Editorial Board – Our Authors and Editors
Ida Abbott
Ida Abbott has been advising professional service firms, professional associations and corporations about developing, managing and retaining talent since 1995. With more than 30 years of experience as a lawyer and consultant, Ida is an internationally recognized leader in the fields of mentoring and professional development, and has been in the forefront of efforts to advance women in the legal profession.
Ida is a Fellow of the College of Law Practice Management, Director of the University of California Hastings Leadership Academy for Women, a leadership development program for women law firm partners, and Director of the Professional Development Roundtable for Global Law Firms.
Ida serves on the Advisory Boards of LawyerPrep and the Women in Law Empowerment Forum. She has authored numerous books and articles, been a columnist for Diversity & The Bar Magazine ®, and publishes a newsletter, Management Solutions©, which can be seen on her website.
email: [email protected]
website: Ida Abbott Consulting
Claire Gilman
Claire Gillman is an experienced journalist, writer and broadcaster. She contributes to many leading women’s magazines and national newspapers, specialising in health, parenting and travel. In the past, she was the editor of a number of consumer and specialist women’s magazines including Health & Fitness magazine and Girl About Town. Claire’s first book, ‘PARA: Inside The Parachute Regiment‘, was published by Bloomsbury in May 1993. Since then she has published a further seven adult health and parenting books, the most recent being Cope with Infertility for Hodder in association with This Morning TV. She has also written eight children’s books, some under the pen-name of Rory Storm. Her latest book entitled ‘The Curious Girl’s Book of Adventure,’ was published by Elwin Street in March 2008. Claire is married with two adolescent sons and lives on the edge of the West Pennines with her family.
Nicola Jones
Nicola was a lawyer for 18 years and her career spanned corporate and commercial work to private client work with emphasis on UK tax. Nicola trained and worked in London in international legal and accounting practices. In 1996 she moved to Bermuda to work for the largest international offshore firm and subsequently headed the Private Client legal team at a major bank working with international wealthy trust clients. Since 2003 Nicola has qualified and works as a process consultant which takes an education-focused, as opposed to a solution-focused, approach in the fields of Family Business advising, Welfare to Work and Money Coaching. This approach places the emphasis on effective communication and effective learning to enhance stakeholder relationships thereby generating trust and a more interactive working relationship. Nicola made this change of direction by training to be a relationship counsellor with the Relate Institute, training as a family business adviser and taking a very rewarding 3 year MA in Gender Studies at the School of Oriential and African Studies, London. In May 2007 Nicola joined The Schumacher Institute for Sustainable Systems where she worked on a highly innovative international sustainability project. She remains on the board of directors.
Since May 2009 Nicola runs her own consultancy business advising and educating individuals and families about their relationship with money in the context of specific goals, such as succession planning in Family Businesses, Career Counselling and individual coaching around money. Nicola is an inspiring speaker and her recent talks include ‘Our Relationship to Money in Leadership for Sustainability’ and ‘The Transformative Capacity of Global Philanthropy’.
Paramjit Mahli
Paramjit L. Mahli is the Founder and CEO of The Rainmakers Roundtable, a consulting firm that specializes in providing business consulting and mentoring services for small to mid-sized law firms worldwide. Mahli helps her clients create cohesive, customized business development plans, including systems to generate consistent referrals and benchmarks to measure progress. Since 2006, Paramjit has trained and coached hundreds of lawyers in the U.S. and abroad with one objective: to help them grow their practices, whether they are in‐house or working in private practice. In 2005, Mahli started The Sun Communication Group, a PR and marketing consultancy for law firms, and in 2009 launched the SCG Legal PR Network, a service that connects legal experts with reporters nationally and internationally.
Mahli has written articles for publications such as ABA Law Practice Today, Small Firm Inc., TechnoLawyer, the New Jersey Law Journal and American Lawyer Media’s Marketing The Law Firm and, among others. She has given presentations to groups including the ABA Young Advocate’s Committee, New York County Lawyers Association, ABA International Lawyers, the Legal Marketing Association, FindLaw, the Association of Continuing Legal Education Providers (ACLEA), the State Bar of New York, the New York City Bar Association and more. She has been a guest lecturer at law schools including Columbia Law School, Fordham Law School, Miami International Law School and New York Law School, and has conducted interviews for the Legal Broadcast Network. Her philanthropic efforts include mentoring entrepreneurs through the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women.
email: [email protected]
website: www.TheRainmakersRoundtable.com
Jim Melton Bradley
Jim Melton Bradley originally qualified and worked as a secondary school teacher, but has been a Civil Servant since 1983. He spent seven years at the Treasury Solicitor’s Office, the government’s civil lawyer, where he worked on both land and probate issues, specialising in conveyancing and bona vacantia. During this time he gained an honours degree in English Law from the University of Westminster. He joined the Charity Commission in 1990 since when he has worked in the full range of the Commission’s registration, charity support, advice and guidance work. He is also an experienced trainer, having been involved with the legal/technical development, not only his colleagues, but also of hundreds of trustees and other stakeholders working in the charitable sector. In addition he has twice represented the Commission overseas in its International Programme, and for two years led the Commission’s Faiths Project, which itself led to the establishment of its Faith and Social Cohesion Unit.
