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UK Diversity Legal Awards celebrates the achievers

11 January 2021 Proprietor of Beaumonde Law Practice in Harrow When young, I wanted to be a doctor like my parents. However, I decided to become a journalist. My parents disapproved so we compromised on law. I completed my LLB at Bristol Polytechnic. I then went to the College of Law. I did a conveyancing seat at a Bromley firm, and then a mixture of wills, civil and criminal litigation at a Watford firm. I clerked Crown court hearings and carried out repossession hearings. I qualified in 1992 and accepted a temporary assignment conducting repossessions for a firm in Basildon. I was then em...

The author of last year’s hard-hitting independent review of the Windrush immigration scandal heads the list of solicitors recognised in the 2021 New Year Honours. Wendy Williams, admitted in 1991, receives the CBE for public service. She is currently HM Inspector of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services for 13 forces across the Midlands, Wales and south-west England. Her review of the Windrush affair accused ministers and officials of failing to acknowledge the suffering of people wrongly classified as illegal immigrants. Her recommendations were accepted in full by the government. A p...

By Jemma Slingo2020-12-17T10:30:00+00:00 Traditional training contracts can be ‘insurmountable obstacles’ for less advantaged graduates, who are pushed out by those with ‘insider knowledge’, a solicitor has told the regulator’s training conference. Cordella Bart-Stewart, director of the Black Solicitors Network, said she was ‘confident’ that Solicitors Qualifying Exam (SQE) has the potential to improve diversity and social mobility. Speaking at the SRA’s annual SQE conference, Bart-Stewart said: ‘A two-year training contract in a law firm is a significant and often insurmo...