Details
One in three women and one in five men experience domestic abuse. It will be happening to people in your firm, impacting their safety and ability to perform at their best. Do you know how to spot the signs, how to respond, and the support available? Does your firm have a domestic abuse policy? What do you do if you have a perpetrator of domestic abuse in your midst?
In this session, we will explain the prevalence and scope of domestic abuse, as well as the practical steps employers are taking to support their people, keeping them safe and in work.
Our panel will comprise:
• Susan Bright, CEO, EIDA
• Lorna Gavin, Founder, Chapter Consulting
• Sharon Livermore, Founder, Domestic Abuse Education
• Richard Martin, CEO, Mindful Business Charter
About our panel
Susan Bright
Susan joined EIDA as CEO in 2022. EIDA is a charity with a member network of over 2,000 employers across the UK who are committed to providing effective support for their employees impacted by domestic abuse.
Previously Susan was a partner for more than twenty years at global law firm, Hogan Lovells. She held a number of senior leadership positions, including as a member of the firm’s global executive and Managing Partner for the UK and Africa. Susan has been committed to tackling domestic abuse for many years and led the firm’s introduction of its domestic abuse policy. Hogan Lovells became one of EIDA’s early Beacon members.
Susan is also Chair of 50:50, a charity which helps women to progress in politics and was a non-executive Director of MindForward Alliance, a network of businesses working together to support and create positive mental health for their people.
Lorna Gavin
Lorna Gavin is the founder of Chapter Consulting and an equality, diversity, inclusion (EDI) and corporate responsibility (CR) expert with over 17 years of experience. Prior to founding Chapter Consulting, Lorna worked for 30 years at international law firm Gowling WLG including 14 years practising as a corporate lawyer/partner.
As head of diversity, inclusion & corporate responsibility at Gowling WLG, Lorna created and led multi award winning pro bono, volunteering & charitable giving, diversity & inclusion and wellbeing programmes. Accomplishments include establishing and supporting five employee networks; introducing a domestic abuse awareness and support programme; introducing mental health leadership training and reverse mentoring for board members; driving the changes necessary to increase female representation in the partnership from 18% to 30%; and overseeing a work placement programme for over 150 people who had experienced homelessness and other barriers to employment. Lorna has advised a wide range of businesses as well as charities including Oxfam, British Red Cross, NSPCC, RNIB and the Big Issue Foundation.
Lorna is a member of the Advisory Council of EIDA.
Sharon Livermore
As a survivor of domestic abuse, Sharon Livermore MBE founded Domestic Abuse Education to turn personal experience into meaningful change. Recognising her workplace as the only safe space during her ordeal, she now works with organisations across the UK to increase understanding of domestic abuse and how to support affected employees.
Sharon is also the co-creator and driving force behind “Sharon’s Policy,” a free domestic abuse policy template, accompanied by guidance notes. Her mission is to ensure that all businesses across the UK implement a domestic abuse policy and have appropriate training, to provide meaningful support to those in need.
Richard Martin
Richard is the CEO of the Mindful Business Charter, a global cross business initiative to reduce the stress we experience at work and which is a key cause of workplace mental illness. He is also a principal consultant at workplace consultancy Byrne Dean and is on the IBA Wellbeing Commission.
He formerly chaired the steering committee of the Lord Mayor of London’s This is Me campaign which uses storytelling to break down the stigma associated with mental illness. He is a qualified coach and mental health first aid instructor. His first career was in law, becoming a senior employment law partner before mental breakdown in 2011 left him in hospital for a month and unable to work for two years.
His experience of breakdown and recovery is the subject of his memoir, This Too Will Pass – Anxiety in a professional world, published in 2018. He is a father of three grown up children and splits his time between London and rural France.
Date & Time
Thu, 30th April 2026
09:00 – 10:45
Location
McDermott, Will & Schulte
22 Bishopsgate
EC2N 4BQ
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