In his personal capacity, Jim is Visiting Lecturer in Charity Law at the University of Gloucestershire, where he is currently specialising in the new developments in Charities and Public Benefit.
His interests include running, cycling, and Jane Austen. However, his real passion is music – everything from the baroque to the blues, from Gregorian Chant to Captain Beefheart.
email: [email protected]
Pami Paall
Having lived in India, England, Saudi Arabia and Germany and after many a happy summer in Canada and America, Pami is now a Member of Lincoln’s Inn in London, being particularly interested in enabling an emergence of the pioneering niche of Realisation Law with international significance. She hopes Realisation Law may bring the active dynamic of ingenuity to everyday society everywhere enabling true serenity to impact throughout the world from the far west to the far east.
Imogen Spurdle
Imogen Spurdle studied at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand, gaining a Batchelor of Arts, majoring in Political Science and a Batchelor of Laws. She worked for Tom Bennion, a Barrister and Solicitor in New Zealand specialising in Environmental law, Resource Management and Treaty of Waitangi claims. Having now moved to London, she has a temporary role at Memery Crystal, a Commercial Law firm as part of their Disputes Resolution team and continues her passion in the field of legal enviro-trade through her research and writing for Dr Linda S. Spedding.
Ramni Taneja
Ramni Taneja is an Advocate practising in the Supreme Court of India, the High Court of Delhi as well as other courts and forums in Delhi and in India. She has her own law firm, Law Office of Ramni Taneja, in New Delhi, India, which handles corporate transactional work and litigation.
Born in New Delhi and educated in Mumbai and in London where she studied in Grey Coat Hospital, London, United Kingdom, completing her school education in 1973-1974, [University of London, GCE Ordinary and Advanced Levels], Ramni Taneja also obtained her BA Honours degree [First Class Honours] from Elphinstone College, University of Bombay in 1977 in English Literature [Honours] and French Literature [Subsidiary] and an LLB Degree [First Class] from Government Law College, University of Bombay, in 1980. She was admitted as an Advocate on 17th October 1980, by the Bar Council of Maharashtra; subsequently transferred to the Bar Council of Delhi on 20th October 1997. She was also admitted as a Solicitor of the Supreme Court of England and Wales on 3rd March 1997. She is also a Notary, appointed by the Government of India on 19th July 1999. Trained in Mumbai between 1908 and 1982 at Little & Co., Advocates and Solicitors Mumbai, Ramni Taneja headed the branch office of Little & Co. in New Delhi between 2002 till 2006.
Her international legal experience has focused on the Middle East where she practised as a legal consultant, duly licensed to do so in Dubai, United Arab Emirates between 1982 till 1989 and from 1990 till 1997. She has written extensively for legal journals both in India and overseas.
email: [email protected]
Melinda Wallman
Melinda Wallman is a partner with global attorney search firm, Major, Lindsey & Africa. She is founder of the firm’s London and Hong Kong offices and has responsibility for the firm’s international operations. Melinda specializes in senior level search and has particular expertise assisting organisations to expand internationally.
Melinda received her LL.B. from the University of New South Wales, Sydney in 1992 and her B.A. from the University of New South Wales in 1990, completing part of the degree on a DAAD scholarship at the Free University, Berlin. Prior to joining MLA in New York in 1999, Melinda practised corporate and technology law at Gilbert & Tobin, Sydney and completed a secondment at the Public Interest Law Clearing House, where she first developed an interest in alternative legal career opportunities. In 1997 Melinda relocated to London where she commenced her recruitment career with a major British consultancy, developing their cross-border UK-Australia business.
Melinda is an active member of the Legal Education and Professional Development Committee of the International Bar Association, an International Coordinator for her law school alumni association, a member of the Planning Committee for the American Bar Association – International Section, and a member of the editorial board of Women in Law. Melinda writes and speaks frequently on issues concerning cross-border search and the globalization of the legal profession.
