Advisors & Ambassadors

MacKinnon pioneered the legal claim for sexual harassment and, with Andrea Dworkin, created ordinances recognizing pornography as a civil rights violation and the Swedish model (Equality Model) for abolishing prostitution. The Supreme Court of Canada has largely accepted her approaches ... to equality, pornography, and hate speech, which have been influential internationally as well. Representing Bosnian women survivors of Serbian genocidal sexual atrocities, MacKinnon, along with her co-counsel, won a damage award of $745 million in August 2000 in Kadic v. Karadzic under the Alien Tort Act, the first recognition of rape as an act of genocide. Among the schools at which she has taught are Yale, Stanford, Chicago, Harvard, Osgoode Hall (Toronto), Basel (Switzerland), Hebrew University (Jerusalem), and Columbia. She was awarded residential fellowships at the Institute for Advanced Study, Stanford, the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin, and the University of Cambridge. Read more

Heather Brooke is an award-winning investigative journalist originally from the US now based in London. She began her career as a crime reporter in South Carolina. Years later, her investigate journalism and legal action against the British Parliament led ... to the MPs’ expenses scandal of 2009 and the biggest clear-out of politicians in decades alongside the first forced resignation of the Speaker of the House in 300 years. She has also investigated hackers, industrial leaking and Wikileaks, reporting for The Guardian.   She has published three non-fiction books based on her investigative work: The Revolution Will be Digitised, The Silent State, and Your Right to Know. She is now writing a novel about a female political leader who campaigns to make nature sacred again. She was professor and director of the MA Investigation Journalism course at City, University of London. She has also taught investigative journalism at Columbia University in New York City. Among her awards are the Judges’ Prize at the 2010 British Press Awards, the FOI Award from Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE), and a Freedom of Expression Award from Index on Censorship. The Sunday Times has named her one of the Top 100 Makers of the 21st Century. Heather Brooke https://www.heatherbrooke.org Read more

When she took the helm at the Women’s Equality Party in 2019, Mandu Reid became the first person of colour to lead a national political party in British history. She has lead campaigns to: challenge misogyny and racism in policing; ... tackle male violence against women and girls; and push for a radical new approach to parental leave and childcare which would accelerate progress towards equality and address the cost of living crisis by transforming the UK economy. She has stood for election for WEP multiple times including contesting the 2021 London Mayoral election. Mandu is passionate about making sure the fight for feminist change goes hand in hand with the fight for racial justice, and liberation for all marginalised groups. Growing up in Southern Africa in the twilight years of aparthied, she has seen profound change happen and has never stopped believing it is possible. In 2019 she was recognised by Apolitical as one of the top 100 most influential people in global gender policy alongside Michelle Obama, Melinda Gates, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg amongst others. Read more

Jo Maugham KC founded Good Law Project back in 2017, without a single big backer and no staff. Under his leadership, the organisation has gone from strength to strength, raising millions of pounds to fund strategic litigation and winning landmark ... constitutional cases. A tax barrister by trade, Jolyon became a Queen’s Counsel in 2015. He is an honorary Professor at the University of Durham and has advised the UK government and the official Opposition on tax policy. He has been described by The Times as ‘one of the country’s leading barristers’. Read more

Professor David B. Oppenheimer is a Clinical Professor of Law, the Director of the Berkeley Center on Comparative Equality and Anti-Discrimination Law, and the Faculty Co-Director of the Pro Bono Program at Berkeley Law. He was the founding director of the ... Berkeley Law Employment Discrimination Law Clinic. He is the author of numerous books, book chapters, web courses and articles on anti-discrimination law, comparative equality law and civil rights history, and has lectured on anti-discrimination law at scores of universities around the world. Professor Oppenheimer has litigated sexual harassment, pay equity and other forms of sex discrimination cases, as well as cases of race discrimination, ethnicity discrimination, disability discrimination, religious discrimination, and age discrimination, and has filed amicus curie briefs in the California, United States and Japanese Supreme Courts. He earned a juris doctor degree from Harvard University. He is a member of the California and United States Supreme Court bars, and the American Law Institute. Read more

Anthony Metzer KC is a highly regarded silk known for his committed and forensically-detailed approach to his practice. He specialises in crime; immigration; claimant civil actions against the police; defamation; and inquests. Anthony was awarded Bar Pro Bono QC of ... the Year for 2021 for the second time, following receipt in 2019. He was also Highly Commended as runner-up for this award in 2020. Anthony has been instructed on some of the most influential cases in recent years. Anthony was leading counsel in MCP, C-603/20 PPU, which was shortlisted for Family Law Case of the Year at the Family Law Awards 2021. Anthony was highly Commended as the runner up for Lexis Nexis Case of the Year Award 2020 following his success as leading counsel in Banger v UK. Read more

