Meet our Social Mobility Community

Louise was appointed Chief Legal & Risk Officer, Company Secretary in July 2023. She has global accountabilities for Legal, Ethics, and Compliance, as well as responsibility for the Group’s Risk Management Framework. Louise is a member of the IMI Executive Committee and Company Secretary to the IMI plc Board and Committees. She joined IMI in July 2021 as Group General Counsel & Company Secretary and was the Executive Sponsor of IMI’s “Better World” sustainability strategy for over two years. Prior to joining IMI, Louise was General Counsel & Company Secretary at Victrex plc.  She has held legal roles in Speedy Hire plc, United Utilities plc and DLA Piper. She brings extensive experience in legal, risk and compliance matters to enable IMI’s growth.   Louise is a Board Member of General Counsel for Diversity & Inclusion and co-leads its Social Mobility Community.

Matt is Group General Counsel at global content producer Fremantle. Fremantle produces over 12,000 hours of original programming every year across drama, entertainment, documentaries and film. He joined Fremantle in August 2021 and sits on the global board. Prior to Fremantle, Matt was based in Amsterdam as General Counsel for EMEA & APAC for Uber, leading a diverse, international team who helped Uber Rides to scale, launch Uber Eats and JUMP bikes (now Lime) and stabilise and grow the business across over 50 countries, culminating in a successful listing on the NYSE in 2019.  Matt started his career with four years at Baker & McKenzie, followed by an overall six-year stint in senior roles for global telco Telefónica with a spell at Arsenal Football Club in the middle. Matt studied Economics and Politics and is a practicing Solicitor (England and Wales).

Russell leads the legal, risk and compliance teams for the largest consumer business in the UK: BT’s Consumer division (BT, EE and Plusnet) which serves 30 million customers and generates £10bn in annual revenue.

Starting his career as a media lawyer, Russell joined BT in 2011.  After leading the BT Sport launch, he was appointed General Counsel for BT Consumer in 2015, and then General Counsel for the combined consumer businesses in 2017.

He is Vice Chair of the Social Tech Trust (a social impact investor) and a trustee of the Social Mobility Business Partnership (a charity dedicated to improving social mobility in law and finance).

bp delivers heat, light and mobility products and services to people all around the world in ways that will help to drive the transition to a lower carbon future.

Jo was appointed head of the global team responsible for legal activities related to all Treasury work, including capital markets, credit facilities, structured financings, corporate restructuring, group funding, trading, insurance and pensions in 2017 after joining bp in 2006.

Previously Jo qualified and worked at Slaughter and May and has 25 years of international corporate and financing experience.  She holds a degree in Chemistry from Imperial College and a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from Trinity College, Cambridge.  Jo was a founding member of a UK women’s network in 2007 at bp and has supported different strands of D&I within bp with a current passion for Social Mobility.

As Head of Legal, International, at Gordon Brothers, Ben leads a team of front-line transactional and corporate counsel for Gordon Brothers’ international business. He advises on legal strategy, transaction structuring and negotiation, and manages deal documentation and execution, among other corporate matters, as well as disputes and litigation.

Ben’s responsibilities at Gordon Brothers also involve acting as General Counsel for Gordon Brothers’ European portfolio investments: Laura Ashley and Orsay, providing legal support and guidance to those two international retail brand licensing and franchising businesses.

Ben has over 15 years’ experience of cross-border restructuring and insolvency matters including distressed M&A, pre-pack sales, bank resolutions, corporate financial restructurings, and formal insolvencies. He has worked on numerous complex restructurings and insolvency transactions, involving English administrations, schemes of arrangement, CVAs, liquidations, and US Chapter 11 proceedings. Ben’s experience also spans pre-insolvency and insolvency processes in numerous other jurisdictions including France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Australia, South Africa, Singapore and Mexico.

Before joining Gordon Brothers, Ben was head of legal for a privately-owned special situations asset manager and investment company. Prior to this, Ben was Managing Associate at the global law firm Linklaters, where he worked for over five years in their restructuring and insolvency practice. Ben started his career in the Dentons restructuring and insolvency practice.

Ben holds an LLB from Leeds University Law School and is admitted as a Solicitor-Advocate of the Senior Courts of England and Wales.

