LGBTQ+ Solicitors Network committee members

Chair: Paul Maddock (he/him)

Paul is a senior associate at DWF, specialising in a range of commercial disputes including commercial contracts, shareholder matters, professional negligence claims and contentious trusts and probate.

Vice chair: Kirsty Limacher (she/her)

Kirsty is bisexual and the Chief Legal Officer at The Association of Lifetime Lawyers, a training and best practice organisation for lawyers who specialise in advising older and vulnerable clients.

Kirsty is an Accredited Lifetime Lawyer, an affiliate member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP) and has been a member of the LGBTQ+ Solicitors Network committee since March 2020.

Chris Barkley (he/him)

Chris Barkley is a senior associate at Russell Cooke LLP and is a commercial property lawyer.

Chris has a broad range of experience in development, investment, property finance and landlord and tenant work. He has worked on a number of diversity initiatives during his career and was admitted as a solicitor in 2010.

Honza Cervenka (he/they)

Honza Cervenka (he/they) is a solicitor of England and Wales and a California attorney.

Honza works at McAllister Olivarius, where he handles a wide variety of cases on both sides of the Atlantic, including civil, employment and data protection litigation in the UK, and Title VII and Title IX discrimination cases in the US.

Due to his background in IT, he works on the technical aspects of helping people whose reputations have been attacked online. Honza frequently speaks on the challenges that victims of online harassment and image-based sexual abuse face when they seek justice against the perpetrators.

Honza grew up in the Czech Republic and studied in Italy and the US before completing his legal studies in London.

Anna Grant-Casey (they/them)

Anna is a non-binary demisexual lesbian consultant solicitor who owns their own business called Pride Legal.

Their specialism is in tax and trusts, with experience in tax planning, trust creation and administration, and estate administration.

Anna is passionate about LGBTQ+ representation and firms moving towards genuine belief in the benefits of diversity and away from tokenism and performative allyship.

As a neurodivergent person, Anna understands challenges that other neurodivergent people might face moving into a career in law. 

Alice Jackson (she/her)

Alice is a trainee solicitor based at an insurance panel law firm; her primary experience is in commercial litigation and professional indemnity.

She is passionate about improving LGBTQ+ representation across both the legal and insurance sectors, particularly where the two intersect.

Alice also sits on both the Link Up North (LGBTQ+ Insurance Network) committee and as the LGBTQ+ lead on an internal inclusion network.

Sam John (he/him)

Sam is a director at Wendy Hopkins Family Law Practice in Cardiff. Sam specialises in all aspects of family law, including divorce and dissolution, matrimonial finances, cohabitee disputes, separation, prenuptial and cohabitation agreements, private children matters, and injunctions.

Sam has provided legal advice on a pro bono basis to LGBTQ+ people in Cardiff and is passionate about creating a more diverse and inclusive legal profession. Sam became a member of the committee in October 2021. 

Eoghan McArdle (he/him)

Eoghan is a solicitor who has been working at the Bank of England since 2013. He currently works in the enforcement and litigation division, where he conducts financial services enforcement investigations.

He is admitted as a solicitor in England and Wales and Ireland, and as a New York attorney.

Helen Randall (she/her)

Helen Randall is a consultant and the former head of diversity at Trowers & Hamlins LLP, where she specialises in public sector corporate and commercial law.

She is also the chair of Stonewall Housing, a specialist LGBT+ housing charity, and works part time in the Bank of England's Legal Directorate.

Jacqui Rhule-Dagher (she/her)

Jacqui Rhule-DagherJacqui is a litigation solicitor at Hogan Lovells International LLP, with a particular focus on white collar crime, fraud and investigations.

Jacqui has worked on a number of diversity and inclusion initiatives throughout her career, and is especially keen to raise awareness surrounding intersectionality. She has written for a leading LGBT+ publication in order to encourage LGBT+ university students to enter the legal profession.

Jacqui became a member of the LGBTQ+ Solicitors Network committee in February 2022.

Zareen Roy-Macauley (she/her)

Zareen Roy-Macauley is a trainee solicitor at Clifford Chance LLP, currently working in the private funds and financial investors sphere.

She is passionate about fostering inclusive, intersectional spaces, having relaunched and led a society for LGBTQ+ people of colour in her university, and running workshops on the importance of intersectionality in the work place for The Economist's Innovation@Work summit and London Metropolitan University.

She is on the board of advisors for Spiral, a charity dedicated to improving young people's career pathways. She also frequently participates in access schemes encouraging young LGBTQ+ people to pursue careers in law.

Laura Thomas (she/her)

Laura is an openly gay health advisory and inquests solicitor at Browne Jacobson based in Manchester.

She has a background of working in the public sector for local authorities and NHS Wales SSP.

Laura has recently been elected co-lead for the Greater Manchester Combined Authority LGBTQ+ Equality Panel.

Georgia Whitfield (she/her)

Georgia is a commercial property associate based in the North East at Hay & Kilner LLP, where she specialises in development, regeneration and charitable projects.

Georgia has been involved in a number of diversity and inclusion initiatives during her career, including policy drafting and the establishment and promotion of internal networks.

She is also a trustee and director of a national girls youth charity, and volunteers as a mentor for aspiring young professionals.

Jonathan Wheeler (he/him)

Jonathan is the managing partner of niche litigation practice Bolt Burdon Kemp which specialises in bringing compensation claims for seriously injured people.

Jonathan sits on the Law Society Council representing LGBT+ members and he is a Stonewall ambassador.