Angela grew up on a farm in Northumberland and attended Central High School in Newcastle. She started her career in London as a solicitor specialising in Project Finance and Banking, following a law degree at Cambridge University.
After a period in Manchester working in acquisition finance, she spent two years with HM Treasury’s Private Finance Panel. From there she joined global law firm DLA Piper and was instrumental in developing the firm’s EMEA region Project Finance and Banking team.
Following relocation back to the North East from Amsterdam in 2008, she co-founded the Big Society Co-operative, an innovative social enterprise, and established Birling Associates through which she advises SMEs on governance, organisational structure and finance.
She is active in the local community; as a non-executive director of Homes for Northumberland until 2011, a Presiding Justice on the North Northumberland Bench and overseeing legal and commercial issues for Warkworth Harbour Commissioners, the charity which owns and operates Amble harbour. She is a member of Newcastle University’s Council.
