One of the legal industry’s most prominent voices in women’s rights, Janvi Patel, has been awarded an Honorary Doctorate from The University of Law (ULaw). The accolade recognises her position as one of the legal industry’s first female founders of a pioneering NewLaw firm, as well as her ongoing work and campaigning for women’s rights.
Janvi obtained a BA in Law and Accountancy from The University of Manchester, followed by an LPC from ULaw (then The College of Law). She worked for leading London firm Charles Russell (now CRS) before moving in-house to Nortel. In 2007, after spotting a gap in the market for flexible legal advice delivered by experienced in-house lawyers, Janvi and her co-founder, Denise Nurse, established Halebury, a NewLaw firm, making her one of the first female founders within the alternative legal space.
Janvi regularly speaks at industry and business forums and is involved in Speakers for Schools, which provides state schools with free talks from business leaders. She is a board member for Thomson Reuters in-house consultation board. Janvi is a strong supporter and advocate for women’s rights on all levels and is an advisory board member of Equality Now and the Children of War Foundation. She is also a driving force in the new legal campaign #FreePeriods, which aims to end period poverty.
Janvi said: “I am very honoured to have received this Honorary Doctorate from ULaw. It represents the hard work and dedication that has gone into building up a business I am passionate about, in a space where historically there have been few female founders.”
“I think it sends an important message to ULaw students to think outside the box when it comes to their careers, and to use the skills they learn from their studies to make positive change.”
Professor Andrea Nollent, Vice-Chancellor and CEO of ULaw, said: “It is our privilege to award Janvi Patel an Honorary Doctorate in recognition of her contribution to the legal industry and her work campaigning for equal rights for women across the globe. Janvi Patel is an outstanding and inspiring campaigner and a role model to all our graduates.”
About Halebury
Over the last 12 years, Halebury has become a leading provider of flexible resourcing solutions to FTSE 250 companies and has strategic partnerships with BT, Sky and Virgin Media. The Legal 500 has ranked the company highly for its work in technology, media and telecoms.
At the start of 2019, Halebury announced that it had been acquired by Elevate, a global law company which specialises in providing consulting, technology and services to law departments and firms. Janvi Patel continues with her co-founder to lead Halebury as Chairwoman and also sits on Elevate’s management team as global Vice President of Elevated Lawyers, where she continues to spearhead operational, structural and cultural change within the legal services industry.