Family
At Blake Morgan, we recognise that family life is diverse and deeply personal and the challenges it poses extend far beyond parental or care responsibilities. Our Family workstream is focused on creating an inclusive environment where colleagues feel supported in balancing their professional career with their lives at home, whatever that may look like.
We take a broad and inclusive view of family, recognising that it extends beyond traditional definitions and includes a wide range of relationships, responsibilities and life experiences. Our approach is centred on raising awareness of the challenges and opportunities which family life can present, while creating a culture where colleagues feel understood, supported and able to thrive.
Through a programme of events, lived experience sharing and collaboration across the firm, we aim to build understanding, reduce stigma and provide meaningful support at key moments in colleagues’ lives.
By fostering openness, empathy and flexibility, we seek to create a workplace where all forms of family life are recognised, valued and supported.
Main areas of focus
Supporting diverse family experiences
We recognise and celebrate the full diversity of family structures, including parenting, caring responsibilities, blended families, non-traditional relationships and “family through the ages”. Our work promotes understanding and inclusion across all aspects of family life.
Work-life balance and support
We support colleagues to balance work and family commitments through inclusive policies, flexible working practices and targeted initiatives. This includes supporting key transitions such as parental leave, caregiving responsibilities and periods of change or challenge.
Awareness, lived experience and connection
We raise awareness through events, webinars and campaigns that centre lived experience, helping to build empathy, reduce isolation and create opportunities for colleagues to connect and learn from each other.
Key contacts
Joanna Corbett-Simmons | Partner | Family Inclusion Champion
Joanna is the Family Inclusion Champion, leading the development of the workstream and driving initiatives that celebrate family diversity and support colleagues in balancing work and home life.
Joanna is passionate about extending the workstream’s focus further than parental and child considerations – whilst acknowledging and recognising their importance – and understanding the challenges faced by our colleagues to consider how Blake Morgan can be as inclusive as possible. The meaning of the word “family” is as diverse as any other aspect of life. Joanna began her tenure by inviting contributions from colleagues on what that diversity looks like at Blake Morgan. As a steering group, they then considered the key themes arising out of the responses received to identify focus areas for the Family Action Plan. the group is keen to not only acknowledge and help accommodate the diversity of family life, but also to celebrate the ways in which we experience family.
Emily Shaw | HR Advisor | Family Group member
Emily is a HR Advisor based in the Southampton Office and is an active member of the Family workstream.
Emily is part of the workstream as she believes that an inclusive firm must recognise and support the full diversity of family lives and caring responsibilities.
From her role in HR, Emily sees how policies can either enable people to thrive or create barriers. Emily aims to contribute to practical improvements – from championing flexible working and parental leave to encouraging people to openly talk about family-related issues.
Emily’s aim in the workstream is to make Blake Morgan feel like a place where everyone, regardless of their family background or caring role, feels valued and supported.
Rupert Graham-Evans | Partner | Family Group member
Rupert is a Partner in the EPBI team specialising in pensions and life assurance trust work. He is a member of the family law group here at Blake Morgan.
Rupert has been a solicitor for over 26 years, having previously worked in accounting for a few years at an international UK law firm in London. During his career, he has worked across London, the South East and Hampshire, gaining experience in different law firms.
Alongside his professional expertise, Rupert brings valuable personal insight into family life. As a father of two daughters and a stepfather to his third daughter, he understands the realities of raising a blended family and has experienced family difficulties like a lot of parents with teenage children. He is also the main source of support for his elderly mother.
Through all this, Rupert has a keen interest in helping the Family Group and colleagues through family-related work and health issues, including mental health issues with teenagers. None of this has a lot to do with pensions law but law is about working with people. Through the development of technology, we have the ability to work on the hybrid model where client and team requirements allow. As a result, family life and working life has been brought closer together, often pulling people in different directions. Rupert believes it is important that colleagues do not feel isolated as they work through these often daily challenges.
Claire Wilde | Senior Associate | Family Group member
Claire is a Senior Associate in the Real Estate team at Blake Morgan’s Cardiff office. Claire is an active member of Blake Morgan’s EDI Family Group workstream.
As part of Equal Parenting Week, Claire participated as a panel member for an Inclusive Companies webinar where she shared her lived experience of being a working parent.
Claire is a parent to one child and is committed to helping shape an inclusive future where those with caring responsibilities are fairly represented.
Stephanie Gavagan | Business Development Manager | Family Group member
Stephanie Gavagan is a Business Development Manager in Blake Morgan’s Business Development and Marketing team and a member of the Family EDI committee.
Stephanie is passionate about ensuring that people can build rewarding careers alongside family commitments.
Having experienced significant family change herself, she understands the importance of working in an environment where colleagues are supported through different life stages and personal circumstances. The flexibility, understanding and support she received from Blake Morgan during periods of change played a key role in her decision to return to the firm in 2025.
As part of the Family EDI Committee, Stephanie brings the perspective of a blended family and also understands some of the challenges that can come with living a long way from wider family support networks, with much of her family based in New Zealand. She is particularly interested in helping create an inclusive culture where colleagues feel able to balance work and family life in a way that works for them.
For Stephanie, family inclusion is about recognising that every family is different and ensuring that everyone feels valued, supported and able to thrive at work.
Partnerships and resources
Kangaroo Coaching – supporting our parental leave and return to work programmes, providing coaching and resources for colleagues and managers navigating key life transitions.
Visit the Kangaroo Coaching website.