J. Kim Wright
J. Kim Wright is an American lawyer, servant leader and independent scholar on a worldwide tour to inspire transformation in law. She was first admitted to the bar in 1989 and practiced integrative law for many years before becoming a teacher, trainer, and leader in the integrative law movement. In 2010, the American Bar Association published her book, Lawyers as Peacemakers, Practicing Holistic, Problem-Solving Law which became a best-seller and was named an ABA Flagship book. The ABA also named her as one of their Legal Rebels, “finding new ,ways to practice law, represent their clients, adjudicate cases and train the next generation of lawyers.” Kim is guided by the principle that we are all family and believes law should be based upon reciprocal understanding.
Vikrant Pachnanda
Mr. Vikrant Pachnanda, upon completion of high school in 2006, pursued an integrated degree in law and arts from Gujarat National Law University (GNLU), Gandhinagar focusing on international investment arbitration and aviation law . He is the Founder and Managing Editor of India Law Journal (www.indialawjournal.com) which he founded as a law student in 2008. He was also one of the Founders and Student Managing Editors of the GNLU Journal for Law, Development and Politics. Post graduating from GNLU in 2011, Mr. Pachnanda joined Luthra & Luthra Law Offices in Delhi as an Associate where he advised both Indian and international clients on a broad range of legal issues involving mergers and acquisitions, defence procurement, corporate criminal liability, anti-bribery compliance and funds. Additionally, he was also part of the Knowledge Management team of the firm. In 2012, he joined the chambers of Mr. Najmi Waziri, Chief Counsel for the Delhi Government during the subsequent year and trained under him till his elevation as an Hon’ble Judge of the Delhi High Court in April 2013. Thereafter, he pursued his LLM from Cornell Law School where he focused his studies on courses related to dispute resolution, sports law, antitrust law, climate change and entrepreneurship. Mr. Pachnanda has authored several articles that have been published in various journals including the Asialaw IP Review and the Asian Yearbook of International Law. He has presented papers at several international conferences and represented his university in several moot court competitions, both in India and abroad. He represented GNLU, which was the only Indian university selected to represent India at the International Negotiation Competition on Climate Change, to negotiate a proposed Copenhagen Protocol in Copenhagen in 2009. Presently, he is practising in the Supreme Court of India and is working with Agarwal Law Associates under Mr. Mahesh Agarwal.
email: [email protected]
Ida Abbott
Ida Abbott has been advising professional service firms, professional associations and corporations about developing, managing and retaining talent since 1995. With more than 30 years of experience as a lawyer and consultant, Ida is an internationally recognized leader in the fields of mentoring and professional development, and has been in the forefront of efforts to advance women in the legal profession.
Ida is a Fellow of the College of Law Practice Management, Director of the University of California Hastings Leadership Academy for Women, a leadership development program for women law firm partners, and Director of the Professional Development Roundtable for Global Law Firms.
Ida serves on the Advisory Boards of LawyerPrep and the Women in Law Empowerment Forum. She has authored numerous books and articles, been a columnist for Diversity & The Bar Magazine ®, and publishes a newsletter, Management Solutions©, which can be seen on her website.
email: [email protected]
website: Ida Abbott Consulting
Claire Gilman
Claire Gillman is an experienced journalist, writer and broadcaster. She contributes to many leading women’s magazines and national newspapers, specialising in health, parenting and travel. In the past, she was the editor of a number of consumer and specialist women’s magazines including Health & Fitness magazine and Girl About Town. Claire’s first book, ‘PARA: Inside The Parachute Regiment‘, was published by Bloomsbury in May 1993. Since then she has published a further seven adult health and parenting books, the most recent being Cope with Infertility for Hodder in association with This Morning TV. She has also written eight children’s books, some under the pen-name of Rory Storm. Her latest book entitled ‘The Curious Girl’s Book of Adventure,’ was published by Elwin Street in March 2008. Claire is married with two adolescent sons and lives on the edge of the West Pennines with her family.
Nicola Jones
Nicola was a lawyer for 18 years and her career spanned corporate and commercial work to private client work with emphasis on UK tax. Nicola trained and worked in London in international legal and accounting practices. In 1996 she moved to Bermuda to work for the largest international offshore firm and subsequently headed the Private Client legal team at a major bank working with international wealthy trust clients. Since 2003 Nicola has qualified and works as a process consultant which takes an education-focused, as opposed to a solution-focused, approach in the fields of Family Business advising, Welfare to Work and Money Coaching. This approach places the emphasis on effective communication and effective learning to enhance stakeholder relationships thereby generating trust and a more interactive working relationship. Nicola made this change of direction by training to be a relationship counsellor with the Relate Institute, training as a family business adviser and taking a very rewarding 3 year MA in Gender Studies at the School of Oriential and African Studies, London. In May 2007 Nicola joined The Schumacher Institute for Sustainable Systems where she worked on a highly innovative international sustainability project. She remains on the board of directors.
