"On a professional level, [volunteering] gives you something else to talk about. It will make you more interesting...You meet a completely different cross section of people, and it’s never a bad thing for a staff member or barrister in chambers to grow your network and connections. You never know where the next piece of work or recommendation is going to come from...!"
Amanda Illing, the CEO of Gatehouse Chambers, talks to us about how volunteering has allowed her to develop key skills and grow her network while supporting causes close to her heart.
At what stage in your life did you first get involved in volunteering work and why?
I caught the volunteering bug from my mum at a really early age – she was a volunteer youth leader in the 1970s in quite a deprived area of Kent, at a time when she also worked full time as a civil servant civilian in the Army. Apart from running a weekly youth club, I have fond memories of the days that she organised taking coach loads of boisterous teenagers out for the day to an army assault course (or boot camp) using her work connections, to get them to run around, get muddy, play with soldiers, work as a team, with me joining in as a much younger but enthusiastic participant. So, I expect that doing voluntary work on top of a busy day job and running a family has always been in my DNA!
What kind of volunteering opportunities have you undertaken, and why did you decide to do this type of volunteering work in particular?
My volunteering experiences have been many and varied over the years, some involving community projects in London and Suffolk (where we live), and others more directly related to my professional life where I have taken part in one-off initiatives, regular commitments to a volunteer rota, or serving on trustee boards. Some examples include:
- cooking meals in a drop-in centre for the homeless in King’s Cross on a Friday night
- doing a weekly shift in a village community-run shop
- being part of a committee trying to save the local pub
- part of the team who triage clients coming to the Waterloo Legal Advice Service
- board member of the Public Law Project
- board member of London Legal Support Trust
In each of these roles I have wanted to ‘get involved’ in causes that I feel strongly about (access to justice, mental health, access to food, access to fun!), and they have all come along quite organically.
What was the most memorable volunteering opportunity you worked on, and why?
At a LLST Halloween Ball my role was to dress up as Little Red Riding Hood, dragging my husband David (Wolfe dressed as the angry wolf) around the room on a lead, whilst being quite persuasive in encouraging people to donate, or I’d set the Wolfe on them. The things you do to raise funds for access to justice….!
Do your Chambers support barristers and professionals who want to do volunteering work?
Absolutely! Luckily for all of us it is part of our chambers DNA too. Our Joint Heads of Chambers (Brie Stevens-Hoare KC and Charles Bagot KC) do an enormous amount of voluntary and mentoring work which sets an amazing example for other colleagues. Now retired Practice Director Deborah Anderson won the first chambers professional award at the Advocate awards, closely followed by Senior Practice Manager Patrick Sarson in a later year, and barrister colleagues Catherine Piercy KC and Joshua Griffin in other categories for pro bono work.
What advice would you give to anyone at the Bar or working in a professional support role with the Bar who is unsure about whether to start doing volunteering work?
Do it. I’m sure I’m a better CEO for being on boards working alongside other professionals and seeing other CEOs and leaders in action. I think you get as much out of it as you put in. Being part of a team working towards a joint goal is enriching for the soul and particularly with the community volunteer roles it keeps it real and keeps me grounded. It can also be lots of fun.
Particularly in the trustee roles, it is good to identify what best role you can undertake to put your time, experience and energy to maximum effect. The best advice is to play to your strengths.
On a professional level, it also gives you something else to talk about. It will make you more interesting, especially if you find small talk a bit challenging. You meet a completely different cross section of people, and it’s never a bad thing for a staff member or barrister in chambers to grow your network and connections. You never know where the next piece of work or recommendation is going to come from…!
What is the most rewarding thing about volunteering work?
Getting involved, using the talents we are privileged to have and making a difference. Mostly though, it is working alongside the other amazing volunteers who you learn from every day.
My mum is still a volunteer, even though she is long retired. She works in the bookshop at Sutton Hoo, and also in a children’s hospice charity shop. Still giving up her time, and using her talents and energy to do good, but the rewards enable her to stay connected to society and give her a sense of meaning and self-worth, which I think we all need. I have a few more years of volunteering to go!
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