Profile: Nicola Williams

Profile

Nicola Williams

Chair of the Independent Complaints Panel, Barrister and author of Without Prejudice

Nicola Williams

I was a little starstruck to meet Nicola Williams in person. She was part of a panel of outstanding women speaking in Lincoln’s Inn which prompted me to create the Legal Women magazine. The event was a celebration of the centenary of women being allowed to qualify as lawyers and included remarkable role models from the Bar, CilEx, solicitors and the judiciary.

Back row L to R: Christine Blacklaws, Amanda Pinto QC, Master Karen Shuman. Front row L to R: Nicola Williams, Rt Hon Lady Arden DBE, Millicent Grant QC (Hon).

Nicola exudes incredible personal warmth and is a consummate legal professional in her choice of language. Most recently she has been in the public eye due to her appointment as Chair of the Independent complaints panel (‘ICP’) run by the Portman Group. It is the social responsibility and regulatory body for alcohol in the UK and makes decisions based on complaints from the public, police and industry.

Nicola says the role ‘hits a sweet spot’ of everything in her prior career. She has previous experience as a sitting member of boards, including the Association of Chief Executives, and has extensive experience of being a key decision-maker, not only as a judge, but in the role she held as the Service Complaints Ombudsman for the Armed Forces – the first ever Ombudsman in UK Defence.

Nicola initially qualified as a barrister dealing with a mixture of civil and crime cases. This narrowed down eventually to defence of serious crimes only. She became a PCA Board member, a Commissioner at the IPCC (now IOPC), a part-time Crown Court judge and, worked as an Ombudsman, a role she fulfilled in both the UK and Cayman Islands.

Nicola is also an author of fiction. She published her first book Without Prejudice almost two decades ago. It was recently chosen by Bernadine Evaristo, OBE and Booker Prize winner, as one of ten overlooked books which has been republished by Penguin. Penguin has commissioned a second novel from Nicola and the option for a TV series on the book has been bought.

Evaristo says the novel showed the tenacity necessary to achieve in the law, and I asked Nicola to describe some of the challenges she had experienced in the profession. Nicola emphasized that she is no longer working in chambers but nonetheless she notes the changes are striking since she qualified and they are changes for the better. For example, there are more women in senior and leadership positions. When Nicola began her first 6 months pupillage, the set she worked in had just taken on its very first female tenant ever, so there were not many role models available. Nicola does not ‘consciously remember having to pretend to be a man to succeed but it was kind of in the air’. Hopefully these days are largely gone, and Nicola adds ‘Law is hard enough anyway without having to put on a mask every day.’

The hours at the Bar are known to be punishing and Nicola remembers that it was extremely rare to have a whole weekend without doing some work on either the Saturday or Sunday. It means that there needs to be careful consideration of what suits your life; that includes thinking about childcare and responsibilities for older people. Nicola notes that this is important for everyone to assess but at the moment culturally ‘the burden still falls more on women’s shoulders than men’s irrespective of profession’. Nicola recognises there is far greater understanding about this impact on women’s lives but as with all society, misogyny is not totally irradicated from the legal profession.

Without Prejudice clearly references some of the challenges a barrister might encounter due to ethnicity. Although Nicola left practice 20 years ago, she recalls some well-meaning campaigns encouraging people of colour to apply for silk and the judiciary, but they did not address the real issues. She says the current system of exams required for the judiciary is important so there is a clear objective stance; if you get through that stage then, regardless of your individual characteristics, you can be confident and everyone else knows, that you were in the top 10% otherwise you cannot progress to the next stage.

Nicola had no mentors or sponsors as such in the early part of her career but certainly there were people she held in very high regard. ‘I could have benefited from a mentor and a sponsor’ and hopefully this is increasingly available for junior lawyers. ‘When I was appointed a recorder, there were two people who encouraged me; one became a mentor and I would consider her a friend now’.

Nicola has no regrets of going into the law although she is clearly multi-talented. Originally, she had considered careers as a UN language interpreter or fashion designer but ‘Law won out and I loved to debate. Loved the language’. She credits her mother who had been a teacher in Guyana before moving to Britain with her love of language, as during her pregnancy, her mother reread the entire works of Shakespeare! ■

Coral Hill

What is the ICP run by The Portman Group?

1. The Portman Group is funded by 14 member companies but has over 130 Code signatories from producers, retailers and membership bodies.

2. The Code of Practice for the Naming, Packaging and Promotion of Alcoholic Drinks was first published in 1996. The Code seeks to ensure that alcohol is promoted in a socially responsible way, only to those aged 18 and over, and in a way that does not appeal particularly to those who are vulnerable.

3. Copies of the full decisions are also available: www.portmangroup.org.uk/icp/

An example of a case that Nicola Williams has to address is below.

Tiny Rebel has an historic eight products considered by the Independent Complaints Panel.

Tiny Rebel has an historic eight products considered by the Independent Complaints Panel.

An example of the work of the Independent Complaints Panel is its review of eight Tiny Rebel products following separate complaints from the Metropolitan Police, Alcohol Focus Scotland and a member of the public.

All eight products attracted complaints under rule 3.2(h): a drink, its packaging or promotion should not have a particular appeal to under-18s. The Panel considered each product on its own basis and made a careful assessment of the overall impression conveyed by the packaging in each case. Five were found to have a particular appeal to children. The Panel was especially concerned by designs that featured cartoon characters, made prominent use of Tiny Rebel’s bear logo or were themed around products popular with children such as sweets and 99 ice creams.

Following the Panel’s decisions Tiny Rebel are working with the Portman Group’s Advisory Service to resolve concerns with some of the products which have been upheld. Prior to all the ICP’s decisions being made, Tiny Rebel voluntarily chose to discontinue some of its products. ■