The outgoing World Bank Senior Vice President and General Counsel, Sandie Okoro, tells In-House Perspective about the importance of access to justice, diversity and her work to ensure the Bank leads the charge on tackling racism and inequality head on.

Sandie Okoro always knew she was destined for a career in the law. Although she had her heart set on joining the judiciary, a dismissive remark from a primary schoolteacher that ‘little Black girls from Balham don’t become judges’ was enough to stop her in her tracks.

‘You can imagine as a child my reaction was shock and embarrassment,’ she says. ‘But that was not the only reaction I had. I was also compelled to prove her wrong one way or another and not allow myself to be stereotyped. And that spirit of defiance against the unjust is something I carried from then on.’

And prove her wrong she certainly did. Okoro went on to study law and politics at the University of Birmingham at a time when international outrage against South Africa’s apartheid movement was reaching a fever pitch. This only reinforced her resolve that lawyers could be crucial to the global fight against injustice. ‘I learned about the important role lawyers played in the anti-apartheid movement and the fight for justice,’ she says. ‘I found Nelson Mandela an inspiration as he showed me – and many others – the difference one lawyer can make.’

This spurred her on to qualify as a barrister with a view to eventually become a judge. However, as her pupillage was unpaid, she had no choice but to reassess her career trajectory. She requalified as a solicitor and entered London’s fiercely competitive financial district.  

Okoro was only 25 when she started managing a small trust department at Schroders. With very few senior women on the staff, let alone representation from minority ethnic groups, she admits she found the City’s working environment intimidating at first. However, she soon learned to love the fast pace and spent 16 years at the fund manager before stepping up to the role of global general counsel, first at Barings and later at HSBC.

She credits several male mentors with equipping her with the necessary skills to take on her biggest challenge yet when she joined the World Bank as General Counsel in 2017. ‘In the World Bank, I had to pick up skills fast and implement them in the area of international development that was quite new to me,’ she says. ‘What I realised when I started as General Counsel in the Bank was that the most essential skillset that I needed was not technical in nature but leadership skills. Experiences in the City perfectly prepared me for all this.'

Okoro leads the Bank’s legal team, which comprises close to 200 lawyers and professional support staff from around the world, and she also has responsibility for the Bank’s Vice-Presidency for Compliance. As you might expect given the organisation’s broad geographical reach, the legal department’s remit is impressively wide-ranging: from legal and policy issues related to development, lending, operations and bond issuance to handling all manner of corporate finance, institutional administration, data privacy, justice reform and private sector development issues.

From eradicating poverty to tackling racism

Okoro says the Bank’s global mission to eliminate poverty and boost shared prosperity is at the heart of all the work her team handles. ‘No matter what issue comes my way, I am always aware that in giving the advice we give at the Bank, the voice of the vulnerable and the poor are not forgotten,’ she explains.

This desire to uphold the rights of the marginalised has been a strong theme throughout Okoro’s time at the Bank and she has played an instrumental role in promoting the organisation’s commitment to the rule of law and access to justice. She highlights the Bank’s Task Force on Access to Justice and Technology, which was established in 2019 and brings together global experts to discuss ways that technology can help bridge the digital divide. Her team was also heavily involved in the launch of the organisation’s ‘Empowering Women by Balancing the Law’ initiative, which focuses on eradicating legal gender inequity across pilot countries.

The pandemic exacerbated concerns around access to justice in developing nations and Okoro says women, the poor and other vulnerable groups continue to bear the brunt of the impact. It was this recognition that prompted the Legal Vice Presidency in 2020 to host and coordinate a new Global Compact and Forum on UN Social Development Goal (SDG) 16, which connected law societies worldwide to ensure the voices of lawyers in developing countries wouldn’t go unheard.   

The death of George Floyd in May 2020 provoked mass anti-racism protests worldwide and forced many organisations to reassess whether they were doing enough to tackle racism and discrimination in the workplace. Okoro was tasked by World Bank President David Malpass with establishing and chairing an institution-wide Anti-Racism Task Force to do just that and to feed recommendations back to senior management.

