CPD Course Speaker

Technical Executive

Lungi Sepotokele

Lungi trained with PwC in Johannesburg and specialised in external audit of mining companies. She completed part of her training as an academic at Wits University where she completed her Master of Commerce degree. Lungi has worked in external audit in Canada as an audit senior and Ireland as an audit manager.

Outside of her accounting qualifications Lungi is a hobby baker who volunteers by baking for the homeless in Dublin City

ATT - Technical Officer

Helen Thornley

Helen is a technical officer with the Association of Taxation Technicians (ATT) where her role includes looking at the latest changes in tax policy and working with HMRC on developments and improvements to their systems and processes.

Helen’s background is in personal tax, and prior to joining the ATT she worked in the north of England advising family businesses and high net worth individuals. Helen writes for publications including Tax Adviser, AccountingWEB, Accountancy Age and Taxation magazine.

She has appeared on BBC Radio 4's Money Box Live and BBC Radio 5 Live's Wake up to Money in addition to many local radio stations and been quoted in the Financial Times, Times, Telegraph and Guardian. Helen is also a member of the CIOT, ICAEW and STEP (Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners).

Element Law

Kate Lawson

Kate is an experienced employment solicitor, having qualified in 2001. She has been assisting employers and employees with a wide range of employment law and HR issues since qualification. Kate completed her Bachelor of Arts degree in South Africa, at the University of Natal, before obtaining her post-graduate legal qualifications in England at Guildhall University (Post Graduate Diploma in Law with Commendation) and BPP Law School (Diploma in Legal Practice with Distinction). She was admitted as a solicitor in October 2001 following a training contract at Clarkson Wright & Jakes. Kate worked at Cripps in Tunbridge Wells where she served as an Associate Solicitor. She lectured and tutored on the Legal Practice Diploma at BPP Law School on Business Law and Practice and Employment Law, before moving to ThomasMansfield boutique employment firm as Head of their London office, where she was promoted to Partner. Kate has been a Director of Element Law since 2012. Kate focuses solely on employment and HR law and related issues, acting for both businesses and employees, and contentious and non-contentious work. This gives her a useful and balanced insight into the key priorities and objectives from each perspective. The focus of her work is as trusted adviser to SMEs, including a number of professional partnerships and not for profit organisations. Her clients include patent attorneys and national charities. She supports her clients on a day-to-day providing practical, commercial advice on a range of areas from grievance and disciplinary matters to family friendly leave arrangements to business mergers and acquisitions and redundancy consultations to employment tribunal claims. Kate also provides regular practical HR and management training for her clients on a range of topics from 2 to 3 hours introductory level to full day analysis of more complex processes. Kate speaks at events and on podcasts for organisations including at the House of Commons on Menopause and the workplace, and for the Society of Occupational Medicine on Reasonable adjustments and Neurodiversity.