Browne Jacobson lawyer wins inspiring Birmingham Black Lawyer Excellence Award

Bridget Tatham, a specialist defendant insurance lawyer at Browne Jacobson has been honoured at this year’s Birmingham Black Lawyer (BBL) Excellence Awards, having been named Lawyer of the Year. Bridget was also shortlisted for BBL’s Diversity Champion 2022.

The awards, which took place at a black-tie ball recognise and celebrate examples of excellence and the successes of the region’s Black legal community. Bridget topped her category because of her passion and commitment to diversity and inclusion to effect positive change across the legal sector. 

Bridget has been pivotal in helping to steer Browne Jacobson’s D&I agenda through multiple internal roles at the firm, including her position as co-chair of Browne Jacobson’s D&I Committee and the Race, Ethnicity and Cultural Heritage (REACH) community and Executive Sponsor for Race. This has enabled Bridget to sponsor Browne Jacobson’s REACH Black Mentoring Scheme, launched earlier this year. Under the initiative, 13 mentees have access to six months of 1:1 mentoring by lawyer members of the REACH community and two weeks paid work experience at one of the firm’s regional offices. 

Externally, Bridget acts as a mentor/ coach to a number of up-and-coming lawyers. She is really proud of her position as Chair of the African Caribbean Community Initiative (ACCI), which is a culturally comprehensive support service for the African Caribbean community experiencing or affected by mental health across the West Midlands.

Bridget Tatham commented on her win: “I am honoured to have won the Lawyer of the Year accolade at this exciting celebration of Black legal talent in Birmingham. The standard and quality of the other finalists was exceptionally high and truly inspiring, so I am really humbled to have been named alongside them.

“BBL’s mission to promote and improve diversity within the legal profession and to break down the barriers faced by the black and minority ethnic legal community is fantastic to see and certainly resonates with our own firm ambitions around D&I. I am really proud to be associated with this important network and to be working for a firm that is also striving for diversity, equity and inclusion and levelling up the legal sector.”