NALP has two major Boards, the Governing Board and the Academic Board which meet quarterly or more often as required. The Academic Board reports to the Governing Board.
Academic board
Amanda Hamilton LLB (Hons)
Patron and Director, NALP - Non Voting Chair
After completing her LLB, Amanda spent five years working as a Paralegal in a small international law firm in London’s West End. Then due to losing a close family member, Amanda branched out into the property business and spent eight years running her own Lettings Consultancy before being head-hunted to work for an exclusive estate agency, where she worked for a couple of years before being made redundant.
Amanda started teaching purely by chance and taught practical paralegal skills to graduates and undergraduates for over twenty years. She has her own training company and in 2008 she was offered the opportunity to take over NALP. Amanda was a senior tutor for ILSPA (Institute of Legal Secretaries and PAs) until her retirement in 2018 and has also taught various units of the NALP Level 7 Diploma in Paralegal Practice.
Amanda is a trained actor and has performed on stage as well as trying her hand at stand-up. She is an obsessive Argentine Tango dancer, and DJ’s at Tango events and enjoys cooking, eating and fine wines. She also is keen on keeping fit and loves football
Tom Mortimer
Chief Examiner
Tom Mortimer is our Chief Examiner and was Head of Law at Canterbury Christ Church University and prior to that was Head of Law at the University of Bedfordshire and Anglia Ruskin University Law School. Tom has over thirty years of teaching and examining experience. He has published widely in the areas of commercial and corporate law and acts as an Advisor to a number of professional, academic and commercial bodies including the Capital Markets Authority in Oman and the Ukrainian Academy of Banking. Tom is also an External Examiner for a number of professional bodies.
Maria Richards F.CILEX
Maria is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives and has over 20 years experience practising for one of the largest firms in the Southwest. Maria specialises in conveyancing, however, her teaching experience extends from legal secretary courses to graduate and postgraduate levels in all areas of law. She thinks positively and enthusiastically about people and what they are capable of becoming and sees each student as a unique and valuable individual. In her spare time Maria is a keen pianist, enjoys cake decorating, surfing and kayaking and makes the most of the Cornish beaches when the weather permits.
Kim Williams
Jane Robson
CEO, NALP
Jane Robson is the CEO of NALP, and formerly its Director of Regulation and Compliance. She is the Responsible Officer for Ofqual and has been involved in compliance regulation for over 21 years across a variety of sectors. Jane loves cooking, especially baking novelty cakes. She is also a fan of sci-fi movies and TV and was a ‘Trekkie’ long before it became cool!
Dr Ken Aduhene
Dr Ken Aduhene is a Lecturer at Canterbury Christ Church University with an extensive background teaching law in Higher Education. In more than two decades teaching law in Kent, Ken has helped many highly enthusiastic and committed law students to become Barristers, Solicitors, and Fellows of the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives.
Ken currently is an External Examiner for the University of Kent responsible for the BA (Hons) Public Services Management and HND Public Services Programmes at Canterbury College.
Governing board
Jane Robson - Chair CEO, NALP
Jane is Director of Regulation and Compliance at NALP. She is the Responsible Officer for Ofqual and has been involved in compliance regulation for over 21 years. Jane was appointed to the NALP Governing Board in 2016. She loves cooking, especially baking novelty cakes, loves watching sci-fi movies and TV and was a ‘Trekkie’ long before it became cool!!!
Amanda Hamilton LLB (Hons)
Patron and Director, NALP
After completing her LLB, Amanda spent five years working as a Paralegal in a small international law firm in London’s West End. Then due to losing a close family member, Amanda branched out into the property business and spent eight years running her own Lettings Consultancy before being head-hunted to work for an exclusive estate agency, where she worked for a couple of years before being made redundant.
Amanda started teaching purely by chance and taught practical paralegal skills to graduates and undergraduates for over twenty years. She has her own training company and in 2008 she was offered the opportunity to take over NALP. Amanda was a senior tutor for ILSPA (Institute of Legal Secretaries and PAs) until her retirement in 2018 and has also taught various units of the NALP Level 7 Diploma in Paralegal Practice.