Since May 2009 Nicola runs her own consultancy business advising and educating individuals and families about their relationship with money in the context of specific goals, such as succession planning in Family Businesses, Career Counselling and individual coaching around money. Nicola is an inspiring speaker and her recent talks include ‘Our Relationship to Money in Leadership for Sustainability’ and ‘The Transformative Capacity of Global Philanthropy’.
Paramjit Mahli
Paramjit L. Mahli is the Founder and CEO of The Rainmakers Roundtable, a consulting firm that specializes in providing business consulting and mentoring services for small to mid-sized law firms worldwide. Mahli helps her clients create cohesive, customized business development plans, including systems to generate consistent referrals and benchmarks to measure progress. Since 2006, Paramjit has trained and coached hundreds of lawyers in the U.S. and abroad with one objective: to help them grow their practices, whether they are in‐house or working in private practice. In 2005, Mahli started The Sun Communication Group, a PR and marketing consultancy for law firms, and in 2009 launched the SCG Legal PR Network, a service that connects legal experts with reporters nationally and internationally.
Mahli has written articles for publications such as ABA Law Practice Today, Small Firm Inc., TechnoLawyer, the New Jersey Law Journal and American Lawyer Media’s Marketing The Law Firm and, among others. She has given presentations to groups including the ABA Young Advocate’s Committee, New York County Lawyers Association, ABA International Lawyers, the Legal Marketing Association, FindLaw, the Association of Continuing Legal Education Providers (ACLEA), the State Bar of New York, the New York City Bar Association and more. She has been a guest lecturer at law schools including Columbia Law School, Fordham Law School, Miami International Law School and New York Law School, and has conducted interviews for the Legal Broadcast Network. Her philanthropic efforts include mentoring entrepreneurs through the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women.
email: [email protected]
website: www.TheRainmakersRoundtable.com
Jim Melton Bradley
Jim Melton Bradley originally qualified and worked as a secondary school teacher, but has been a Civil Servant since 1983. He spent seven years at the Treasury Solicitor’s Office, the government’s civil lawyer, where he worked on both land and probate issues, specialising in conveyancing and bona vacantia. During this time he gained an honours degree in English Law from the University of Westminster. He joined the Charity Commission in 1990 since when he has worked in the full range of the Commission’s registration, charity support, advice and guidance work. He is also an experienced trainer, having been involved with the legal/technical development, not only his colleagues, but also of hundreds of trustees and other stakeholders working in the charitable sector. In addition he has twice represented the Commission overseas in its International Programme, and for two years led the Commission’s Faiths Project, which itself led to the establishment of its Faith and Social Cohesion Unit.
In his personal capacity, Jim is Visiting Lecturer in Charity Law at the University of Gloucestershire, where he is currently specialising in the new developments in Charities and Public Benefit.
His interests include running, cycling, and Jane Austen. However, his real passion is music – everything from the baroque to the blues, from Gregorian Chant to Captain Beefheart.
email: [email protected]
Pami Paall
Having lived in India, England, Saudi Arabia and Germany and after many a happy summer in Canada and America, Pami is now a Member of Lincoln’s Inn in London, being particularly interested in enabling an emergence of the pioneering niche of Realisation Law with international significance. She hopes Realisation Law may bring the active dynamic of ingenuity to everyday society everywhere enabling true serenity to impact throughout the world from the far west to the far east.
Imogen Spurdle
Imogen Spurdle studied at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand, gaining a Batchelor of Arts, majoring in Political Science and a Batchelor of Laws. She worked for Tom Bennion, a Barrister and Solicitor in New Zealand specialising in Environmental law, Resource Management and Treaty of Waitangi claims. Having now moved to London, she has a temporary role at Memery Crystal, a Commercial Law firm as part of their Disputes Resolution team and continues her passion in the field of legal enviro-trade through her research and writing for Dr Linda S. Spedding.
Ramni Taneja
Ramni Taneja is an Advocate practising in the Supreme Court of India, the High Court of Delhi as well as other courts and forums in Delhi and in India. She has her own law firm, Law Office of Ramni Taneja, in New Delhi, India, which handles corporate transactional work and litigation.
