are provided to in-house legal teams and to create a credible career path for senior in-house lawyers from the start. With no external funding and starting from a blank sheet of paper, Denise and Janvi designed a law firm fit for the 21st century, focussed on people, process and delivery rather than billable hours.
Halebury is now a multimillion pound organisation, recognised as a trail blazer in the NewLaw space. It has a team of over 30 senior in-house lawyers and clients include Pearson, Expedia, BT, National Grid, The Royal Mail and Sky. It is ranked highly for legal advice within the Telecoms, Media, Technology and Sports sectors alongside other leading law firms in the renowned Legal 500 directory. As CEO, Denise works to ensure the highest quality of service to clients, lawyers and employees and on the strategy for the company’s growth and expansion.
As a broadcaster and speaker Denise is highly sought after. A well known presenter of the BBC’s flagship Escape to the Country programme, Denise also hosts and facilitates corporate events and speaks regularly on issues regarding the legal industry including innovation, collaboration and diversity.
Denise is married and cares full time for her four year old son, and teenage step children aged 16 and 18. They live in Southampton.
Harriet Sassoon | Morrison & Foerster LLP
Sally Penni | Kenworthy's Chambers
Sally Penni is a practising Barrister at Law and Vice Chair of Association of Women Barristers.
She was Called to the Bar in 2000 by Gray’s Inn has nearly 20 years experience.
She practices from Kenworthy’s Chambers, Manchester. She is the Founder of Women in the Law and Business UK, Manchester. A mentoring organisation set up to encourage the next generation of Lawyers. Passionate about gender diversity in the work place, Sally has initiated and instigated several initiatives to help the legal sectors increase diversity.
Sally is married with 3 children.
Sally is the Winner of several prestigious and impressive awards including Winning the Diversity Champion Award, awarded by the UK Diversity Legal Awards and receiving Highly commended Inspiring Leader by HSBC and Rising Star by Forward Ladies.
Sally was named as one of the North West’of England’s 50 most Powerful Women on the 50 Power List by the Northern Power Women Awards 2017. A list of powerful change makers containing amongst others Marnie Millard of Nicholls PLC,, Dame Professor Nancy Rothwell CBE Manchester University, Emma Elston MBE amongst others.
Outside of her Legal career Sally is an experienced Non Executive Director . With past experience on the Board of Rethink Mental Health Charity, her present boards includes Royal Exchange Theatre, Arrawak Walton Housing Association ( providing housing for BME community) Vice Chair of Governors of Camberwell Park Specialist School.
She is the Regional Coordinator for Citizenship Foundation Bar Mock trials at Minshull street Crown trying to increase social mobility in the legal profession by ensuring a day a day in the Crown court.
Sally Penni is the Special Adviser to the Martin Nugent, Lead for Women at Justice and Rehabilitation Unit Greater Manchester Public Service Reform.
Sally is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, Commerce and Manufacturing and is passionate about Diversity.
Connect on
Linked in: Sally Penni FRSA
@sallypenni1
To Book Sally for a case please contact:
Sally Penni, Kenworthy’s Barristers Chambers
Naomi Pryde | Dentons
Naomi is a senior associate in Dentons' commercial dispute resolution team and the first ever elected member of the Law Society of Scotland's council for the constituency of England & Wales. She serves over 550 constituents in England & Wales and a further 1400 worldwide. She is also a Notary Public and a Writer to Her Majesty's Signet.
Naomi has a wide practice, acting for both claimants and defendants in all of manner of litigations including complex contractual disputes, fraud and the recovery of assets under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002. Her clients range from individuals to multi-national corporations. Naomi is commended for her approachable nature and for her pro-active and commercial approach to settling disputes. She is often invited to speak at conferences and she regularly writes for the legal press.
Naomi devotes a lot of her spare time to pro-bono and charity work as she wants to give back to society and to support those who need it the most. She is a solicitor volunteer for the National Centre of Domestic Violence. This involves obtaining injunctions and non molestation orders for women who are being abused by their partners. She also keenly supports SmartWorks, a charity that helps women on low incomes get jobs and become financially independent by providing interview clothes and mentoring opportunities.
She is committed to promoting diversity in law and is a passionate supporter of the Law Society's of Scotland's Law Scot foundation. The foundation supports children and young people who come from disadvantage backgrounds who have the drive and ambition to become solicitors, but, in light of the their financial circumstances are unable to do so. Naomi is a mentor for a University student under this programme. She is also active member of Dentons' women's network, which promotes parity between the genders in law.
Naomi recently ran the London Marathon in memory of her Gran, raising over £4,500 for the British Heart Foundation.
Jacque Onalo | Jolt International Ltd & R. Spio and Company Solicitors
I am a single mother of one exceptionally talented adult child. I decided to be a lawyer when I was about eight years old after toying with the idea of being world leader and sorting out all global ills, being a nun because I went to a convent school and an air hostess because I thought this was an inexpensive way to see the world.
Despite being a teenage mum, I attained my ambition with the support of exceptional parents.
I came to the UK as an international student and stayed because of a relationship and to pursue my legal career. I had the option to return to a well established network but chose to stay here and establish my practice under my own steam not under the patronage of my father and our connections.
I begun as a criminal defence barrister then stumbled upon human rights and did not look back. The work is rewarding when you get the right result for your clients, devastating when the wrong decision is made but nonetheless provides motivation to fight for those who still require international protection and upholding of their human rights.
I am both a barrister and a solicitor, I currently practice as a solicitor
and have done so since 2006 when I became self employed. This gives me the independence I require to be involved in grassroots community and international development.
I am a leadership development trainer and an equalities, diversity and inclusion expert working with the largest public sector employer the NHS
I am passionate about youth leadership development and have developed a unique holistic programme that focuses on career, life and citizenship skills.
The common theme in all my roles is use of my voice for transformative change, upholding rights and empowering individuals.
Siva Karthikeyan | Aon Hewitt
Siva currently works within Aon’s Investment Consulting and Management business, where she partners with senior executives to provide strategic financial planning and insights into the overall running of the business. Being a high growth area within Aon, her focus is currently on influencing decision making that drives the commercial development of the business.
During her 6 years in Aon, she has contributed directly to key business initiatives such as improving cash flow within the UK by £10m, implementing an EMEA wide financial control programme and streamlining processes through offshoring activities.
She is also the vice-chair of Aon’s Multi-cultural network and is passionate about building positive relationships within cross cultural teams. As a budding network, her current focus is on establishing the foundational pillars to build longer term success for the network e.g. early careers programme, data & analysis, BAME colleagues’ recruitment and retention.
Outside of work, she actively supports fundraising events for ‘Building Blocks’ – A charity that runs projects to provide education and improve the well-being of children in Sri Lanka.