About Me

My career as a lawyer began six months prior to the global financial crisis in 2008, which significantly altered the way in which worldwide financial systems operated. As a direct result of this, my legal specialism became large scale transformational change projects.

Nearly two decades later, I have worked as a partner at a major international law firm, spent time in-house, and worked in roles in England, Scotland, Amsterdam and the United Arab Emirates. I am still a practicing lawyer specialising in transformational change, but I’m also an accredited coach and undertaking a MSc in Coaching for Behavioural Change at Henley Business School.

My academic focus lies in exploring the application of coaching as a means to address systemic barriers in professional services, foster resilience, and enhance self-advocacy within (often highly challenging) high-performance environments.

In other words, I’m fascinated by change in all aspects – human behaviour in change environments, why people change, why they resist change and what we need to make a change. Given my time working outside the UK, the impact of cultural differences on our willingness to change continues to intrigue me.

Outside of my coaching practice, I am a longstanding advocate for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging and Mental Health. I am a member of the Company Law Committee of the Law Society of England and Wales and work as a senior consultant for an international law firm.

I live in South Oxfordshire with a hyperactive cockerpoo dog, have a diploma in wedding cake decoration, and have recently developed an interest in quilting..

Why “Glass Cliff” Coaching?

The “glass cliff” phrase comes from research conducted in 2005 into women on boards, which has since been adopted and used in a number of different contexts. The original research (by Michelle K. Ryan and S. Alexander Haslam) identified that women are more likely to occupy leadership positions with a higher risk of failure - either because they have been appointed in a time of crisis, or because they are not given the resources they need to succeed.

 If we take the metaphor further, a glass cliff is (by its nature) transparent. You can’t see it, even when you are standing close to that cliff edge. It might take the light bouncing off the glass for you to realise it is there.

My coaching practice aims to help you look at the aspects of your career clearly - to see through that glass, and work out if this is a cliff edge you want to walk along, to make big decisions in a safe and collaborative space, and to work out what you need to succeed.