Lawyers receiving gongs in the 2017 New Year Honours list include former Linklaters partner Janet Cooper, one of the first women to reach partnership level at a Magic Circle firm.
Cooper, now a partner at Yorkshire-based niche law firm Tapestry Compliance, receives the OBE for services to gender equality and employee share ownership. Her achievements include introducing flexible working in the early 1990s at Linklaters, and designing the first global employee share scheme for a British company during the privatisations of the 1980s. Cooper also developed a new type of executive incentive, called the Long Term Incentive Plan, which is now used by companies around the world.
Tapestry Compliance operates an “agile working” model, where staff choose their own hours, and an unusual bonus scheme based on client service and good working practices. No lawyers have left the firm in five years.
James Gosling, consultant at Holman Fenwick Willan and a member of the firm’s global marine piracy team, receives an OBE for services to the legal profession and maritime hostages. The firm has worked pro bono to secure the release of hostages in Somalia.
Christopher Nott, senior partner of Cardiff firm Capital Law, receives an OBE for services to business and economic development in Wales.
Joanne Wheeler, partner at Bird & Bird, where she has a specialism in communications, satellite and space matters, receives an MBE for services to the space sector.
Professor Nicola Lacey from the London School of Economics, and Professor John Spencer QC from the University of Cambridge, receive CBEs.
Jennifer Fowler, senior advisory lawyer for the Upper Tribunal (Administrative Appeals Chamber), receives an OBE for services to the administration of justice. Caroline Ross, a lawyer in the Department for Energy and Climate Change, receives an OBE for her contribution to international climate change negotiations.
