SHE Relatable Leaders Career Spotlight

The SHE Women’s Network Support Heal Empower is all about empowering, supporting and elevating our members, and inspiring future generations of female leaders. Across 2025 we will spotlight the careers journeys of some of our amazing members. Today we hear from Sarah Gibb

A Legal Brief

Sarah Gibb, Solicitor and Subject Lead for Governance

Being born with muscular dystrophy, I inevitably faced challenges growing up. It shaped everything, including thankfully my long-term considerations for my career. You see, having a disability makes you really good at looking at all possible angles, and planning ahead. My experience undoubtedly taught me the value of determination, resilience and how to develop an emotional intelligence. They have become invaluable tools in a demanding world, and I am grateful for them.

Introduction

I am an in-house solicitor, managing a team of largely commercial lawyers within a busy local authority shared service. The skills I have developed as a result have also led me to be a director of a charity supporting those who are suffering from domestic abuse.

My career journey started in a traditional way, with a law degree, postgraduate LPC and a training contract. Incredibly, it was nearly 20 years ago when I qualified and found my way into local government. I have loved the variety that it brings and the connections it lets you make, allowing complex legal concepts to become accessible and actionable, ultimately helping organisations thrive in a constantly evolving landscape.

Early Career

I always knew I would need to find a job that met my needs, and being fairly analytical but terrible with numbers, law seemed a sensible place to start. I wouldn’t say I ever found studying easy and I was never the best at anything, but I did know how to work hard and how to never ever give up. So, I found myself newly qualified and looking for my first position as a solicitor.

Looking back, I don’t quite know how it happened; I had never considered a job in house before and to be honest I didn’t know working within local government was really ‘a thing’. However, an advert presented itself to me one day and from then on, for the first time, everything seemed to just fit. I didn’t know it at the time, but it was a key decision that would shape my path.

Pivotal Moments

Everything is terrifying when you first qualify – the telephone was particularly full of potential for people asking questions that I had no idea how to answer! But generous leadership helped me to see that everyone learns, and it is ok not to know all of the answers all of the time. I have been lucky enough to go on from there to work on a range of projects which help my local community and that learning environment has been very special.

Developing my experience and legal knowledge has not stopped people questioning my place or my ability. Other people’s perceptions are obstacles many of us have to face in our journeys and I will not pretend they are easy to hear. However, my foundations have given me the resilience to learn from them – I have come too far not to, and it gives me a new determination every day to be the best leader that I can be.

Leadership Lessons

As a leader I have realised that everyone is going through something, so be kind. An emotional intelligence will often get you further than being the best theorist in your field. People are at the heart of everything I do, whether clients or colleagues, and that is where they must remain.

Advice for Others

Given the above, my advice would be to remember that small efforts go a long way – check in with people, follow up, understand drivers/priorities and listen with your eyes as well as your ears.

Closing Thought

There is no one way to do things, what works for others may not work for you. When you find your place, embrace it in a way that takes others with you.

A quote or some advice that you found valuable

I love the quote “be the change that you wish to see in the world” by Mahatma Gandhi. It reminds us that we can be the difference, even if it is just to one person.

Edited by Asma Nafees