Our Advisory Board has a crucial role in helping us shape our strategy for the future and provide the best possible content for our readers. The board is made up of some of the brightest and best individuals in their respective fields, who mentor us and help steer the magazine towards a successful future.

Equality and diversity are important to us, and we want this to be reflected in the decisions we make. The diversity of backgrounds and experiences within the committee helps us make robust and innovative decisions as an organisation, propelling us towards our goal of being the most-read legal tech publication in the world.

Atik Ahmed

Atik is the Head of Legal at TradeIX, a high-growth FinTech company, which operates a trade finance platform utilising blockchain technology. He has spoken at numerous legal events on topics such as the new tech sectors, blockchain, in-house legal careers, talent development and soft skills. Atik was previously also a student sports, news and careers journalist and was shortlisted for a Guardian Student Sports Writer of the Year Award in 2006. He continues to enjoy writing and is a fervent believer in the power of journalism to inspire, story-tell, inform and encourage debate.

Mercedes Brown

Offering a wealth of industry experience, Mercedes Brown understands how to guide a diverse range of stakeholders through the ever-changing legal market. Her experience includes roles at the Professional Mediators Association, Charles Russell Speechlys LLP, Thomson Reuters Legal UKI. Most recently, Mercedes was installed as the first full-time employee outside of the Americas for the International Legal Technology Association (ILTA) to manage Europe operations, including member recruitment, programme and educational development, and more. Her role connects solution providers, legal technology professionals and other legal professionals. She is based in London, UK.

Helen Burness

Helen is Director at Saltmarsh Marketing where she provides strategic marketing support to legal services businesses who are changing the game, doing things smarter, faster, more efficiently and who are creating better client experiences that transform the legal industry. Helen has over twenty years’ experience working for legal services businesses, from global law firm Eversheds Sutherland to NewLaw firm Halebury (now an Elevate Business), and has enjoyed being at the forefront of legal innovation through much of this time. In line with her love of those who are breaking the mould and challenging the norm, she combines her marketing consultancy with her pro bono passion, which is growing the global community that is She Breaks The Law.

Justin Farrance

Justin is an Associate at Allen & Overy and a diversity & inclusion advocate, having recently been shortlisted for the Just Like US ‘LGBT+ Ambassador of the Year’ sponsored by JP Morgan. He is the Founder of ‘GROW’, a one-to-one mentoring platform, which has so far paired over 600 students from 50 universities across the UK/USA with a legal professional from a similar underrepresented community, background or university. GROW aims to break-down barriers to entry within the profession and is now a recognised pro- bono client at Allen & Overy. Outside of the legal profession, Justin is a keen supporter of LGBTQ+ charity, Diversity Role Models, and delivers diversity-focussed workshops in schools across the UK to embed empathy and acceptance in future generations.

Sophie Gould

Sophie is Head of Learning & Development at F-LEX Legal – an award winning legal tech startup heping legal teams manage a flexible workforce. Sophie is also the founder of various in-house lawyer networks and works with The Social Mobility Business Partnership charity and Aspiring Solicitors to promote diversity in the legal sector.  She trained as a lawyer in the City and worked as an in-house lawyer for 10 years including as Head of Legal for Virgin Radio and Ginger Media Group.  Outside of work she is happily married with three sons and enjoys morning walks along the beach with her two dogs.

Jodie Hosmer

Jodie Hosmer is a Client Project Innovation Specialist at Mills & Reeve. A Real Estate Lawyer by background with 10 years’ experience as a transactional lawyer who moved into management, innovation and legal technology to drive innovation in legal service delivery. She works with clients on projects focused on transforming legal service delivery by co-designing and co-creating client-centric solutions; working closely with key stakeholders to inform and drive change management to implement and adopt those new solutions. She is responsible for driving the use of technology and developing solutions combining the right mix of people process and technology to deliver a wide range of legal work at Mills & Reeve.

Sharan Kaur

Sharan is currently Head of Sales and Strategic Partnerships at BRYTER. Having started her career as a Barrister she studied for an MBA at Henley Business School and went on to develop an interest in legal technology which took her to Thomson Reuters before joining BRYTER. Sharan has a passion for legal technology and is highly regarded in the industry having built strong networks with top Law Firms in the UK, EMEA and the USA. At the weekends she likes to take walks in the Kent countryside with her family and her two spaniels, Enzo and Hugo.

Electra Japonas

Electra Japonas is the founder of the world’s first Legal Optimisation Company, The Law Boutique. After spending over 10 years in large organisations, becoming frustrated with repetitive tasks and complex, expensive contract procedures, she decided she wanted to start a business that helped businesses deliver better law. Her belief is that the solution lies in human-centric automated processes and legal documents. So, she started her own business in 2017 to do just that. With a growing team of 11 people, they’re on a mission to change the face of law for good, working with some of the most disruptive businesses in the UK, helping their lawyers work more effectively.

Laura McBrien

Laura is fascinated by how technology is impacting the legal sector – much has changed in the decade since she qualified as a solicitor! As Director of the Diploma in Professional Legal Practice at the University of Edinburgh, Laura is particularly interested in how educators can best prepare students for current – and future – practice. She’s passionate about ensuring students develop the skills needed for the modern legal world and that they’re well informed about the sector they’re going into, including the increasingly varied career options available to them.

Baljinder Samrai

A forward thinking Solicitor bringing together knowledge of law with a passion for identifying new and innovative ways of working using data, technology and business improvement techniques. Baljinder’s experiences working for top 50 law firms have been unique and varied from providing strategic input into business improvement to delivering commercially focused legal advice. Baljinder joined Kraft Heinz earlier this year as Legal Operations Manager for EMEA where she is responsible for creating smarter ways of working through process design and implementation, automation of standard operations and budget control.