Annual Leading Black Lawyers' Dinner 2023

For the second consecutive year, we have brought together senior legal professionals of Black Heritage at the Leading Black Lawyers’ Dinner. The dinner provided a platform for Black lawyers in private practice, senior barristers and those heading a legal function in-house to network with each other, and presented an excellent opportunity to celebrate their achievements within the industry. As part of the dinner, we interviewed YolanDa Brown OBE DL, British saxophonist, composer and broadcaster, and Eugene Amo-Dadzie, British athlete and a full-time accountant, about their successful careers, thus providing a different perspective outside of the legal industry.

In addition to live interviews, Allen & Overy’s senior associate Karen Boadu, associate Gbemisola Coker and law graduate Naomi Tella spoke to a number of senior lawyers in the funds & asset management, banking, legal, and public sectors, about their career paths and challenges they had to overcome to become successful leaders.

We would like to thank all those who participated in the interviews, including:

• A&O partners MaameYaa Kwafo-Akoto and Hervé Ekué, counsel Temi Esho, senior associate Karen Boadu and associate Gbemisola Coker
• YolanDa Brown OBE DL, British saxophonist, composer and broadcaster
• Eugene Amo-Dadzie, British athlete and Senior Management Accountant at Berkeley Group Plc
• Nana Darko, Director and Legal Transactions Counsel at BlackRock
• Kevin Obi, COO/Chief Transformation Officer and Chair, Nigerian IDP Diaspora Support Group (NIDSG)
• Rafiel Sunmonu, Assistant General Counsel at Citi
• Naomi Tella, graduate from the University of Leicester and aspiring lawyer