
Lawyers Are Special, But Not That Special: Selene Brett at PPRO on Influence, Empathy and Making It Count
Selene Brett, Chief Legal, Risk and Compliance Officer at PPRO, joins Scott Brown to share thoughtful lessons on legal leadership, humility, and how lawyers can add real value without hiding behind the mystique of the profession.
In this episode of Lessons I Learned in Law, Selene reflects on her role at PPRO, a payments platform helping merchants and payment service providers connect to local payment methods around the world. With a broad remit spanning legal, risk, compliance, outsourcing and internal audit, she discusses what drew her to a business where those functions are seen as strategic enablers rather than the “business prevention unit”.
Her first lesson is that lawyers are special, but not that special. Selene challenges the idea that legal teams should sit above the business as guardians of all good judgement. Instead, she argues lawyers earn their seat at the table by being approachable, constructive and genuinely useful.
Her second lesson is to make it count. Senior legal roles come with influence, access and privilege — and Selene believes that creates a responsibility to use that position well, whether through difficult conversations, mentoring, or helping others find routes into the profession.
Finally, she talks about gathering the nuggets: taking something meaningful from every role, every relationship and every experience, even the difficult ones. From rural Norfolk to Harvard, New York and senior in-house leadership, Selene’s story is a reminder that careers rarely move in straight lines — and that empathy, trust and agency matter just as much as technical skill.
This episode is brought to you in partnership with Wordsmith AI — the legal AI platform built specifically for in-house teams.
Guest Recommendations
- Sauce of choice for chicken nuggets: Blue cheese
- Event recommendation: Heriot Brown’s Charity Burns Night
Resources & Links Mentioned in This Episode
- Register your interest in joining The Lodge In-house Legal Community: https://bit.ly/TheLodgebyHB
- Heriot Brown: https://heriotbrown.com/
- Wordsmith AI: https://www.wordsmith.ai/
- Legal Engineering Project Application form: https://wordsmith.fillout.com/legalengproject
Listen to the Podcast
- Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/
- Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/4
- YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/
Connect with Heriot Brown
About Heriot Brown:
At Heriot Brown, we help lawyers find fulfilment in their careers. Beyond recruitment, we foster a thriving community of in-house legal professionals who share insights, experiences, and growth opportunities.
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