Amanda is a trained actor and has performed on stage as well as trying her hand at stand-up. She is an obsessive Argentine Tango dancer, and DJ’s at Tango events and enjoys cooking, eating and fine wines. She also is keen on keeping fit and loves football
Chantal Cooke Director, NALP
Chantal Cooke is Director of Public Relations for NALP and is an award-winning journalist and broadcaster, co-founder of the UK’s first ethical radio station PASSION for the PLANET, and CEO of successful boutique PR agency, Panpathic Communications.
Chantal has worked as a journalist / presenter for the BBC, commercial radio, national newspapers and magazines for over 25 years. She has reported from Bosnia and Northern Ireland, and written travel articles for the Independent on Sunday and The Guardian.
In 2002 she set up PASSION for the PLANET, which broadcast on DAB and via the Internet, picked up a number of awards and attracted an audience of over 100k. During that time Chantal interviewed over 6,000 people.
In 2010 Chantal founded Panpathic Communications, where she and her team specialise in working in three key areas; small businesses, companies currently crowdfunding, and authors serious about promoting their books.
She is the author of the book “PR Demystified – how to get free publicity by giving journalists what they really need” and “The Authority Guide to Marketing your Business Book” and has been featured in a number of business books and even a novel!
Robin Ghurbhurun
An experienced C-Suite executive serving the Further Education and Skills sector for over 27 years. Robin is responsible as the UK Executive lead, for Jisc Further Education and Skill Policy, Engagement and Services. Robin leads on Jisc’s strategy for building the digital leadership capacity within FE and Skills institutions whilst also leading on the strategic engagement for FE and Skills with the Department for Education, Government departments, regional and combined authorities on policy, digital infrastructure planning and investment; plus, the strategic engagement and collaboration with other relevant agencies and digital suppliers.
Robin is an experienced and former College CEO, trustee and non-executive director whilst also having held positions as Chair of educational establishments and technology associations; currently a Board member and Chair of the Curriculum and Quality Committee at West London College. Throughout his career Robin has specialised in the creation of industry inspired learning environments coupled with the successful adoption of digital skills, infrastructure and enterprising environments for learners of all ages.
Malcolm Trotter
Malcolm is an international education professional who works with membership associations, sector, government bodies and private corporations to improve the relevancy and quality of knowledge and skills development. After spending 30+ years in corporate, state and not for profit organisations (mainly focussed on education and training), Malcolm has an extensive understanding of how to create and provide high quality technical and vocational learning to meet the current and future skills needs of organisations and of the individuals themselves.
Malcolm has worked as a Government Inspector of Vocational Training for 10+ years. Since 2001, he has been a member of the Advisory Council of the Small Firms Enterprise Development Initiative, the UK standard setting body for business start-up and business support qualifications and is currently its Chairman. Malcolm is the former International Vice President of two global associations in the accounting sector, having previously been the CEO of both from 2006-2017.
Malcolm is a qualified accountant and his post-graduate development has included being granted Fellowship of the Institute of Travel and Tourism (by thesis) and the award of Certificate of Education (further and adult education). He is also an Honorary Fellow of the Institute of Enterprise and Entrepreneurs.
Professor Tom Mortimer
Alan Lewenden
Natalie Bannister
Ian Partington
Ian is the CEO of Simply Jobs Boards. In 2003, he set up his first job board from a small office in Preston. Since then, thirteen other job boards from a variety of industries have been added to the group, but all with one thing in common – they operate in a niche market. Ian is an expert in recruitment for niche industries, including the legal industry.
Since 2003, Simply Law Jobs has put the jobseeker at the centre of everything they do. By doing so, they attract more highly skilled legal professionals to the site than any other legal niche job board in the UK. With over 156,000* registered jobseekers, Their main focus is to help them find their dream career by connecting them with businesses.
Caroline Spencer-Boulton
Caroline is a Principal Fellow of NALP and holds a Licence to Practice specialising in the field of Criminal Defence. She was granted Licenced Access by the Bar Standards Board in 2017.
In addition, Caroline is a Police Station Accredited Representative. She has 14 years experience working within criminal defence.
In her spare time she enjoys sewing, long walks with her dog and occasional travelling adventures.
