Sally Penni is an award-winning practicing Barrister at Law with almost 20 years of experience and a Non-Exec Director of Codethink Ltd, a fin tech company.

In 2012 Sally founded Women in the Law and Business UK a non-profit professional development organisation providing mentoring and inspiring tomorrows future lawyers.

Sally practices in Employment Law, Regulatory Crime and Cyber Security Law having started her law career in serious crime of young offenders and mental health.

Claire qualified as a solicitor before embarking on a career in business development in Professional Services. Claire headed up Connect2Law, the UK’s largest referral and support network for law firms, before joining the national brand, Quality Solicitors. She then led the Business Development team within Moneypenny, the UKs largest outsourced communications business.

Passionate about people, customer service and the importance of creating a thriving business culture for the success and happiness of both employer and employee, Claire has been a regular spokesperson at industry leading events.

In August 2020, Claire joined Mortgage Advice Bureau as the Head of Partnerships. Claire is responsible for building and leading strategic relationships with large businesses to help them promote financial well-being across the workforce.

Stephen was the 50th national President of Cilex and the first who was also a solicitor. He started his career as an apprentice and qualified as a lawyer whilst working full time.

He ran a successful personal injury firm for 12 years before moving on to pursue other opportunities. He now sits as a police misconduct judge and works with the College of Policing assisting them with high level recruitment and promotion for UK police forces.

Having spent several years as a Qualified Lawyer in her home country, Carmen became the IoP's Head of Membership in 2015.  She has participated in the growth of the organisation, from recruiting new members, through managing complex complaint resolution and intake processes.  

Carmen’s day-to-day activities in the supervision of the administrative activities to facilitate the smooth and efficient running of the IoP office include assisting with membership processes, dealing with membership issues, liaising with members and the general public, co-editing the monthly newsletter.  At the IoP, no two days are the same and there's never a dull moment. 

Karen is the service delivery manager for Dentons UK&ME LLP (Dentons) supporting the real estate (RE) team in Milton Keynes (MK).  She leads ParaShoot (the dedicated MK RE paralegal team).   She was key to the inception, implementation and delivery of the Dentons development programme for its paralegals which won the National Paralegal Award 2019 for best Law Firm  - Paralegal Development.   

Karen is a qualified real estate solicitor with over 15 years’ experience gained both in the City and in house.  Prior to her role at Dentons she was a senior tutor at the University of Law Moorgate and enjoyed delivering both the land law module on the GDL and the real estate courses on the LPC.  Karen is a keen champion of paralegals and is delighted to be a judge on these awards.

Rachel was a practising Solicitor for 15 years before setting up her own business helping legal professionals, who want to attract new clients and grow their practices and achieve exceptional results. Since leaving practise, Rachel has worked with over 500 businesses and law firms, delivering bespoke and effective marketing and business development services. Rachel’s knowledge of the legal sector means she is able to offer proven, reliable advice that makes a measurable and substantial difference to law practices, using both online and offline marketing tools to generate maximum results.

Rachel has won a national award and two regional business awards in recognition of her expertise and commitment to helping others succeed. She has been featured in a number of legal publications including the Solicitors Journal, Sole Practitioners Group Journal SOLO magazine, CILEx Regulation etc. She has also presented at events hosted by the Employment Lawyers Association, the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives, Standing Conference of Mediation Advocates, Sole Practitioners Group and The Law Society.

Neil is Director of Development and Innovation at the IoP. He is responsible for the global growth and development at IoP ensuring we continue to connect effectively with the profession. Prior to joining the IoP Neil worked at the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIArb) as Director of Communications and Membership. He was responsible for the strategic leadership on all aspects of membership development, international conferences, corporate communications and the global branch network. Neil was responsible for the successful implementation of CIArb’s segmentation strategy allowing CIArb to grow and expand its offering to a wider international audience. Neil also worked at the Association of Accounting Technicians (AAT) for over ten years and has expertise in a wide range of areas, including organisational development, learning and development and innovation management.

Esperanza started her legal career in the commercial law sector. After a career break she spent a year at the CPS then joined Which? Legal where she advised on a range of issues including consumer law and employment law, and appeared on national and local TV and radio. When she was appointed Head Of Legal Operations she led a team of 20 lawyers and introduced paralegals to the team for the first time. Esperanza now works in the area of dispute resolution.

Esperanza is passionate about developing new talent and is keen to see more diversity in the legal profession and more development opportunities for aspiring newcomers. She also believes that the public need new ways of accessing legal information and advice which are relevant to their needs and professionally and expertly delivered.

Neil is Director of Development and Innovation at the Institute of Paralegals. He is responsible for the global growth and development at IoP ensuring we continue to connect effectively with the profession. Prior to joining the IoP Neil worked at the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIArb) as Director of Communications and Membership. He was responsible for the strategic leadership on all aspects of membership development, international conferences, corporate communications and the global branch network.

Neil was responsible for the successful implementation of CIArb’s segmentation strategy allowing CIArb to grow and expand its offering to a wider international audience. Neil also worked at the Association of Accounting Technicians (AAT) for over ten years and has expertise in a wide range of areas, including organisational development, learning and development and innovation management.