Many of our friends will know Alan Humphreys, our Deputy Chief Executive and Finance Director, and Jill Gale, our Head of Administration. This month sees both Alan and Jill move on from the Foundation. Alan will take up a role supporting the College of Law Pension Scheme (COLPAS) which will benefit greatly from his expertise in the pensions field as it makes the transition towards buy out.  Jill will also be providing company secretary support to COLPAS, as well as enjoying the opportunity to play more golf!

Both Alan and Jill have been essential members of the team at the Foundation and of the College of Law before that.

Jill joined the College aged 17, beginning as PA to the registrar of poster courses and remaining with the organisation for her whole career. She was part of the team that navigated the sale of the College of Law and the setting up of the Foundation. She led administration and IT over that time, and was our lead on investment transactions, a role that required exceptional attention to detail and patience. A particular highlight of her work with the Foundation has been the Justice First Fellowship and Jill will be sorely missed by host organisations and Fellows who were in regular contact with her over everything from interview schedules to events, training to requests for support, as well as recording how the careers of Fellows have gone on to develop over time. Jill’s seating plans at the annual JFF dinner were legendary – thoughtfully creating opportunities for Fellows to mix with colleagues in other cohorts, with TLEF Governors and with the scheme’s wider supporters. Many new friendships and collaborations were formed around those tables.

Alan had also worked with the College for many years before its sale and transition to a foundation. As Deputy Chief Executive at the College, Alan oversaw the significant expansion of the College in terms of its number of students, sites and range of courses, in particular to widen opportunities for students by instigating the College’s first part time courses. The sale of the College created an astonishing new opportunity to establish a new grant making organisation focused on law in the UK and, as Deputy Chief Executive and Finance Director of the newly-formed Legal Education Foundation, Alan led the work to establish the systems and structures at the Foundation and then supported our first Chief Executive and the board to develop and implement our first five year strategy. Over this time, Alan built close relationships with organisations in the field, in particular the Law Centres Network and Legal Action Group, where Alan supported developments around IT infrastructure, reflecting his long-standing passion for the positive role of technology. He also worked especially closely with our Investment Committee helping successfully to build the Foundation’s endowment at the same time as generating over £40million to distribute in grants between 2013 and 2022.

Alan and Jill have been brilliantly supported throughout their time by their colleagues in the operations, administration and finance teams. That work is now being led by Adam Pokun, our new Director of Operations, who joined us in November 2021 from the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals. Others in our team have taken on more senior roles, with Clare Johns becoming Head of Finance, and Lindy Berry becoming Operations Manager.

Alan and Jill asked for one thing in relation to their departures, for there to be “minimum fuss”, and we have respected this even though we would have liked to mark their contributions with maximum fanfare. Both can look back on their work with the College and the Foundation with huge satisfaction and depart with the heartfelt thanks of colleagues, Governors and all our friends. If you would like to be in touch with them, please do feel free to email Belinda.berry@thelef.org and messages can be forwarded on.