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Pictured above (left to right): The GLD Executive team – Susanna McGibbon, Treasury Solicitor and Permanent Secretary; Mel Nebhrajani CB, Director General; Caroline Croft, Director General; Sarah Goom, Director General; and Richard Cornish, Director General.
Four-fifths of the Executive team at the Government Legal Department are women. For International Women’s Day, the leadership team talks to Counsel about the cultural change needed to achieve high-level female representation
Susanna McGibbon: The current make-up of our executive team is the result of many years of commitment to creating an inclusive working environment in GLD and its predecessors. That culture has allowed each of us to develop rewarding careers and to perform at the highest levels. More broadly, that culture helps us to attract and retain staff (of all genders) who share our values and promote inclusion themselves.
Mel Nebhrajani CB: Back in 1998, when I joined the Government Legal Profession, I would never have expected that as a woman of colour and a mum of four I could be on the Executive team. I pay tribute to the women who have gone before me who challenged the status quo and didn’t take no for an answer and the allies who were clear that merit is what mattered and offered a helping hand up when at times the hurdles seemed insurmountable to level the playing field. This is an organisation, like the whole Civil Service, that really cares about being representative of the nation we serve and being prepared to ask ourselves why we are not when we are not and what we can do about it.
Caroline Croft: It’s the result of relentless work over decades to make sure that we allow all our people to reach their potential. We make it possible for parents to combine caring responsibilities with building their careers. As a working mother who has worked part-time since 1999, I have benefited from a huge shift in the expectations of careers for mothers in GLD.
Sarah Goom: As the most recent female member of the Executive team, I would say that I have benefited from a series of fantastic female role models in senior roles before me. I’m really proud of what GLD has achieved for women. Now we need to focus on achieving the same success for other aspects of diversity.
Susanna: I must say that immediately upon joining the Government Legal Service from the self-employed Bar I experienced a more welcoming atmosphere for women. There were definitely women in senior positions who were important role models. However, for many years they stood out as pioneers – the exception rather than the norm. I think that has changed in the last 10 years.
Mel: There was a prevailing view that if you worked part-time as I did when my children were little, you couldn’t do certain sorts of work, for example Bill work (where government lawyers support Ministers taking primary legislation through its parliamentary stages). It’s often intense work, at pace and volume, with early starts and late finishes. I was proud to show not only was it possible to do a Bill as a part-time lawyer but also when pregnant with two children under the age of three. The main obstacle in the end was not being very comfortable in the Officials’ Box in Parliament when heavily pregnant!
Caroline: When I first had children, I came back to work three days a week. I was told firmly that only full-time staff could be promoted to the Senior Civil Service (SCS). But one of the Legal Directors deliberately created a part-time SCS post, to show it could be done. I was lucky enough to win the (fierce) competition to fill that post. My Director and I made a success of it, and I am proud that this was the beginning of the end of that particular barrier.
Sarah: Over the last decade or so we have seen a huge increase in the number of job-share partnerships in GLD and the wider Civil Service. These work brilliantly for women and men who value having a rewarding career alongside caring responsibilities, volunteering or a judicial role. They also work brilliantly for GLD and our clients who value having a seamless legal service with two dedicated and effective lawyers.
Susanna: As a young woman from Bolton with no legal connections and a state education, I struggled to establish myself at the Bar and ultimately didn’t obtain tenancy. I accepted that my dream of being a courtroom advocate was unlikely and got on with applying for every job for which I was vaguely qualified. I stumbled across the Civil Service and embarked on a demanding recruitment exercise. I trusted the process on the basis that if they liked me, it might be a good fit. It turns out my instinct was right.
