Alison is an independent consultant on leadership and people in professional organisations.
She has over 25 years’ experience consulting with lawyers and law firms, helping senior people to develop the leadership and management skills they need, over and above their technical and professional expertise.
Examples of her work include defining and articulating values and purpose; creating high performing teams; developing social and conversational intelligence; transforming meetings; coaching professionals through times of change and transition; facilitating offsites; being a ‘thinking partner’ for leaders.Before setting up Open Consulting, Alison was Global Head of People Development for Hogan Lovells, where she set up and led the successful people development team for over ten years. In this role she was responsible for designing and delivering a suite of award-winning leadership programmes for high potential lawyers, new partners and partners in leadership roles.
She is an accredited coach and facilitator and has a MSc in People and Organisational Development. In addition to her own client work, she is Programme Director for a range of leadership programmes for lawyers, accountants and management consultants at Oxford Saïd Business School.
Publications include: Creating a Thinking Culture, Modern Legal Practice, April 2018; Finding a New Way through Difficult Conversations, Modern Legal Practice, July 2017;
Equipping Partners with the Skills and Abilities to Retain Talent (from Recruiting and Retaining Lawyers, Ed. R Normand-Hochman, Globe Law & Business, 2017);
Leading Professional Service Firms for a Sustainable Future, Developing Leaders, Issue 10:2013.