ENTERPRISING WOMEN MEHMOODA DUKE MBE DL


‘You all have your freemasons and rotary clubs, and clearly these business club networking events are also male- orientated, so why can’t we have something?’


Jean Mountain on setting up the Enterprising Women network


Mehmooda Duke MBE DL was in the second year of her training contract as a solicitor when she walked past the car park space reserved for the owner of her London law firm Capsticks and made a promise to herself. “I didn’t know how I was going to get


there but I told myself that I’d be a senior partner of a law firm one day,” she recalls. “Everyone needs someone to be


inspired by and the owner of that firm, Brian Capstick, was probably mine because I wanted to be like him.”


Blackburn native Mehmooda’s


journey would take her to several cities and law firms as she defended doctors in clinical negligence cases before deciding to take the plunge once she landed in Leicester. She handed in her notice at her job in


February 2003 and, in May, set up Moosa-Duke Solicitors – which includes her maiden name to honour her father, who encouraged her to be a lawyer and loaned her £35,000 to get started in business. She ran it out of a one-bedroom flat in London Road and, with no local contacts, relied on word of mouth from people she had met along the way to get work. Crossing the divide from defending to suing doctors gave her a USP of


understanding both sides of clinical negligence, which helped her gradually build a reputation. The client list grew too and despite initial plans to have a team of about four


people, Mehmooda is now CEO of a firm with 15 based in a larger office in De Montfort Street. “The message I’d always give is to do a good job and get known for the quality of


your work, the rest will follow,” she says. External recognition soon followed as Mehmooda, a founding executive board


member of the Society of Clinical Injury Lawyers, became the Leicestershire Law Society’s first female Asian president in its then 155-year history in 2017 – the same year she was named the Business Woman of the Year at the Leicester Mercury Women in Business Awards.


‘A very diverse board is a healthy board, and I’m really passionate about women having the conviction to take that step and not be put off if they don’t fulfil all the criteria of being a board member’


“Given the demography of Leicester, it was incredibly important that an Asian


woman was recognised in public office so I felt a responsibility to accept the role,” she says. “I used it as an opportunity to actively seek out other women who I thought would


be good people to follow in my footsteps.” Mehmooda received an MBE for services to the legal profession and female


entrepreneurship in the 2019 New Year Honour’s list – an award she admits “blew her away” – and is also a Deputy Lieutenant for the city of Leicester. It was through law society contacts that she got involved with Leicestershire County


Cricket Club and, after initially taking up advisory and board director roles, she was appointed the first female chair in the history of English and Welsh county cricket in 2019. While admittedly a latecomer to the sport, Mehmooda has brought her business


experience to the voluntary role in financially restructuring the club, driving a vision to build an academy that can produce future England players and navigating the devastating impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. She says: “I don’t have a cricket background, which surprises some people, but my


answer is I’m not there to play cricket – I’m there to bring business skills, strategy and leadership. “A very diverse board is a healthy board, and I’m really passionate about women


having the conviction to take that step and not be put off if they don’t fulfil all the criteria of being a board member because they can learn about the environment.” Having come so much further than she probably could have imagined as a trainee


solicitor, what would Mehmooda tell her younger self now? “I’d say to be prepared for a lot of hard work and responsibility, but it’ll be a lot of


Eileen Richards MBE and Jean Mountain, co-chairs of Enterprising Women


fun along the way and a wonderful privilege to meet some amazing people,” she adds. “But my message to other people is that if you have a dream or aspiration, don’t ever think it’s too big to achieve because if you set your mind to it, it’s doable.”


business network March 2021 61


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