Mel: Likewise, as a young Asian woman I found the Bar challenging. I don’t think I would have been interviewed for tenancy at the Chancery Bar if it hadn’t been a name blind process. My chambers had only ever had a couple of women tenants and only in its recent history. The intersectional challenge was at times immense – in court people would assume I was the court clerk or an usher. Racism – overt and covert – and misogyny with all that comes with that were a daily hazard. I left after about four years and joined the Government Legal Profession which was like coming home. Even in the Civil Service, however, it has been hard at times. There have been scant role models for women of colour, for example, and I often feel my difference. By the time I had my fourth child, 15 years ago, I was in the Senior Civil Service, and it was as if I had broken some unwritten rule. It was the then Treasury Solicitor Paul Jenkins, the personification of allyship, who instinctively recognised I needed help. He was ostentatious in his support, and made clear it was news to be celebrated. We’re an organisation that wants to learn and do things better and I think we change and grow as a result. One way I've overcome barriers is by building networks to bring together people with shared lived experience and our many allies to collectively lift the barriers where we can or help people over them where we can’t.
Caroline: In the early years of my legal career, women were an anomaly. The culture was male. Male colleagues at the Bar would openly judge women on looks as much as our ability, and in any context that mattered, women were almost always outnumbered by men. For me, in the GLD, it feels like we are in a different world now, and a more welcoming one for everybody. But when I meet younger female lawyers, some of the things I hear remind me that the change hasn’t been so profound in all branches of the profession.
Sarah: Like Susanna, Caroline and Mel, I came from an underrepresented background at the Bar and in the 1990s found it very hard to compete for tenancy with the more polished and confident voices around me. I joined the Government Legal Service thinking that I would return to the self-employed Bar but have had such interesting roles that I have never been tempted to return.
Richard Cornish: We certainly want to see better representation of not just women but disability, race and other characteristics at senior leadership within GLD, as well as in the wider legal sector. As the first Director General in GLD to be based outside of London, location is an important aspect too, and as we continue to build career pathways across all our roles in our national locations and attract people not just from the capital, we’re seeing an increasing number of senior roles in places like Manchester, Leeds and Bristol. That’s good for GLD but also the wider sector as will enable richer interchange between public sector and private firms.
Sarah: Last year I chaired a roundtable of women from the Attorney General’s Panel and was struck by the disproportionate impact of historically low fees on women’s ability to accept government work. I’m pleased we were able to increase fees by 25% and are now working actively to increase all aspects of diversity in our instructions.
Mel: As Sarah says, we’re looking at all aspects of diversity in how we instruct the Bar. We want to use our influence in the wider legal profession to make real and lasting change. I am SRO [senior responsible owner] for the Counsel Diversity Project which we have just launched, led by one of our Directors, which is looking at how we recruit and instruct barristers to do government work. Susanna, as Treasury Solicitor, and the Attorney General have been explicit in this being a priority which is both important and inspiring.
Caroline: We also have the opportunity and the duty to work with legal colleagues across the sector to address and improve representation in the wider judiciary. It’s great to see a gradual increase in representation, but there is a long way to go.
Susanna: We are committed to welcoming people to join GLD at any point in their career, whether at the beginning, coming back to their legal career or re-qualifying. We offer a range of routes into a career in the law and broad working experience for anyone who joins. I think that sets us apart from a lot of other legal employers.
Richard: We have recently launched our People Strategy. As we celebrate 10 years of GLD in 2025, the Strategy is an opportunity to recognise, celebrate and go further in our commitments to the quality of our legal services. A key measure of our success is to bring our People Survey scores from in line with, to above, the Civil Service average.
Mel: As the Director General D&I Champion I am proud to work with the most fantastic team of Network Champions mostly at Director level providing leadership of the 11 thriving GLD diversity networks. This team enables us to share thinking across the networks and also focus increasingly on intersectional issues. We use the Champions, the Network Chairs and members to road-test and challenge our policies and decisions. When I was Director Champion for the Parents’ Network, we broke taboos surrounding difficult topics such as baby loss, infertility and adoption. We have produced internal guidance to support bereaved parents, their line managers and colleagues.
Caroline: We’re drawing on the expertise we’ve gained from achieving great career opportunities for women to knock down barriers that block progress for other underrepresented groups. We support a diversity of pathways in legal careers, enabling as wide a range of people as possible to have a rewarding legal career in GLD. I am particularly impressed by our legal apprentices who learn on the job, working towards qualification alongside paralegal work. They are some of our most inspiring, diverse staff.