Dr Emma Katz, Ph.D., is an award-winning, internationally-renowned expert in domestic abuse and coercive control, whose work has influenced policy and professional practice in the UK and globally. Dr Katz’s book, Coercive Control in Children’s and Mothers’ Lives (2022, Oxford University Press) is ... described as a ‘pioneering work’ that ‘will change how we understand and respond to children’s experience of domestic abuse’ (Evan Stark, Professor Emeritus, Rutgers University). From 2023 Dr Katz will be an Associate Professor in Sociology at Durham University. Read more

Dr Halliki Voolma is a leader in gender equality policy and gender mainstreaming in the Secretariat of the European Commission’s inaugural Taskforce on Equality. She brings a decade of experience in strategic coordination, policy development and legal and political ... cal analysis developed at the European Commission, UN Women, the University of Cambridge, and European NGOs. Dr Voolma holds a PhD on gender-based violence against migrant women from the University of Cambridge, where she was a Gates Cambridge Scholar. Co-chairing the Board of the Gates Cambridge Alumni Association is one of her favourite activities. Having lived and worked in 4 EU countries, the UK and US, an international worldview is key to her identity and professional approach. Read more

Dr Shola Mos-Shogbamimu is a political & women’s rights activist, taught intersectional feminism to female refugees and asylum seekers; scrutinizes government policies from a gender and diversity inclusion perspective; and co-organises women’s marches and social campaigns. She is also a New York Attorney ... and Solicitor of England & Wales with broad expertise in the financial services industry, writer, public speaker and political commentator featured in mainstream and online media. She founded the Women in Leadership publication as a platform to drive positive change on topical issues that impact women globally through inspiring personal leadership journeys; and established She@LawTalks to promote women & BAME leadership in the legal profession through universities and secondary schools. An academic enthusiast, she has an Executive MBA (Cambridge); PhD (Birkbeck); LLM (London School of Economics & Political Science); MA (Westminster) and LLB Hons (Buckingham University). Read more

Natasha Rattu is the Executive Director at Karma Nirvana, leading the charity towards its strategic vision of ending Honour Based Abuse in the UK. Natasha has dedicated her career to supporting victims and survivors and has more than 15 years’ ... experience as a frontline worker and in VAWG policy and intervention (local and central government level). Natasha is a non-practising barrister, specialising in family and criminal law, and was awarded the Anthony Walker Crown Prosecution Scholarship. She has been a recent recipient of the ‘Super Achiever Pitman Boss of the Year award’ and graduated from Operation Black Vote parliamentary leadership programme in 2019. Read more

Dr Annemarie Middelburg is a consultant from the Netherlands with unique expertise on women’s rights and the practice Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C). Annemarie has a background in International Public Law & Human Rights. She received her LLM degree at ... at Tilburg University, where she also completed the Research Master in Law (both cum laude). She obtained her PhD with a thesis entitled ‘Empty Promises? Compliance with the Human Rights Framework in relation to Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting in Senegal’. Her PhD research was interdisciplinary in nature as it involved law, political science and anthropology. In 2015, she founded her own company Middelburg Human Rights Law Consultancy (MHRLC) and started to work as an independent consultant. She had assignments for the United Nations, European Union, civil society organizations and universities. She finds it important to frequently travel to the field: she has visited over 20 African countries and several countries in the Middle East in the past years. She was recently in Senegal, Burkina Faso, Kenya, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, Mauritius and Israel for different assignments. She has authored and co-authored numerous academic, EU and UN publications on the topic of FGM/C, other forms of Violence Against Women (VAW), Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) and international human rights law more in general. Read more

Payzee Mahmod is a British Kurd. She campaigns to raise awareness about and to end child marriage, FGM, virginity testing and hymenoplasty, drawing on her own lived experiences & the loss of her sister Banaz, in a so called ‘honour’ ... killing. Payzee’s TEDX talk ‘A Survivor’s Plea to end Child Marriage’ has been viewed more than a million times. Payzee has been an influential voice in leading the Marriage and Civil Partnership (Minimum Age) Bill’s Campaign to change the law to ban child marriage in England and Wales. Payzee’s advocacy has resulted in her being celebrated with special recognition at the UN Women UK Awards 2020. She is a member of Girls Not Brides Advisory Committee. Payzee is an Obama Leader and a Global Citizen UK Prize Award Winner. Read more

