The Great Debate: Mental Health and Black Legal Professionals in 2018

The Great Debate will feature a discussion around the factors that influence the varying mental states of Black legal professionals in a non-Black working environment as well as how this is mirrored in wider British society from the perspective of mental health solicitor.

We will be featuring a keynote speech from Guilaine Kinouani (an expert in mental health concerning Black people) and a panel discussion, followed by audience participation (in terms of personal experiences and questions to the panel) and refreshments and networking. We are hoping to live stream this event and the hashtag will be #TheGreatDebate.

Timings

Our panel

Guilaine Kinouani (Keynote Speaker): Guilaine Kinouani is a feminist, an equality consultant, a therapist and an award nominated writer. Her analyses are rooted in her social location as a Black French woman, a migrant, and a (proud) child of the Banlieue with solid roots in Africa. She is in the final stages of completing her doctoral thesis in Clinical Psychology which focuses on racial injustice and the on the emotional, behavioural, cultural and socio-historical factors that underpin experiences of racial trauma. Guilaine’s clinical expertise centres on the psychological consequences of discrimination, structural violence and exclusion.

Dr Solomon Osagie (General Counsel & Company Secretary, Cashplus): Solomon Osagie is a leading financial services lawyer and the only black challenger bank GC in the UK. Dr Osagie was educated at the University of Cambridge from where he received post graduate degrees in law and in international relations. He was appointed to the Law Society’s Company Law Committee and sits on several advisory boards including ACRITAS, the GC Financial Services Summit as well as the Legal Technology Summit. In 2017 he was invited to join the Lafferty BREXIT Council as well as the Payments and Cards Council. He was also invited to participate at the Westminster Policy Forum contributing to the debate on the review of legal training in the UK. Solomon is the author of the leading book “The Integrating Financial Services Regulation; Exploring Some of the Challenges Posed by the EU Data Protection Regime”.

Dr Osagie has received many industry nominations including Lawyer of the Year at the Lawyer Awards, General Counsel of the Year as well as an entry in the FT rankings. He was featured in the HOT lawyer List. Solomon spent some time in practice and then moved on to hold senior roles in Industry as General Counsel at Global Switch, at TSYS International and now at Cashplus in the city of London.

Elizabeth Rimmer (CEO, LawCare): Elizabeth started her working life as a solicitor specialising in clinical negligence. She has been managing and devleoping charities in the mental health sector for over 15 years, and joined LawCare as Chief Executive in 2014.

Umar Kankiya (Head of Mental Health Law, Sternberg Reed): Umar is currently head of the Mental Health department and a Solicitor at Sternberg Reed Solicitors. Umar has been qualified since 2012 and is a passionate advocate of those detained under the Mental Health Act 1983/2007 and Mental Capacity Act 2015. Umar started his legal career as a paralegal in 2010 before qualifying in 2012. Umar has always practiced in the field of Mental Health law and is passionate about representing patients who lack capacity and ensuring that their treatment plan is efficient and also ensuring that any wrongful detentions are challenge successfully. Umar represents patients detained both under the Civil and Criminal provisions of the Mental Health Act. Prior to this Umar was working for the UK Youth Parliament as the London Region coordinator. Umar’s role was to work with the elected Members of Youth Parliament in the London region on various youth projects such as anti gun and knife crime, sex and relationship education and improving youth provisions in London.

As well as this Umar also represented the UK internationally at events with Oxfam in Sydney, Australia as well as events in Berlin, UAE, Jordan and other countries. Umar has always been a passionate advocate for those whose voices are not routinely heard in wider society. Umar was elected on to the Law Society's Ethnic Minority Lawyers Division (EMLD) in November 2016 and has been involved with the various projects that the EMLD has undertaken. Umar will especially be involved with events dealing with mental health and youth issues. Umar feels that events such as these are important to celebrate prominent figures within black history but also to remember and learn from lessons of the past to help with recognising where we can go in the future.