Joao is a senior corporate energy lawyer working for bp in the UK. He graduated from the Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon, completed an LL.M in “Energy, Environment and Natural Resources Law” from the University of Houston, and an executive master’s degree in “Global Business” from the University of Oxford.

Joao started his career as a tax attorney at a major law firm and then went on to become a commercial upstream lawyer. After several years working in upstream, Joao shifted to projects and became a major projects senior counsel specialized in Offshore Wind and Oil & Gas

 In addition to his professional activity, João is the coordinator of the Postgraduate Program in Energy Law at Católica Lisbon (Portugal). João is also regularly invited to speak on energy topics and has published several articles on the subject.

 Outside of work Joao enjoys spending time with his wife and their two kids, playing Padel tennis, buying records and visiting art galleries” 

Layla Al-Hassani is SVP Legal for Gas & Low Carbon Energy and Regions, Corporates & Solutions at bp. She joined bp in 2011 and has held a number of legal roles around the group, and previously trained and worked at the international law firm CMS. She sits on bp legal’s UK D&EI committee supporting various initiatives.

Marceline Tournier is Global Head of Antitrust for Nestlé in Vevey, Switzerland.

Prior to joining Nestlé S.A. in 2008, Marceline worked as a UK and EU antitrust lawyer in London at Clifford Chance and Hogan & Hartson.

Marceline has extensive competition and antitrust law experience covering investigations, sector inquiries, national and international merger control, joint ventures and utilities regulation across a number of jurisdictions throughout the world. Her experience spans diverse sectors including fast moving consumer goods, financial services, private equity, energy, water and transport. She regularly works in English, French, German and Spanish.

Marceline is co-chair of the ICC’s Global Competition Commission Taskforce on Competition Policy and Sustainability and is committed to improving social mobility issues in the legal profession as a member of the Nestlé Legal & Compliance DE&I committee.

Marceline obtained a B.A. (cum laude) from George Washington University in Washington D.C. and is a UK qualified solicitor.

Talia is Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Manager at Hogan Lovells, focusing on delivering the firm’s DEI goals in the UK, and has been with the firm for five years. She has previously held roles in the third sector, in charities focusing on developing employment skills and opportunities for young people and worked as an English coach in Paris prior to joining Hogan Lovells. Talia has sat on the GCD&I Social Mobility Pilar since its inception in 2022 and is passionate about raising awareness of the topic beyond early careers and recruitment challenges to ensure the retention, progression and inclusion of those from lower socio-economic backgrounds within the legal sector.

Emma is Community Investment Manager at  A&O Shearmann the Social Impact Group.  Emma manages volunteering programmes around the themes of access to education and employment as well as the London grants programme of the A&O Foundation.  Emma has been instrumental in setting up the firm’s partner-led Social Mobility Working Group and Social Mobility Employee Resource Group at A&O.  Emma leads on A&O’s submission in the Social Mobility Employer Index and is currently ranked 7th.  Emma is a Trustee of the London Legal Support Trust that raises funds for free legal advice services in London and the South East.

Annette acts for clients on real estate investments, debt and restructurings, often involving portfolios of property. She draws on her experience to assess  the property interests and liabilities with a view to determining the appropriate level of risk for the client, and – in the case of disposals – in order to prepare the groundwork to achieve maximum value.

Many of the transactions on which she works have a cross-border element, raising issues in multiple jurisdictions. In such cases, Annette co-ordinates and manages the process for the client, marshalling the local law advice into an overall strategy and apportioning the agreed risk in a uniform manner across jurisdictions.

She takes a pragmatic, commercial approach to transactions, quickly assessing what is relevant and material to the client and what is not. She has a wide, international client base and is adept at guiding new investors through the unfamiliar territory of the UK and European real estate market.

Annette is the firm’s sponsor for social mobility and sits on the Diversity Committee with a particular interest in the multicultural aspects of our firm.

Matthew York is one of A&O Shearman’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Managers based in their London office. Prior to working in the firm’s DE&I team, Matthew worked in the Early Careers Recruitment team at A&O Shearman focusing on DE&I. Before joining A&O, Matthew also worked in Early Careers Recruitment at two other firms within the legal sector. Matthew is actively involved in the firm’s social mobility network and committee and supports with initiatives including the firm’s Social Mobility Employer Index submission and the firm’s sixth form outreach initiatives including the A&O Bursary designed to support students from less advantaged backgrounds.

