Heartbeat: Hello my name is… Davinder Rana
October 28, 2019
Welcome to Head of Legal Services, Davinder Rana.
Davinder has had a varied career as a solicitor for nearly 20 years. Her first role as a qualified solicitor was with the Treasury Solicitors Department in London. This was an interesting role which exposed her to contentious public sector work. Following this, she worked for several different local authorities as an in house solicitor as well as for a number of private practices. Davinder also ran several businesses, two of which were law firms. In 2015, she won the Outstanding Business Woman of the Year award through the Asian Business Chamber of Commerce. The ABCC is part of the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce Group and specialises in supporting the needs of businesses across the West Midlands area.
Davinder said: “To receive such a prestigious award was an amazing accolade which gave me a more solid foundation to continue with my career not only as a lawyer but as a business woman.”
More recently she joined NHS Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health Trust as trust solicitor before her current role with SWB, which she sees as an opportunity to expand on her current skills and knowledge.
As our head of legal services, Davinder manages a legal team of approximately eight staff including the overseas visitors team. Her role is to provide sound legal advice to the Trust. The legal team handle a variety of legal work including clinical negligence, inquests and employers and public liability work: “No one day is the same, it’s very busy, very fast paced and I am enjoying it” she said.
Her vision is to make legal services more innovative and accessible to colleagues. Davinder said: “I am keen to make a real difference by improving and building on the existing services and deliver future strategic changes as the Trust evolves.”
One of Davinder’s aims is to move the department forward by raising the profile of her team and how they can support colleagues. She would like to encourage colleagues to get in touch with the legal team in the early stages of any potential issues, before there is a problem, but maybe there is a concern. Then colleagues can be given support and guidance before it escalates into a more serious incident.
Davinder said: “I am hoping to help staff to be more proactive, to feel comfortable in approaching us. We want to be resident in people’s minds. We want colleagues to understand that we are here to support them, that we are an extension of what they do”.
In her spare time, Davinder likes to keep fit, running, swimming and attending the gym. She also likes to cook, trying out new recipes. In between keeping fit, cooking and looking after her family, she regularly attends networking events, forging new relationships.”