Wake Smith private client solicitor wins Women In Law award

11th March 2026

Exceptional expertise, unwavering integrity, and a profound impact in her field has secured Wake Smith Solicitors’ Stephanie Chung the Women in Law award at the Yorkshire Business Woman Awards 2026.

Exceptional expertise, unwavering integrity, and a profound impact in her field has secured Wake Smith Solicitors’ Stephanie Chung the Women in Law award at the Yorkshire Business Woman Awards 2026. 

Private client director Steph, who joined the Wake Smith team in January 2022 and became a director in May 2025, was honoured at the awards in Leeds on International Women’s Day.
 
The awards recognised the amazing women working in the region across all sectors with Steph also shortlisted for the Equality & Diversity award.

Steph said:

“I am truly humbled to receive this award on International Women’s Day.

“Success is never a solo act—it’s a relay race. This recognition belongs to the exceptional Private Client team at Wake Smith Solicitors. To my colleagues: thank you for your brilliance, your dedication to our clients, and for being the kind of teammates who make the "hard days" feel like shared victories.

“In the legal profession, we often talk about "raising the bar." But to me, this award is about something more important: raising each other. It belongs to every woman who has quietly lifted another—who has straightened a crown without announcing it was crooked. It’s for the mentors who saw potential before I did, and the peers who remind me why we do this work.

“When women support women, remarkable things happen.” 

Liz Shaw, co-managing director at Wake Smith Solicitors said:

“I am delighted and so proud of Steph as a fellow woman in law. She is an inspiration to all her colleagues here at Wake Smith and the wider Sheffield community and is a worthy winner of this accolade.”

Steph’s exceptional work is highlighted particularly in her skills providing culturally sensitive legal advice within the Chinese community across several locations including Sheffield, Doncaster and Chesterfield, as she is one of the few Cantonese-speaking Private Client Solicitors in the region.

She is the first choice of hundreds of families and individuals looking for wills, trusts and estate management advice every year through her expertise, knowledge, personable and empathetic nature around sensitive issues, and hard work.

Alongside her day to day role advising on private client matters, Steph is responsible for pushing the firm’s drive to attract business from the ever expanding Cantonese-speaking Chinese community in Sheffield and South Yorkshire and is co-founder of Chnagine Seasons an initiative in South Yorkshire to hep bring together members of the Chines and South Asian community.

For further advice on private client matters contact Stephanie Chung, director of private client at Wake Smith Solicitors on 0114 224 2114 or email stephanie.chung@wake-smith.com