Andrew Jolly is a corporate partner at Slaughter and May.  He joined the firm as a trainee in 1997, qualified in 1999 and became a partner in 2006.  He is Head of one of the firm’s three Corporate Groups.   Andrew’s practice consists principally of acting for clients on domestic and international corporate finance transactions, including public and private M&A, equity financings, joint ventures and restructurings.  He also advises on company law, corporate governance and other board-related matters and is a member of the Company Law Committee of the Law Society.  Andrew is also Head of the firm’s Sports Practice.

Andrew is Chair of the Slaughter and May Social Mobility Working Group and sponsor partner to the firm’s Social Mobility network (SoMo).

Gemma Porter is a seasoned Diversity & Inclusion leader with over 15 years of experience in the professional services industry, spanning Big 4 accountancy firms, strategy consulting, and the legal sector. She has works together with C-suite executives and senior stakeholders to develop and deliver strategic objectives across. Her leadership experience includes managing graduate recruitment, talent management, wellbeing, and Diversity & Inclusion teams across EMEA.

Currently, Gemma serves as the Senior Diversity & Inclusion Manager at Herbert Smith Freehills, overseeing initiatives in the UK, US, and EMEA regions. Her qualifications as a Mental Health First Aider further underscore her commitment to fostering inclusive and supportive workplace environments.

Gemma is passionate about creating cultures where individuals can thrive and bring their best selves to work, ensuring that everyone has the opportunity to succeed and feel valued.

Hannah is an Associate in the IP team at Hogan Lovells in London. Hannah’s legal practice is predominantly concerned with multi-jurisdictional patent litigation across the technology, media, telecommunications and life sciences sectors. Her main focus is advising clients on both assertion of patents and defence against infringement claims. She has also been involved with various non-litigious matters, including advising on patent assignments and assisting with IP-related due-diligence.

Hannah is passionate about social mobility, and is proud to be part of the GCD&I Social Mobility Pillar. She was part of the project management team for the pillar in 2023 and helped coordinate a successful event for the pillar, hosted at Hogan Lovells.

Beth is a Counsel in the pension group at Hogan Lovells and joined the Firm in 2015. Her experience includes advising both trustees and sponsoring employers in relation to complex scheme mergers, liability management options and benefit changes. She is a member of the Association of Pension Lawyers and sits on the steering committee for Hogan Lovells’ Social Mobility Network.

Caroline became a member of the Group Legal & Compliance team at IMI in October 2023. She began her career as a commercial litigator and spent ten years in private practice. Later, Caroline transitioned in-house, joining Victrex plc, where she was subsequently appointed as the Head of Legal for the Industrial business. Additionally, Caroline serves as the Human Rights Officer for IMI’s German entities.

A trained lawyer, Nick is an expert on the roles of General Counsel, Company Secretary, Chief Compliance Officer, Chief Risk Officer and Head of Internal Audit.  As part of this he is an acknowledged expert on the impact of culture and governance on the long-term sustainability of an organization. He is regularly invited by clients and industry bodies to speak at roundtables, seminars and conferences, offering insights into functional leaders’ dual responsibility for managing risk and executing business strategy in the context of governance, culture and leadership. His keynote speeches often focus on developing the pipeline of future talent and what makes a functional leader truly successful. Nick’s chief motivation is to enable others to fulfil their potential and derive a sense of purpose from their work. He brings this approach to his clients, his candidates, his team, and with the wider community, championing social mobility and mentoring disadvantaged young people. He is a standing judge for the UK Social Mobility Awards.

Karen Senior is one of Slaughter and May’s Diversity and Inclusion Managers based in their London office. Prior to joining Slaughter and May’s D&I team, Karen has over 10 years HR Business partner experience in the professional services and legal Sector. Her experience includes Early Careers recruitment, talent management, wellbeing, Diversity & Inclusion and employee engagement. 

Karen leads on Slaughter and May’s submission in the Social Mobility Employer Index and is currently ranked 19th, manages the firm’s financial bursaries scheme and is actively involved in the firm’s social mobility implementation plan.