Dr Leyla Hussein is a psychotherapist, specialising in supporting survivors of sexual abuse. She is an international lecturer on female genital mutilation (FGM) and speaker on gender rights. She is recognised as one of the key experts on this issue ... globally and is a leading and award-winning international campaigner against all forms of violence against women and girls. Leyla founded The Dahlia Project, the UK’s first specialist therapeutic service for FGM survivors. In 2020, she was elected as Rector of the University of St Andrews for a three-year term, making history as the first Black woman to hold the position. She currently works as the Global Advocacy Director for the The Girl Generation: Support to the Africa-led Movement to End FGM/C. Read more

Dr. Ann Olivarius is the Chair and Senior Partner of McAllister Olivarius, and Managing Partner of its sister firm, AO Advocates. Ann has over 30 years’ experience as a lawyer, financier, philanthropist, writer, and advisor to public figures. With a ... background in both civil rights law and corporate law, she specialises in cases of discrimination, sexual harassment and assault, and online abuse. She has successfully represented clients against major institutions, ensured that institutions change their practices, and lobbied Parliament to introduce new laws protecting vulnerable people from abuse.  Ann is building a community of survivors from academia and business, public service and nonprofits, the law and all other walks of life, who want to use their expertise and voices to advocate for survivors and for meaningful change in the law which now rarely takes rape seriously. Read more

Dr Adrienne Barnett was called to the Bar of England and Wales in 1981 and practised at the independent Bar in London for over 30 years, for most of which she specialised in Family Law, primarily representing parents and ... nts and children in serious care cases and in private law cases involving allegations of domestic abuse. She is a door tenant at One Pump Court Chambers. She is a Reader in Law, teaching Family Law and Children and the Law and is Divisional Lead, Private and Commercial Law. Dr Barnett has undertaken research into domestic abuse and family court proceedings for over 26 years and, more recently, parental alienation. She has published widely and presented papers at numerous academic and professional conferences in the UK and abroad. She is a member of the Advisory Group of Rights of Women, a core founder member of SHERA Research Network, a member of Hague Mothers (a FiliA legacy project) and UK lead of its International Strategy Group, and a member of the Advisory Group of SafeLives Domestic Abuse Training for Lawyers. Read more

Janet Fyle, MBE, MA, RN, RM, is a Registered Midwife, Registered Nurse, and an accredited Expert Witness. She is currently employed at the Royal College of Midwives as a Professional Policy Advisor, where she leads on issues relating to violence ... against women and girls and perinatal mental health. She is the current chair of the youth-led charity IntegrateUK. Janet is a long-standing activist, campaigner, and advocate for ending all forms of violence against women and girls (VAWG), domestic abuse, child marriage, forced marriage, Female Genital Mutilation, honour abuse, and people trafficking. She has partnered and collaborated with a variety of stakeholders and organisations on key policy areas of women’s and children’s health and well-being to bring about change. Her interests lie in the wider social, political, and economic contexts of these issues and their direct and disproportionate impact on women and families, particularly those from BME communities. Janet has for many years played a leading role in national campaigns for change on wider health issues – equal access to services for marginalised communities and improved pregnancy outcomes for Black, Asian, and ethnic minority women. She also advocates for improved services for women with pregnancy-related mental illness and the safeguarding of children from exploitation. She has worked with relevant organisations on people trafficking to develop resources to raise awareness among health professionals of the need to provide sensitive care and services for women and girls who have been trafficked into the UK. She led the development and publication of the Intercollegiate Recommendations for Identifying, Recording and Reporting FGM, which was the catalyst for changes to the UK law on Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and progress towards providing care and support for survivors of FGM. She co-scripted and produced 5 animated films on the health and psychological consequences of FGM and the role of men in ending FGM and VAWG in affected communities, which have been translated into 4 local languages. Most recently, she was involved in a successful campaign with the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecology, community organizations, charities, legal experts, and others for legislation to ban Virginity Testing and Hymenoplasty. Read more

Ciara Bergman is an independent consultant who has over 20 years of experience in the Violence Against Women and Girls sector, focused on developing and improving responses to domestic abuse perpetrators and survivors. Ciara has extensive experience of direct work ... with fathers in care and contact proceedings, and she has also designed and delivered quality-assured interventions for fathers seeking contact with their children where domestic abuse is a known concern. Read more

Jenny Beck is an award-winning family lawyer and founding director of Beck Fitzgerald, a niche Central London family practice. She is the Private Law representative on the Family Justice Council and Chair of the Nuffield Family Justice Observatory Board. She ... is a current member and former chair of the Law Society’s Access to Justice Committee. In 2021, Jenny was made an Honorary King’s Counsel (KC Honoris Causa) for her contribution to changes in the law relating to accessible justice and domestic abuse. Read more

