Deborah Lawunmi

I am a Solicitor, specialising in Employment Law, and I spent a number of years supporting HR directors in government departments across Whitehall, with legal issues arising from people management. I have also worked in-house in the International NGO sector, providing HR legal support to Save the Children offices all over the world. My interest in all things to do with employment and the workplace goes beyond the confines of the law and this is what brought me to byrne·dean.  

I work mainly for the strategic support team and combine this with freelance legal practice as a Consultant Solicitor, and Academic Research at Queen Mary University of London, where I am a PhD candidate in the Department of Law (Centre for Law Equality and Diversity). My research draws on socio-legal academic literature on the insider outsider divide within the legal profession generally and elite law practice in particular. As part of my PhD project, I have collected original qualitative data, through conducting semi-structured interviews, which investigate the professional experiences of black lawyers who work in elite law firms. Key areas of interest covered in my in-depth data analysis are sponsorship, mentoring, inclusivity, microaggressions, employee retention and career progression for marginalised groups within high performing organisations. I enjoy making links between my academic research and the real world and welcome opportunities to support organisations with gathering organisational intelligence, data storytelling and setting up structured sponsorship and mentoring programmes.   

I am an ILM accredited Executive Coach and make use of my coaching skills to gather information on workplace culture with a view to helping this build resilience and bring positivity to all areas relating to organisational behaviours and culture.  

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