Glynis returns to serve the University of Leicester 40 years after graduation

A successful business leader has returned to the University of Leicester after 40 years to help steer the institution’s future direction.

Glynis Wright MBE, who originally graduated from the University’s English and Philosophy course in 1984, has joined the institution’s Council as a lay member.

Glynis gave up a career in economic development within local government to retrain for the legal profession. She went on to become a well-known lawyer and businesswoman running her own specialist family law firm for over 10 years which she sold in 2023. Over this time, Glynis also gave her time to encouraging other women to run their own businesses for which she received an MBE for Services to Female Entrepreneurship. In more recent times Glynis has also committed her pro bono time to supporting young entrepreneurs and those from less privileged backgrounds to start up their own businesses acting as a Mentor for the Company of Entrepreneurs in London and within the University of Leicester Business School.

Glynis said: “I am deeply honoured to have been appointed to the Council of the University of Leicester. Since I graduated from the University in 1984, I have seen the institution go from strength to strength – the expansion of its beautiful estate, its cutting-edge research in space, science, innovation and technology and the diversity of its academic and student population locally and internationally, all of which create a vibrant and dynamic backdrop to learning.

“I also feel deep gratitude to the University for being so influential in encouraging within me an independence of thought in my early years that later became the building bricks of an exciting, successful and fulfilling career path.

“I am so looking forward to working with the other Council members to do all that I can to further the interests of such an excellent University and its students.”

Gary Dixon, Chair of Council, said: “It is a pleasure to welcome Glynis to Council, who, as a proud University of Leicester alumna, is most definitely one of our own.

“She brings with her a wealth of experience as a business founder and lawyer but is also well known for the extensive pro bono work she has undertaken within the Leicestershire community spanning education, business, charity and economic development. This makes her the perfect choice for Council as a true Citizen of Change.”

Aged 40, Glynis embarked on a Post Graduate Diploma in Law at De Montfort University and then went on to the Legal Practices Course where she achieved multiple distinctions and the highest grades across three campuses, for which she was awarded the special status of Student of the Year from the Law Society.

Leicester firm Frisby & Small then offered her a training contract. Within two years of qualifying as a solicitor she was rapidly promoted to partner level, heading up the family law department. After a further three years, Glynis took another major risk in her career by resigning from her partnership to set up her own law firm: Glynis Wright & Co Family Solicitors and Mediators.

Her firm grew rapidly and went on to win multiple awards including Law Firm of the Year in the Leicestershire Law Society Awards, Law Firm of the Year in the national Law Society Excellence Awards, and Team of the Year in the East Midlands Chambers Women’s Awards.

Glynis also received personal recognition and was awarded Entrepreneurial Female Leader of the Year in the East Midlands Women’s Awards and Highly Commended Woman Lawyer of the Year in the national Law Society Excellence Awards, making her an inspirational and well-known female role model in the fields of law and business alike.

After 10 years of running the law firm, Glynis successfully sold the shares in her company to East Midlands-based law firm Nelsons LLP in 2020. On that same day, she received notification from the Cabinet Office that she was named in the Queen’s New Year Honours List and was awarded an MBE for services to female entrepreneurship.

In July 2023 Glynis was admitted as a Freeman to the Company of Entrepreneurs at the Merchant Taylors’ Hall, in London which will allow her to contribute to its philanthropic objectives of helping those from less privileged backgrounds to consider entrepreneurship.

Glynis is also known for her extensive pro bono work within the community including Pulled Both Ways, a film project conceived by Glynis and local charity Soft Touch Arts which seeks to raise awareness of the impact of hostile divorces on children. She is a passionate supporter of local Charity Alex’s Wish for whom she has been a trustee for the past six years having just undertaken a Wing Walk Challenge to raise funds for the Charity. She has also given pro bono talks and lectures to law and business students at boththe University of Leicester and De Montfort University, and has run numerous seminars and talks, focussing on female empowerment to encourage more women to run their own businesses.

Glynis was president of the Leicestershire Law Society from July 2019 to September 2020, having previously served on the Society’s Executive Committee for five years. In 2021, Glynis was elected to Chair of the Advisory Board to the Faculties of Business and Law at De Montfort University which she held until January 2024 and in September 2022 she was elected to the board of the Leicester and Leicestershire Enterprise Partnership (LLEP).

In 2023, Glynis took the decision to leave her Partnership at Nelsons LLP in order to once again run her own business, launching The Alternative Divorce Company on 1 May 2024 which provides specialist coaching and other services to those facing breakup and divorce. In 2023 Glynis was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from the University of Leicester in recognition for her services to law and business. In 2024, Glynis received the Freedom of the City of London.

The Council is the University’s supreme governing body. Council is responsible for taking all final decisions on matters of fundamental concern to the institution, including the University’s academic mission and strategic direction. It is responsible for ensuring that the systems, structures, procedures and rules for the running of the University are fit for purpose, that the University is being managed effectively, and that its legal obligations are being met.