Updated 14 March: This is a longer-form version of the article published on 10 March 2025.
Susanna McGibbon: The current make-up of our executive team is the result of many years of commitment to creating an inclusive working environment in GLD and its predecessors. That culture has allowed each of us to develop rewarding careers and to perform at the highest levels. More broadly, that culture helps us to attract and retain staff (of all genders) who share our values and promote inclusion themselves.
Mel Nebhrajani CB: Back in 1998, when I joined the Government Legal Profession, I would never have expected that as a woman of colour and a mum of four I could be on the Executive team. I pay tribute to the women who have gone before me who challenged the status quo and didn’t take no for an answer and the allies who were clear that merit is what mattered and offered a helping hand up when at times the hurdles seemed insurmountable to level the playing field. This is an organisation, like the whole Civil Service, that really cares about being representative of the nation we serve and being prepared to ask ourselves why we are not when we are not and what we can do about it.
Caroline Croft: It’s the result of relentless work over decades to make sure that we allow all our people to reach their potential. We make it possible for parents to combine caring responsibilities with building their careers. As a working mother who has worked part-time since 1999, I have benefited from a huge shift in the expectations of careers for mothers in GLD.
Sarah Goom: As the most recent female member of the Executive team, I would say that I have benefited from a series of fantastic female role models in senior roles before me. I’m really proud of what GLD has achieved for women. Now we need to focus on achieving the same success for other aspects of diversity.
Susanna: I must say that immediately upon joining the Government Legal Service from the self-employed Bar I experienced a more welcoming atmosphere for women. There were definitely women in senior positions who were important role models. However, for many years they stood out as pioneers – the exception rather than the norm. I think that has changed in the last 10 years.
Mel: There was a prevailing view that if you worked part-time as I did when my children were little, you couldn’t do certain sorts of work, for example Bill work (where government lawyers support Ministers taking primary legislation through its parliamentary stages). It’s often intense work, at pace and volume, with early starts and late finishes. I was proud to show not only was it possible to do a Bill as a part-time lawyer but also when pregnant with two children under the age of three. The main obstacle in the end was not being very comfortable in the Officials’ Box in Parliament when heavily pregnant!
Caroline: When I first had children, I came back to work three days a week. I was told firmly that only full-time staff could be promoted to the Senior Civil Service (SCS). But one of the Legal Directors deliberately created a part-time SCS post, to show it could be done. I was lucky enough to win the (fierce) competition to fill that post. My Director and I made a success of it, and I am proud that this was the beginning of the end of that particular barrier.
Sarah: Over the last decade or so we have seen a huge increase in the number of job-share partnerships in GLD and the wider Civil Service. These work brilliantly for women and men who value having a rewarding career alongside caring responsibilities, volunteering or a judicial role. They also work brilliantly for GLD and our clients who value having a seamless legal service with two dedicated and effective lawyers.
Susanna: As a young woman from Bolton with no legal connections and a state education, I struggled to establish myself at the Bar and ultimately didn’t obtain tenancy. I accepted that my dream of being a courtroom advocate was unlikely and got on with applying for every job for which I was vaguely qualified. I stumbled across the Civil Service and embarked on a demanding recruitment exercise. I trusted the process on the basis that if they liked me, it might be a good fit. It turns out my instinct was right.
Mel: Likewise, as a young Asian woman I found the Bar challenging. I don’t think I would have been interviewed for tenancy at the Chancery Bar if it hadn’t been a name blind process. My chambers had only ever had a couple of women tenants and only in its recent history. The intersectional challenge was at times immense – in court people would assume I was the court clerk or an usher. Racism – overt and covert – and misogyny with all that comes with that were a daily hazard. I left after about four years and joined the Government Legal Profession which was like coming home. Even in the Civil Service, however, it has been hard at times. There have been scant role models for women of colour, for example, and I often feel my difference. By the time I had my fourth child, 15 years ago, I was in the Senior Civil Service, and it was as if I had broken some unwritten rule. It was the then Treasury Solicitor Paul Jenkins, the personification of allyship, who instinctively recognised I needed help. He was ostentatious in his support, and made clear it was news to be celebrated. We’re an organisation that wants to learn and do things better and I think we change and grow as a result. One way I've overcome barriers is by building networks to bring together people with shared lived experience and our many allies to collectively lift the barriers where we can or help people over them where we can’t.
