Gurminder Kaur Nijjar took a pay cut to qualify as a solicitor, dropping down to the Law Society minimum salary at a high-street firm, but with plenty of prior career experience in practice management and legal ops, it was no time at all before she was working her way back up the ladder. A 10-year stint at Irwin Mitchell saw her rise from risk and compliance solicitor to the head of the firm’s in-house legal team; then, feeling she had no-where else within the firm to go, she took a job at Coventry Building Society where she created its legal ops function.
That role would be short-lived, however, as Irwin Mitchell lured her back in 2022 to take on a new role within the general counsel team (GCT), tasked with making a success of project management, workflow triage and training as well as managing the interface with the firm’s client onboarding, care and resolution teams. Her performance was so strong that she’s now group deputy GC, and was made a partner within nine months of rejoining.
The work never stops in one of Irwin Mitchell’s most complex teams. This year, to name just a few of her commitments, Nijjar will support on new ESG and D&I service lines, look at driving service levels to clients up and work on tech enablement and artificial intelligence: the GCT will act as a guinea pig for the whole firm in testing the use of AI.
With an internal reputation as a stalwart supporter of leaders, a strong leader in her own right and a colleague who never fails to get the job done, the sky’s the limit for Nijjar at Irwin Mitchell.