A day in the life of a Chair

My name is Sophie Hudson and I am an Associate in the Litigation Department at Weightmans LLP. I am the Chair of Leeds JLD for 2025, following my stint as Vice Chair in 2024 and Charity & Education Officer in 2023. This will be my final year on the Leeds JLD Committee and it has been fantastic seeing it go from strength to strength in the last three years.

How does a regular day go for you?

No two days are the same for me – working in litigation there is a lot of variety, which I love about my job. I can be doing anything from drafting pre-action correspondence, advising clients, attending hearings or jumping on urgent matters. I regularly get involved with contractual disputes assisting clients through the pre-action phase, issuing proceedings and running the preparation for the Court hearings that follow, as well as discussing settlement and negotiation strategies with clients. I’m also involved in defamation matters, shareholder disputes, restrictive covenant breaches… as I said, there is a lot of variety!

What made you want to get involved with the LJLD Committee?

I was introduced by LJLD by a colleague who also used to be on the Committee. She encouraged me to come along and check out the events when I mentioned I wanted to be involved in networking and expand my connections in Leeds. I had a lot of fun attending the events for a couple of years and then, when the committee positions came up that they were looking to fill, I saw one which I thought really suited me. I was already involved with my firm’s charity committee and decided to put myself forward for the Charity & Education Officer role. I’d met the previous Charity & Education Officer at a number of events and discussed her role with her, to find out what it required. I was keen to take it on to support more charities and develop LJLD’s educational offering, expanding on what had already been on offer.

What does your role require you to do?

Now I have moved into the position of Chair, I don’t necessarily have a set “list” of what I do all the time. I oversee the events that are organised, liaising with our wonderful committee to make sure we don’t have any event date clashes and that the events fit within our budget.

At the start of the year, Chair is responsible for ensuring all the administrative parts are in place (getting everyone invited to the meetings, ordering name badges, fielding questions from new committee members), but also organising the annual launch party! Throughout the year, the committee is very self-sufficient in putting on events, but the Chair will chip in where anyone needs assistance and make sure everyone is supported in their roles.

I also have the pleasure of being a Judge for the Yorkshire Legal Awards – it’s great to read all about the amazing firms and lawyers in Leeds!