Okoro says it was an opportune time to examine how the Bank itself could invoke change to combat racial discrimination, both internally across its organisation and externally through its programmes and in the communities where it operates. ‘I was delighted to take up this task, as the topic has always been close to my heart,’ she says. ‘Sadly, I have experienced racial abuse quite a few times throughout my life and always felt I need to step up against this pernicious practice in a meaningful manner. The World Bank Group’s Anti-Racism Task Force has the potential to change our workplace as well as Bank operations and our communities for the better and we already see some developments in the right direction.’

The Task Force issued 80 recommendations, including a landmark Anti-Racism Charter which established six principles that make the Bank’s zero-tolerance to racism crystal clear. Officially launched in November, Okoro says the Charter is one of her proudest achievements during her time at the Bank and succeeded in bringing discussions of race and racial equity front and centre, ensuring that racism has ‘no place in our institution, operations, and the countries we serve’.

Okoro also hopes it will provide a benchmark for other organisations to follow. ‘As far as we could establish, the World Bank Group is the first multilateral institution to issue a document of this nature,’ she says. ‘I just hope the Charter will inspire other organisations to craft a similar document and make a commitment to end racism within the workplace as well.’

Equality and empowerment

Okoro and her team have faced numerous challenges over the past five years, not least the crucial task of ensuring the Bank could continue to develop and support programmes in more than 100 countries worldwide even in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic.  

However, she says, strictly speaking some of her most gratifying work on improving the organisation’s working culture falls outside her job description as General Counsel. ‘Empowering women, mentoring others, putting diversity and inclusion front and centre are what exuberate me,’ she says. ‘We are at the World Bank to make a difference in people’s lives, so why not sweep our own porch first?! We cannot attain our twin goals of eradicating poverty and boosting shared prosperity if we have a workplace where women do not have equal treatment and opportunities, where racism and racial discrimination are pervasive, and talent is undervalued or not valued at all.’

Promoting diversity and inclusion across the organisation has been a central focus and Okoro is in no doubt that the legal team can lead by example. ‘That is why we, in the Legal Vice Presidency, have created initiatives such as the Legal Internship Program to draw fresh talent […] at the most junior stages, straight from law school,’ she says. ‘Nurturing such talent – not only interns but more senior colleagues as well – is crucial too. Our mentoring and coaching programmes provide an excellent opportunity for both mentors and mentees to grow, fuel careers, and broaden horizons.’

Having benefited from mentoring so much throughout the early part of her own career, Okoro knows just how valuable these experiences can be for younger lawyers. ‘Sometimes even a brief mentoring session can go a long way and aid in someone’s career development,’ she says. ‘As I’ve said before, as you achieve success, it is important to let down the ladder.’

As the first black woman to hold her position, Okoro knows she’s a role model for the legal sector and has a responsibility to speak up on gender issues. ‘I am very active and vocal on matters related to gender-based violence, female genital mutilation, women’s economic empowerment, education, and other areas that are critical to girls and women’s ability to build the foundations for a life full of opportunities,’ she says.

As well as advocating for gender equality across the organisation, Okoro says it’s important to keep having these conversations with external partners as well. ‘While the Bank, due to our mandate, cannot direct governments to address gender-based violence, we can always encourage them as partners to do so. They should – and a lot of them do – realise that violence against women is ultimately not just a women’s issue, but a man’s issue too.’

Legal legacy

As she prepares to move on to a new role at financial services company Standard Chartered in April, Okoro says she will look back fondly on her time at the Bank. ‘As Senior Vice President and General Counsel, I am particularly proud of having helped the Bank posit an enhanced focus on legal risks and navigate a complex landscape in relation to the privileges and immunities of international organisations,’ she says.

‘I was delighted to contribute to key initiatives such as Inspection Panel reforms, the Bank Group’s Privacy Policy, ESF [Environmental and Social Framework] Rollout, the FCV [Fragility, conflict, and violence] Policy, and the inaugural IDA [International Development Association] Bond issuance. Championing women’s empowerment, gender equality, and diversity as well as addressing issues of sexual harassment to ensure a safer working environment for staff have been unique opportunities that I would not have traded off either.’

Okoro will be based in the UK for her next role, but says the relationships she’s established with colleagues at the Bank and its partners will stay with her. ‘What I am, however, probably the proudest of is mentoring and providing opportunities for so many colleagues, both lawyers and non-lawyers, and building friendships throughout the past five years,’ she says. ‘I will always call Washington my second home and will be keen to visit and, who knows, perhaps, return someday.’