Pioneering City in-house practitioner Dr Sandra (Sandie) Okoro is one of a handful of solicitors to appear on the New Year honours list. The group general counsel at Standard Chartered and former vice president and general counsel at the World Bank receives the OBE for services to diversity in international finance.

Okoro, admitted in 1991, has also served as global general counsel at HSBC’s retail banking and wealth management division.

Another high profile woman solicitor, former DLA board chair Janet Legrand KC (hon) also receives the OBE, for her work at the Children’s Society. Legrand, admitted in 1983, was the Law Society's woman lawyer of the year in 2018. She is currently chair of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution. 

Of the 1,200 awards named at the weekend, the most senior award to a solicitor goes to Mark Austin, a corporate partner with City firm Latham & Watkins, who receives the CBE for services to the economy. Austin advised the government on the UK Listing Review and in 2021 served as the independent chair of the UK Secondary Capital Raising Review. 

Sokoro

Okoro received the OBE for services to diversity in international finance

The legal profession's only knighthood goes to a barrister: Max Hill KC, former director of public prosecutions, becomes a knight of the bath. 

Another barrister, Simon Regis, deputy director at the Government Legal Department, receivews the CBE for services to legislation. 

Meanwhile, barrister Dr Tunde Okewale MBE, receives the OBE for services to criminal justice and social mobility.

Elsewhere in the justice sector, two officials at HM Courts & Tribunals Service receive the CBE for public and voluntary service. They are Louise Elizabeth Alexander, human resources director and trustee, Rowland Hill Fund, and Paul Harris, deputy chief executive officer and operations director.

Meanwhile Timothy Jenkins, former district judge, Brentford County Court, receives the OBE or services to the administration of justice. Louise Van Der Straeten, senior lawyer, Serious Fraud Office, also receives the OBE for services to the administration of justice.

Solicitor Wayne Griffiths, a former president of Pontypridd and Rhondda Local Law Society, has been awarded a BEM for services to fundraising for cancer care and cancer research. 

Among the MBEs, James St John Fenny, head of office, Public Defender Service and transplant surgery ambassador, is honoured for services to criminal justice and to organ donor awareness.