Claire Pannell reckons she might be the only person in the country with her job title. While many trusts have a director of governance, she can’t find any that also have their own “general counsel” – the joint roles that she fills at Anthem Schools Trust.
Maintained schools call on local authority legal departments when they get into hot water, while trusts tend to use specialist law firms. Pannell says having that in-house expertise means she can be “proactive” in “preventing legal challenges from happening”, rather than firms on retainers who are normally “always firefighting”.
She was appointed a family law judge this year (aged just 40, it’s also likely she’s one of the country’s youngest), providing a rare and overarching perspective of the justice and education systems.
A legal mind also gives her “complementary skills” that come in handy: Pannell also acts as Anthem’s data protection officer and company secretary. She’s also transforming the trust’s governance systems to give pupils a seat at the table.