Natalie Page is the director of Survivor Family Network and founder of #thecourtsaid, the largest support and campaigning organisation for survivors involved in family court proceedings internationally. She has appeared in many media campaigns, including Channel 4’s documentary “Torn Apart: ... Family Courts Uncovered”. Her accomplishments include receiving the Emma Humphreys Memorial Award for outstanding contributions towards ending male violence. Read more

Dr Rachael Grey is the founder and CEO of Project Lighthouse, the UK’s first digital person-centred trauma-informed therapeutic support community for female survivors of domestic abuse and child removal. She is currently a research associate at Lancaster University, working on ... the Giving HOPE project and has lectured at Brunel University. Rachael has worked with several organisations dedicated to helping survivors of domestic abuse, such as Against Violence & Abuse. Read more

Dr Jessica Taylor is a working-class feminist author, lecturer, speaker, and researcher with a PhD in forensic psychology. She is the founder and director of VictimFocus, and in 2019, she was awarded a Fellowship of the Royal Society of Arts ... for her contribution to feminism and psychology. Her book publications include “Why Women are Blamed for Everything” and “Sexy but Psycho: Uncovering the Psychiatric Labelling of Women and Girls”, which hit the Sunday Times Best Sellers list. Read more

Verona Taylor-Blackford is the Senior Public Affairs and Policy Officer at SafeLives. SafeLives is a UK-wide charity dedicated to changing the response to domestic abuse by working with organisations across the UK. In 2022 alone, nearly 25,000 professionals received their ... training. Verona has assisted in this aim by writing reports, influencing policymakers and leading the organisation’s work around the Victims and Prisoners Bill. Read more

Dr Elizabeth Dalgarno is a Lecturer in Health Sciences at the University of Manchester. She is the Director, Founder and Research and Development lead of SHERA. She provides training and consultation to different institutions, such as domestic abuse organisations and ... local authorities. Her work on women and child victims’ health experiences of family court and so-called ‘parental alienation’ has featured in the documentary ‘Mums on the Run’. Elizabeth’s work has been presented globally, including to the 53rd United Nations Human Rights Council. Read more

Jess Phillips MP is a dynamic politician and dedicated activist, serving as the Labour MP for Birmingham Yardley since 2015. Exemplifying a passion for justice, she has emerged as a leading voice in the fight against violence against women and ... girls. Phillips is renowned for her outspoken advocacy, championing issues such as gender equality, domestic violence, and human rights. Through a compelling blend of political leadership and grassroots activism, she continues to shape policies and initiatives aimed at creating a safer, more equitable society. She is currently an Ambassador for Right to Equality’s campaign to end the presumption of child contact with abusive parents. Read more

Kate Kniveton is the former Member of Parliament for Burton and Uttoxeter. She was elected in 2019 with the constituency’s largest share of the vote since 1935, with 29,560 votes. She was an officer for the All Party-Parliamentary Groups on ... Domestic Violence and Abuse. As a survivor of domestic abuse and with personal experience of the Family Courts, she is committed to being an advocate for all victims. Read more

Apsana Begum is the Member of Parliament for Poplar and Limehouse. She is committed to fighting for the rights of workers, including those who are women, disabled and from Black and Minority Ethnic, migrant and LGBTQ+ backgrounds. She has been ... open about her experience of domestic abuse and is a staunch advocate for other survivors. She is the Co-Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Domestic Violence and Abuse and Vice-Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on United Nations Women. Read more

Tamar Barrett (LLB) is a lived-experience leader who advocates for the voiceless. She is an elected Councillor for Thornton Heath at Croydon Council, author of the Lioness Uncaged and founder of the Lioness Circle, a specialist ‘by and for’ grassroots ... support service for survivors of domestic abuse and sexual violence, particularly women and girls born of the African and Caribbean heritage. Tamar is a Safelives Associate and a qualified Independent Domestic Violence Advisor (IDVA) who delivers domestic abuse-related training to professionals such as the police and solicitors. Read more

Leigh is a mother, a survivor of domestic abuse and has a lived experience of the family court system. Since her perpetrator went to prison, she has worked hard to support other women who have had similar experiences. Leigh has ... worked for the #thecourtsaid campaign since 2018 and has trained to become a Freedom Programme Facilitator and recently an IDVA. She wholeheartedly believes that there should be no such thing as contact at all costs and is hoping to create change for this moving forward. Read more

Katy is a British actress, television presenter, singer, and a survivor of domestic abuse who has been through the family courts. She supports greater transparency in the family courts, opening them up to journalists and training judges on bias and ... victim stereotypes. Read more