Our Board of Trustees is made up of solicitors from across the profession and other experts who oversee and target the work of our brilliant team. Together we work to ensure every solicitor, from any background, can access help and support when they need it most. We work in a highly personalised, non-judgemental way, taking time to understand each situation before making proactive and positive interventions, as well as life-long support.
Haroon Qayum is a solicitor at Roche Legal in York specialising in private client work. Haroon is also currently pursuing an Executive MBA dual award at the Durham University Business School and the EBS Universität in Germany.
Shams Rahman is a solicitor and partner at leading Lincoln’s Inn law firm Edwin Coe LLP, specialising in commercial and property related litigation. Appointed as Chair of The Solicitors’ Charity in September 2024, he is also a member of The Law Society and a regular speaker at events promoting law career development and mentoring of law students and young professionals.
Eugene was appointed Vice Chair of The Solicitors’ Charity in September 2024 and is a mental wellbeing specialist with more than 30 years of experience. He is the Mental Health Consultancy Lead at AXA Health, providing consultancy to corporate clients. A leader in workplace mental wellbeing, counselling and psychological therapy, he authors articles, provides training and speaks at conferences and roundtables, and is a regular media contributor and webinar producer. He has a keen interest in digital health solutions and testing mental health and wellbeing Apps. He is a twice former Chairperson and an Emeritus Member of UK Employee Assistance Professionals Association.
Ginny Cannon joined The Solicitors’ Charity as a Trustee and Chair-elect in March 2021. She served as Chair from September 2021 – 2024 and remains a Trustee. A retired in-house commercial solicitor, she is Senior Warden of the City of London Solicitors’ Company. Chair of the Friends of Moorfields Eye Hospital until 2021, Ginny is also an independent trustee of the Investment Managers’ Charitable Trust.
Andrew is a Chartered Fellow of The Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment and has over 30 years of investment experience including at Quilter Goodison, Gerrard Vivian Grey and Laing & Cruickshank (later UBS). At UBS he was Head of Charities Investment. He performed a similar role at Psigma Investment Management, now Punter Southall Wealth. He has experience as an investment committee chair and finance committee member. He is currently a member of the Court of the Worshipful Company of Ironmongers, a trustee of CABA, the Sir Halley Stewart Trust, and the Accountants Charities as well as being the current Chair of the Harrow Mission Trust.
Rebecca specialises in welfare benefits law and has significant experience of criminal and family law, as a practitioner and volunteer.
For 11 years, Robert Banner sat on the Law Management Section of The Law Society (TLS) and was the Section’s longest serving Chair. He also sat on the committee of the Small Firms Division of TLS for a decade (having been a member of the steering committee leading to its formation). Once again for 10 years, he served on TLS’s Financial Benchmark Survey Committee responsible for organising one of the most important surveys in the legal marketplace. Robert retired as a solicitor at the beginning of 2022 after a long and highly successful career. He was a recognised Legal 500 personal injury lawyer and received a lifetime achievement award from the local business community in 2019. In 2024, he was appointed to the Council of the Institute of Legal Finance and Management (ILFM).
James Brennan has a three decade long career in banking, investment management and business development and currently works with charities as Portfolio Director for Cazenove Capital.
Simon is a retired senior solicitor (with over 35 years’ experience in professional regulation and healthcare law. He was a partner in a national law practice for 26 years, and for 11 years was Head of Legal Services and then General Counsel for the Medical and Dental Defence Union of Scotland, where he was a member of the Senior Management Team. He has experience as a Trustee of the Royal Medical Benevolent Fund (RMBF), a leading medical charity, and served as a member and Chair of its Grants and Awards Committee.
Hannah qualified in 2008, initially practising as an IT transactional solicitor in private practice, before being enticed to join AIG in 2012 following a successful secondment. After 12 years in various positions, and ultimately, as head of Privacy Office the Cybersecurity Legal for EMEA and APAC, Hannah joined Nokia as Global Head of Privacy Office. In her role, Hannah is responsible for all aspects of Nokia's global data protection and privacy program (legal, compliance and operations) as well as the global provision of legal advice on the full range of privacy and cybersecurity legal issues, including cyber security incident response, digitalisation and Artificial Intelligence, data entanglement and retention, as well as overseeing AIG’s global privacy governance and accountability framework.
Rory was previously a Partner at Matheson LLP and in 2024 became a Legal Consultant at RMOK Legal Consulting. He brings nearly two decades of experience spanning diverse international technology and business transformation deals. Rory adeptly melds private practice, in-house and practical expertise with clear understanding of cybersecurity and emerging technologies. Prior to Matheson, Rory served for 10 years as Senior Legal Counsel at Accenture UK having started his career as a criminal and conveyancing solicitor.
Ejike is a partner with Spire Solicitors in Norwich, setting up their Charity Law team. He has trustee experience of small and mid-sized charities. In 2016 he set up a charitable foundation at his firm, Spire Charitable Trust, which he chairs. The Trust helps support people locally in Norfolk.
Rachel’s background is that of a City solicitor who moved into university teaching in 1999. She is a Reader and currently works as the Director for Equality Diversity and Inclusion for the School of Law and Policing at the University of Central Lancashire. She is a specialist lead on EDI issues within Higher Education and has served in a number of national diversity positions. She was a member of the Law Society’s EDI Committee from 2013 – 2019 as one of two academics appointed to represent the sector. Her focus was on increasing inclusion within the legal profession. She currently serves on the panel for the Higher Education Race Equality Charter, and on the Society for Legal Scholars’ EDI committee.