Born in New Delhi and educated in Mumbai and in London where she studied in Grey Coat Hospital, London, United Kingdom, completing her school education in 1973-1974, [University of London, GCE Ordinary and Advanced Levels], Ramni Taneja also obtained her BA Honours degree [First Class Honours] from Elphinstone College, University of Bombay in 1977 in English Literature [Honours] and French Literature [Subsidiary] and an LLB Degree [First Class] from Government Law College, University of Bombay, in 1980. She was admitted as an Advocate on 17th October 1980, by the Bar Council of Maharashtra; subsequently transferred to the Bar Council of Delhi on 20th October 1997. She was also admitted as a Solicitor of the Supreme Court of England and Wales on 3rd March 1997. She is also a Notary, appointed by the Government of India on 19th July 1999. Trained in Mumbai between 1908 and 1982 at Little & Co., Advocates and Solicitors Mumbai, Ramni Taneja headed the branch office of Little & Co. in New Delhi between 2002 till 2006.
Her international legal experience has focused on the Middle East where she practised as a legal consultant, duly licensed to do so in Dubai, United Arab Emirates between 1982 till 1989 and from 1990 till 1997. She has written extensively for legal journals both in India and overseas.
email: [email protected]
Melinda Wallman
Melinda Wallman is a partner with global attorney search firm, Major, Lindsey & Africa. She is founder of the firm’s London and Hong Kong offices and has responsibility for the firm’s international operations. Melinda specializes in senior level search and has particular expertise assisting organisations to expand internationally.
Melinda received her LL.B. from the University of New South Wales, Sydney in 1992 and her B.A. from the University of New South Wales in 1990, completing part of the degree on a DAAD scholarship at the Free University, Berlin. Prior to joining MLA in New York in 1999, Melinda practised corporate and technology law at Gilbert & Tobin, Sydney and completed a secondment at the Public Interest Law Clearing House, where she first developed an interest in alternative legal career opportunities. In 1997 Melinda relocated to London where she commenced her recruitment career with a major British consultancy, developing their cross-border UK-Australia business.
Melinda is an active member of the Legal Education and Professional Development Committee of the International Bar Association, an International Coordinator for her law school alumni association, a member of the Planning Committee for the American Bar Association – International Section, and a member of the editorial board of Women in Law. Melinda writes and speaks frequently on issues concerning cross-border search and the globalization of the legal profession.
J. Kim Wright
J. Kim Wright is an American lawyer, servant leader and independent scholar on a worldwide tour to inspire transformation in law. She was first admitted to the bar in 1989 and practiced integrative law for many years before becoming a teacher, trainer, and leader in the integrative law movement. In 2010, the American Bar Association published her book, Lawyers as Peacemakers, Practicing Holistic, Problem-Solving Law which became a best-seller and was named an ABA Flagship book. The ABA also named her as one of their Legal Rebels, “finding new ,ways to practice law, represent their clients, adjudicate cases and train the next generation of lawyers.” Kim is guided by the principle that we are all family and believes law should be based upon reciprocal understanding.
Vikrant Pachnanda
Mr. Vikrant Pachnanda, upon completion of high school in 2006, pursued an integrated degree in law and arts from Gujarat National Law University (GNLU), Gandhinagar focusing on international investment arbitration and aviation law . He is the Founder and Managing Editor of India Law Journal (www.indialawjournal.com) which he founded as a law student in 2008. He was also one of the Founders and Student Managing Editors of the GNLU Journal for Law, Development and Politics. Post graduating from GNLU in 2011, Mr. Pachnanda joined Luthra & Luthra Law Offices in Delhi as an Associate where he advised both Indian and international clients on a broad range of legal issues involving mergers and acquisitions, defence procurement, corporate criminal liability, anti-bribery compliance and funds. Additionally, he was also part of the Knowledge Management team of the firm. In 2012, he joined the chambers of Mr. Najmi Waziri, Chief Counsel for the Delhi Government during the subsequent year and trained under him till his elevation as an Hon’ble Judge of the Delhi High Court in April 2013. Thereafter, he pursued his LLM from Cornell Law School where he focused his studies on courses related to dispute resolution, sports law, antitrust law, climate change and entrepreneurship. Mr. Pachnanda has authored several articles that have been published in various journals including the Asialaw IP Review and the Asian Yearbook of International Law. He has presented papers at several international conferences and represented his university in several moot court competitions, both in India and abroad. He represented GNLU, which was the only Indian university selected to represent India at the International Negotiation Competition on Climate Change, to negotiate a proposed Copenhagen Protocol in Copenhagen in 2009. Presently, he is practising in the Supreme Court of India and is working with Agarwal Law Associates under Mr. Mahesh Agarwal.
email: [email protected]