Sue has spent more than a decade advising a wide range of businesses, organizations and high-profile individuals. Specialising in reputation, crises and issues management counsel, her clients include many household names. The issues and legal cases she handles are frequently in the news, such as her campaign to free Sally Clark. A second edition of her book, Media Relations for Lawyers, published by the Law Society is the only text on the topic.

As the only practising solicitor, with a background in television production, specialising in reputation management and litigation communications in the UK, she regularly broadcasts, lectures and writes and provides media and presentation skills coaching to her clients. Her first career was with BBC Television. She then spent 20 years as a solicitor, including a period as partner heading a department, with management and marketing responsibilities in her law firm.

Sue helped establish the Social Democratic Party and stood as a Parliamentary candidate, chaired a national campaign and then headed the Law Society’s communications, acting as the organization’s spokesperson, mounting public information campaigns, working on over 70 pieces of legislation and representing the interests of the 100,000 solicitors in England and Wales.

She was a board director of an award-winning leading corporate communications consultancy before establishing her own company eight years ago (www.suestapely.com). She also regularly works with leading strategic communications consultancy, Quiller (www.quillerconsultants.com).

Sue read English at Cambridge, law at Kingston and then studied at the College of Law. She is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations and of the Royal Society for the Arts. Sue was a co-founder of the Solicitors Pro Bono Group (now LawWorks), has a number of non-executive appointments and is a Trustee of the Media Standards Trust, the London Academy of Music & Dramatic Art and Brighton Festival.