This year, the popular Law and Finance networking event took place online on Wednesday 3 March 2021. This annual event was once again generously hosted by Slaughter and May in partnership with Girton College.
Following a welcome by the Mistress and a short introduction by Dr Guy O'Keefe, our keynote speaker, Baroness Kingsmill, spoke openly about her life in the law and beyond. The session finished with a live Q&A moderated by the Mistress.
Following Baroness Kingsmill's talk, the audience was moved into their pre-booked Breakout Rooms for smaller group discussions. The topics for the breakout rooms were:
Finance Group 1: Ongoing impact of Covid 19 on macro-economics and the possibilities of recovery? hosted by Dr Carolina Alves and Atul Aggarwal.
Finance Group 2: Discussion on the implications of the UK Budget announcements of today hosted by Dr Mia Gray and Jimmy Anderson, Bursar.
Law Group 1: Ongoing discussions on Life in the Law and Beyond hosted by Baroness Kingsmill and Professor Susan J. Smith.
Law Group 2: From Percy Pigs to Financial Services: will Brexit let us take control of our Laws? Hosted by Guy O’Keefe and Dr Stephanie Palmer.
The evening finished with a College update and toast by the Mistress.
Recordings of Baroness Kingsmill's talk and the Breakout Room discussions can be watched below.
Speakers
Baroness Kingsmill CBE
Baroness Kingsmill has enjoyed a diverse and varied career spanning fashion and design, the law and regulation, business, the arts and charity, as well as politics and people.
She spent the early years of her career in the fashion industry in Paris and New York, after graduating from the University of Cambridge with a degree in Economics and Anthropology. She then qualified as a solicitor of the Supreme Court, and, after a 20 year legal career, was appointed Deputy Chair of the Competition Commission, the UK’s anti-trust regulator.
In 2000 Baroness Kingsmill was awarded a CBE and in June 2006 she was appointed to the House of Lords as a Life Peer. She has been awarded various honorary degrees by several universities. She is a member of the International board of IESE, the Spanish business school.
Baroness Kingsmill is a member of the board of Inditex SA (Zara). Until very recently she was also a member of the boards of E.ON SE, IAG SA, and Telecom Italia and in 2015 she became founding Chair of Monzo Bank, a mobile-only Internet bank.
Guy O'Keefe
Guy O’Keefe is a senior partner at Slaughter and May, and is our host for the evening.
Guy has a wide ranging financing practice which covers banking, capital markets, securitisation and structured finance in which he advises issuers, borrowers, lenders and counterparties of all types. He also advises governments and financial institutions, funds and lending platforms on various assignments emanating from the financial crisis, including restructurings and asset sales.