Weightmans has appointed director of product and innovation Dr Catriona Wolfenden to the firm’s equity partnership and has hired Chantal Hannell as IT director, in a boost for female leadership at the leading UK law firm. Insurance partner Jane Price was also appointed to the equity partnership, bringing the total number to 45 out of 267 partners. The announcement follows Sarah Walton becoming the firm’s first female managing partner in April of this year – succeeding John Schorah, who stepped down after 12 years.
Wolfenden joined Weightmans in 2007, becoming a partner in 2019. Speaking to Legal IT Insider, she said: “I don’t think there’s many or any equity partners doing an innovation role and you always wonder if it’s attainable but you don’t know until you try, so I thought I’d try.” Selection is a lengthy process and Wolfenden says that it was a big personal decision as she and her husband have a young son, commenting: “I’m very vocal about having a child and I want people with children to see the possibilities and realise that it’s attainable.”
The equity partner appointment is significant in terms of elevating the status of the innovation role. Wolfenden said: “It puts innovation front and centre of our strategy: it’s not just a nice to have and we pay lip service to it. There are 45 equity partners and those conversations decide the future of the firm, so to be a part of that conversation is hugely important.”
Hannell, meanwhile, joined Weightmans last month from manufacturing company Spirax, where she was head of IT strategy, planning and governance. Hannell reports to partner and chief technology and innovation officer Stuart Whittle alongside Wolfenden; head of management information Bob Hetherington; and business change director Andy Griffiths.
Whittle said: “Chantal’s diverse background – including roles in media, education and entrepreneurship – shapes her collaborative and strategic approach. Her passion for enabling positive change through technology will help the firm meet the challenges we face in this ever-changing space.”
Whittle and Wolfenden last year published a book, Innovation in Law Firms: Implementing Successful Projects, and you can find that book here: https://www.globelawandbusiness.com/books/innovation-in-law-firms-implementing-successful-projects