What does it look like to build a legal function inside a business driven by both growth and purpose? In this Igniting the Spark interview, Kate Sherburn, Head of Legal at Who Gives A Crap, shares her experience of doing exactly that. From navigating rapid expansion to supporting a mission-led brand, she talks about the role legal can play in helping a business move forward with clarity and confidence.
Your What & Why?
Q1. Briefly, what does your business do, and what is the purpose?
Who Gives A Crap makes sustainable personal care products like toilet paper, tissues, and paper towels, from bamboo and recycled materials. We are a certified B Corp, and we donate 50% of our profits to charity partners working to ensure everyone on earth has access to a toilet and clean water. At its heart, we exist to prove that doing business ethically and doing it well aren’t mutually exclusive.
Your Spark
Q2. What attracted you to join the business?
I’d spent years working in more traditional legal environments, and while I liked what I did, I kept thinking about purpose. There’s only so long you can do something without feeling truly connected to the “why” behind it. When Who Gives A Crap came along, it felt like everything was clicking into place. The legal challenges were genuinely interesting, scaling a global consumer goods brand is complex and fast-moving, but more than that, I was already a customer, and it was a company I could get behind wholeheartedly. The mission is real, the people care deeply, and every day I can connect the work I do to something that actually matters.
Hardest Challenge?
Q3. What’s been the toughest challenge you’ve faced so far?
Building a legal function from scratch in a very fast-moving environment! When I joined, I was the first lawyer. I had to figure out what we needed, how to prioritise it, what to build out and when, and how to show up as a genuine partner to a team that had largely been operating without dedicated legal support. There’s no roadmap for that. You have to be comfortable with ambiguity, make decisions with imperfect information, and earn trust across the business quickly. You also have to resist the temptation to try to do everything at once! It’s been hard, but it’s also one of the most energising parts of the role.
Q4. What advice would you give to other inhouse counsel / other heads of legal in a similar role to you?
Stop thinking of yourself as just a trusted advisor and start showing up as a business partner. Our job isn’t to block things; it’s to help the business move forward safely and confidently. Get genuinely curious about the commercial side of the business, understand what your colleagues are actually trying to achieve, and frame your advice in that context.
The Highlight
Q5. What achievement are you most proud of? Why?
This is less an achievement but more something that showed the importance of what we do. In 2022, I travelled to Bolivia to meet with one of our impact partners. As part of this, we went out into the field with them and saw the genuine impact that their work had had on the lives of people. We met a family who had been embarrassed to have people in their home, but once they had built a bathroom, their favourite thing was to invite their family and friends over. That trip was a truly life-changing experience, and it felt pretty amazing to know that the work we were doing had played a part in that.
One Piece of Wisdom
Q6. What one piece of advice would you share with your younger self if you were doing it all again?
Back yourself earlier. I spent a lot of time in my early career waiting until I felt ready, second-guessing my instincts or deferring to others even when I had a strong view of my own. The truth is you’re rarely fully ready, and that’s completely fine. Take the leap, ask for the things you want, and trust that you’ll figure it out as you go. The discomfort is usually where the growth happens.
Ignition Journey
Q7. What led you to work with Ignition Law?
We were scaling our presence in the UK and didn’t have a team on the ground there. We needed a firm that understood not only the UK landscape but also understood our scrappy startup mentality. We needed them to work collaboratively with a small, globally distributed team. Ignition came highly recommended, and from the first conversation, it was clear they got it. They understood what we needed, they weren’t going to overcomplicate things, and they were genuinely enthusiastic about working with a company like ours.
Legal Support
Q8. How did Ignition support you through this, and what difference did we make?
Ignition helped us get the right foundations in place in the UK, particularly around employment matters and our ESOP, without overcomplicating things. That meant we could focus on scaling with confidence rather than worrying about what we might be getting wrong. That made a real difference to how quickly we could move.
The Experience
Q9. What do you value most about working with Team Ignition?
They understand our business, our values, and they give us straight, practical advice without the fluff. It’s not just about the technical expertise; it’s about knowing you’re working with people who get you and want you to succeed.
Keeping Motivated Beyond Work
Q10. What keeps your spark alive, inside or outside of work?
Working somewhere with a real mission is genuinely motivating in a way I didn’t fully appreciate until I had it. When the work connects to something bigger, even on the hard days, you remember why it matters. My kids do the same thing. There’s nothing like them for cutting through the noise and reminding you what actually counts.
Sharing Knowledge
Q11. What book, video, Ted Talk, quote or single piece of advice can you share with our SME Community?
“Whatever you are meant to do, do it now. The conditions are always impossible.” Doris Lessing.
I follow this quote in pretty much everything I do. There will never be a perfect time, a perfect set of circumstances, or a moment when the risk feels zero. If you wait for that, you’ll wait forever.
