Sally Penni MBE is a practicing barrister at Kenworthys Chambers in Manchester, and is a fantastic final guest of our second series of Humans of Law! Sally is also a Bencher at Gray’s Inn, host of the Talking Law podcast, an author, a non-exec director, and the founder of Women in the Law UK. Sally's work both inside and outside of the courtroom often touches on diversity, and much of her life's work to date has been focused on increasing representation within the legal sector.
Sally's wide range of interests and commitment to diversity initiatives makes for engaging discussion with Flex Legal CEO and podcast host Mary Bonsor. Both are incredibly busy female leaders in the law, and both are driving enormous strides towards a more diverse and representative legal profession.
Mary and Sally begin today's episode with a candid discussion about the practicalities of juggling interests outside of the workplace, before moving onto Sally's interest in "giving back" to the profession. This topic flows into Sally's first ever encounter with a black barrister at the age of 21, and how this informed her passion for widening diversity within the law. Mary and Sally move onto discussion of how early non-legal jobs can impact your legal career, and how sharing stories of legal career challenges might make the industry more appealing to a diverse spread of people. Finally, Mary and Sally tackle the big topics of having side hustles, and where the legal industry might go in the next 5 years.
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Humans of Law is a podcast produced by Flex Legal, an award-winning digital platform that connects interim lawyers and paralegals to the clients that need their support. Thanks for listening!