Caroline: In the early years of my legal career, women were an anomaly. The culture was male. Male colleagues at the Bar would openly judge women on looks as much as our ability, and in any context that mattered, women were almost always outnumbered by men. For me, in the GLD, it feels like we are in a different world now, and a more welcoming one for everybody. But when I meet younger female lawyers, some of the things I hear remind me that the change hasn’t been so profound in all branches of the profession.
Sarah: Like Susanna, Caroline and Mel, I came from an underrepresented background at the Bar and in the 1990s found it very hard to compete for tenancy with the more polished and confident voices around me. I joined the Government Legal Service thinking that I would return to the self-employed Bar but have had such interesting roles that I have never been tempted to return.
Richard Cornish: We certainly want to see better representation of not just women but disability, race and other characteristics at senior leadership within GLD, as well as in the wider legal sector. As the first Director General in GLD to be based outside of London, location is an important aspect too, and as we continue to build career pathways across all our roles in our national locations and attract people not just from the capital, we’re seeing an increasing number of senior roles in places like Manchester, Leeds and Bristol. That’s good for GLD but also the wider sector as will enable richer interchange between public sector and private firms.
Sarah: Last year I chaired a roundtable of women from the Attorney General’s Panel and was struck by the disproportionate impact of historically low fees on women’s ability to accept government work. I’m pleased we were able to increase fees by 25% and are now working actively to increase all aspects of diversity in our instructions.
Mel: As Sarah says, we’re looking at all aspects of diversity in how we instruct the Bar. We want to use our influence in the wider legal profession to make real and lasting change. I am SRO [senior responsible owner] for the Counsel Diversity Project which we have just launched, led by one of our Directors, which is looking at how we recruit and instruct barristers to do government work. Susanna, as Treasury Solicitor, and the Attorney General have been explicit in this being a priority which is both important and inspiring.
Caroline: We also have the opportunity and the duty to work with legal colleagues across the sector to address and improve representation in the wider judiciary. It’s great to see a gradual increase in representation, but there is a long way to go.
Susanna: We are committed to welcoming people to join GLD at any point in their career, whether at the beginning, coming back to their legal career or re-qualifying. We offer a range of routes into a career in the law and broad working experience for anyone who joins. I think that sets us apart from a lot of other legal employers.
Richard: We have recently launched our People Strategy. As we celebrate 10 years of GLD in 2025, the Strategy is an opportunity to recognise, celebrate and go further in our commitments to the quality of our legal services. A key measure of our success is to bring our People Survey scores from in line with, to above, the Civil Service average.
Mel: As the Director General D&I Champion I am proud to work with the most fantastic team of Network Champions mostly at Director level providing leadership of the 11 thriving GLD diversity networks. This team enables us to share thinking across the networks and also focus increasingly on intersectional issues. We use the Champions, the Network Chairs and members to road-test and challenge our policies and decisions. When I was Director Champion for the Parents’ Network, we broke taboos surrounding difficult topics such as baby loss, infertility and adoption. We have produced internal guidance to support bereaved parents, their line managers and colleagues.
Caroline: We’re drawing on the expertise we’ve gained from achieving great career opportunities for women to knock down barriers that block progress for other underrepresented groups. We support a diversity of pathways in legal careers, enabling as wide a range of people as possible to have a rewarding legal career in GLD. I am particularly impressed by our legal apprentices who learn on the job, working towards qualification alongside paralegal work. They are some of our most inspiring, diverse staff.
Updated 14 March: This is a longer-form version of the article published on 10 March 2025.
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