Yetunde Dania
Having qualified as a Lawyer almost 30 years ago, Yetunde Dania specialises in Property Litigation at Trowers & Hamlins. She is a Partner and Head of the firm’s Birmingham office.
Whilst Yetunde is passionate about her area of work, she is also committed to doing all she can to advance the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion agenda, particularly for black people and women.
- Tell us a little bit about your business
Trowers & Hamlins is an international law firm with over 170 partners and more than 1,000 people located across the UK, Middle East and Asia, including dedicated teams focussed on Korea and India.
As a full-service law firm that advises clients locally and across the globe, Trowers & Hamlins are recognised experts in corporate, commercial, dispute resolution and litigation, real estate, social housing, banking and finance, private wealth and employment with specialists in areas such as planning, tax, pensions, IP, energy, environmental, manufacturing, owner-managed business and cyber.
Over the past 240 years, Trowers has held fast to its values and characteristics – such as service, quality, integrity and innovation – that have made it not only a leading law firm, but an inclusive and exciting place to work and establish a career.
- How did you get into the industry?
I have always been passionate about human rights. I undertook my training contract at a leading legal aid firm in Birmingham after a year of being a paralegal in their Housing department.
At that time, I was defending people in relation to claims brought against them by their landlords for possession of their homes, which was very worthwhile work. However, as a result of various twists and turns, I decided that I could still protect people’s rights by representing landlords, and so I now take proceedings against people who, amongst other things, breach their tenancy agreements – for example, in relation to anti-social behaviour and defending claims where tenants allege their landlord has breached their repairing obligations.
I joined Trowers & Hamlins in 2011 to help open our Birmingham office on Colmore Row, at which time there was a team of 14 people. The office has grown significantly over the last 13 years, to a point where we now have a team of over 160 in Birmingham.
- What are the biggest opportunities and challenges in your industry?
It’s a particularly exciting time for the legal profession. Historically, law has been a difficult profession to get into and even more difficult to progress in. Conversations are happening at all levels about how to make the profession more relevant and accessible. After all, everyone is entitled to call upon legal services when they need them and it’s only right that the people providing those services reflect society as a whole.
However, whilst the profession can attract women and talent from diverse communities, there is still lot of evidence to suggest that these groups do not tend to progress into the profession in the numbers they should do and the challenge remains to implement effective changes to address this.
- How would you describe your leadership style?
I am a friendly and open person and so my leadership style is in-keeping with this, in that it is totally authentic. As such, the person I am at work is the person that I am out of work.
I have tried other leadership styles that involved me masking my authentic self. I found the process of trying to be somebody I am not to be exhausting. I really like the Oscar Wilde saying: “Be yourself. Everyone else is already taken.”
- How do you get the most out of the people who work for you?
Long ago in my career I experienced poor leadership together with the unhappiness and pain that such styles inflict.
Through this, I am committed to treating my colleagues and others in the way that I like to be treated – with respect, valuing people’s contribution, being culturally intelligent and being able to empathise. The fact that I’m a people person means that I naturally have these skills. Some call them soft skills, I call them essential skills!
There is plenty of evidence which points to the fact that a significant percentage of workers who voluntarily leave their jobs do so because of poor management, rather than the role itself or the company. As the saying goes, you leave your boss, not your job.
Of course, not everything is plain sailing but, even when times are difficult, people should still be treated respectfully. The fact that I am in a leadership position does not mean that I have the right to use my position in a way that results in anyone feeling totally miserable after they have had an encounter with me. I truly believe that what you put into your relationships is what you will ultimately get out.
- What are the most crucial elements to your business running smoothly and being successful and that everybody performs to the best of their ability?
I believe effective, open communication and collaboration between everyone across the firm are crucial elements for the smooth running of our operations and, ultimately, our success. For example, I rely on others to be able to perform my role well, particularly our Team Assistants and Personal Assistants who assist me with my admin, my colleagues in General Office and Document Production and our cleaners who help to keep my working environment tidy. They do what they do to the best of their ability to enable me to perform to the best of my ability.
- How has the past 12 months been for you?
Busy! My practice area of Property Litigation is extremely active at the moment, not least of all because of issues raised by clients relating to damp and mould.
