PRIME, an alliance of law firms across the UK committed to improving access to the legal profession through work experience, is pleased to announce that it has appointed Kathryn Davies, Sarah Macdonald and David Ampaw to its Board, effective immediately. The Board has also voted to extend the term of current Chair Nicholas Cheffings for a further three years, effective from 1 May 2019.
Nicholas Cheffings, Chairman of PRIME says: “All of our new Board members bring their own unique area of expertise from a legal, social mobility and large multinational perspective which will undoubtedly complement our existing Board structure. Only by collaborating across our industry will we effect the real change needed to shift the needle and ensure a diverse pipeline within our profession. I look forward to working together over the next three and a half years as we rise to the challenge.”
Kathryn Davies is passionate about social mobility, and has been working in the sector for over seven years. She joined the Education Endowment Foundation, a charity dedicated to breaking the link between family income and educational achievement, in 2018 and is responsible for a range of projects, including identifying promising interventions for funding, managing trials and overseeing the production of publications to communicate the findings of their work. Prior to this she worked at the Social Mobility Foundation, setting up the UK’s first Social Mobility Employer Index, which benchmarks how good employers are at being open to talent from all backgrounds.
Sarah Macdonald started her career as a corporate lawyer at CMS in London and is currently Chief Counsel Commercial & Operations at BT. She is a member of BT’s Diversity & Inclusion Committee and has established work experience and mentoring schemes. Sarah believes that those who have been fortunate enough to succeed to senior positions in the legal sector have a responsibility to broaden access to the profession, and to ensure talent can succeed regardless of personal circumstances.
David Ampaw is a restructuring law specialist and partner in the Finance, Projects and Restructuring practice at DLA Piper. He holds multiple voluntary roles, on top of being a full time legal practitioner, focused on developing the skills, aptitude and confidence required to gain access to the employment in the legal sector for underrepresented groups. David also helps to steer DLA Piper’s Head Start UK programme, a long term holistic initiative supporting students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds enter and succeed in the legal profession.
