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WorkNest Welcomes New Year with Female Duo at the Helm of Legal Services
WorkNest is pleased to announce the appointment of Angela Carter and Jo O’Brien to spearhead its Legal Advisory Services.
Headquartered in Chester with offices and colleagues throughout the UK, WorkNest’s 400-strong team includes more than 50 qualified employment law solicitors, along with qualified HR consultants and advisers, and over 50 qualified health & safety consultants. The leadership promotions mark a pivotal moment, with the legal department’s senior team now predominantly female, with eight women in 13 senior roles. This change underscores WorkNest’s commitment to gender diversity and the empowerment of female professionals within the legal sector.
Angela Carter, newly appointed as Legal Services Director, will focus on delivering exemplary services across all aspects of our employment law support. Angela honed her skills as a Paralegal at an American law firm in London for a decade before joining Ellis Whittam in 2005 as its second Employment Law Advisor, subsequently qualifying as a lawyer with Ellis Whittam. With a career spanning nearly 20 years at the company, which rebranded from Ellis Whittam to WorkNest in October 2021, Angela is one of the business’ longest serving employees and has risen through the ranks to her current position.
Jo O’Brien steps into the role of Legal Services Operations Director, bringing a wealth of experience from her background across the NHS and in the retail sector. Starting as an assistant to the Managing Director 15 years ago, Jo’s journey with WorkNest (formerly Ellis Whittam) began as an employment law adviser before taking responsibility for managing the legal team and overseeing team operations including the implementation of new systems. She progressed to Head of Operations and Legal Operations Director, before being appointed to her new role.
Ifti Ahmed, CEO, WorkNest
In her new role, Angela is the arbiter for WorkNest’s legal advice, ensuring technical compliance and a high-quality service is delivered to its clients. Angela will also oversee recruitment and foster the development and training of the legal team, while maintaining strategic client relationships.
Commenting on her promotion, Angela said: “My passion has always been to deliver real value for our clients through high-quality, commercial, pragmatic and, importantly, personalised service. I remain dedicated to these principles as I focus on new challenges ahead.
“To achieve this, we are committed to focus on our people and to invest in their professional development and progression, building a team who not only understand the intricacies of employment law but also understand our clients’ needs and goals.
Jo O’Brien’s focus will be on enhancing the efficiency and quality of legal service delivery, leveraging technology to support the team and clients. Jo said: “I am very proud to take on this new leadership role and I’m delighted that Angela and I are doing so in tandem. We have worked together for so long; our combined strengths and experiences form a powerful synergy.
“My passion has always been to improve the efficiency of the way we work with clients and enhancing the quality of what we produce, which is what makes WorkNest unique. My focus will be on how we can utilise technology, client feedback, data analytics and business intelligence, gaining insights to better support our teams and improve the quality of the service we provide to our clients and the tens of thousands of organisations we support nationwide.”