For the firm more generally however, the past 12 months have been broadly positive for Trowers & Hamlins. It’s been a tough time in terms of the economic climate impacting on client cashflow and their business confidence and we’ve had to respond to that, but as an international firm we have a very diverse client base so have been able to weather the conditions relatively well and have had some notable deals and matters come through the doors.
Bringing over esteemed real estate lawyer Natalie Singh to the partnership earlier this year has been a high point. She is leading up our Banking & Finance offering in Birmingham and it’s exciting for us all to see what she’s bringing to the table.
I’m particularly proud that, in Birmingham, we have been delivering our ‘Growth Through Change’ office campaign, which has so far seen us host two roundtable discussions with business leaders and subject-matter experts around ‘Artificial Intelligence: Threat or Opportunity’ and ‘Empowering Growth through Social Mobility’. The campaign aims to help businesses in the West Midlands navigate a changing economic, social and technological landscape by discussing subjects that can help them evolve their strategy in a way that embraces opportunities whilst securing stability and growth. The local business community is wonderfully positive and energetic, not to mention resilient, and working with colleagues across the region remains a real pleasure – and an education!
We’ve also been busy with our fund-raising efforts! I’m delighted that through a range of fundraising activities, our Birmingham office raised £3,284 for local charity, The Buddy Bag Foundation.
- What will the next 12 months look like for your business?
It’s a funny time for business, with much change in the air, not least of all politically, both at home and abroad, and far from ideal economic headwinds persisting. This sort of change and uncertainty is never welcome by businesses who prefer stability. I expect that to impact somewhat on local business sentiment. We’re also still seeing the ripple effects of the pandemic playing out, but I do think we’re seeing the light at the end of the tunnel on that one.
I strongly suspect though that our Birmingham office will continue to grow over the next 12 months, in line with previous strong performance over the past few years. Excitingly, we will be moving offices by the end of the year which is a really positive move for us and symptomatic of our confidence in and commitment to Birmingham and the West Midlands. We are currently in a building over four floors which is less than ideal for collaboration and a feeling of togetherness. I’m confident that our new home will give us the opportunities to work ever more closely together to the benefit of both our team and our clients.
Looking further afield, Trowers is doing really well on the international stage, and we’re opening a new office in Singapore and investing heavily in our outposts across the Middle East. All of this is good news for our Birmingham office and our Birmingham clients, opening up new doors to markets in fast-moving and dynamic sectors and geographies.
- What are the highlights of your career so far?
It has to be qualifying as a lawyer as I was told this was not possible for someone who looks like me. The other highlight must be being appointed Head of our Birmingham office because, again, there are so few black women in leadership roles within the legal profession – even in a region as diverse as the West Midlands.
This was initially a challenge as I was unsure what contribution I could make, however I have used my platform to inspire others and be as visible as possible so that other black people and women can see that they too can excel.
- What’s the biggest business mistake that you’ve learnt from?
As a Litigator, the majority of my cases are dealt with in the County Court. However, a small amount of the work I do is dealt with at the Magistrates’ Court, which is a completely different world to me!
Very early in my career I had a big case which my then senior partner was particularly interested in and there was a large costs order to submit that would have benefitted the firm I worked for at the time. Whilst at a County Court an application for costs is made after the court has made its decision, I had not appreciated that the request for costs at a Magistrates’ Court had to be made before the bench deliberated its decision. This misunderstanding meant I had to tell my senior partner that a costs order was not made in the firm’s favour. I was fortunate in that, whilst I was distraught, he was very understanding and he said: “You will never forget to do it again though, Yetunde.” And he was right – I never have forgotten!
I learnt from this experience that there’s no such thing as a silly question.
- What’s the best piece of business advice you’ve been given?
I’ve never been a big fan of social media – you will not find me on Facebook for example! However, I believe in the power of networking and, to this end, I discovered the power of LinkedIn later in my career based on a recommendation. Initially, I was not convinced, until I realised that I could engage directly with my network easily and regularly.
Over the last 10 years, I have put a lot of effort into building my profile and personal brand. LinkedIn has provided me with a perfect platform to encourage, support and inspire others as I have progressed in my leadership journey, as well as opening doors to new opportunities to collaborate and work with people who I would not otherwise have met on the traditional networking circuit – so it’s never too late!
