Telisha Matthews: The Advocate Who Midwifes Justice Across Continents

 In the heart of Tottenham, where cultures collide and ambitions rise from modest beginnings, a quiet revolution in legal advocacy was born. Telisha Matthews, a dynamic legal consultant, entrepreneur, and community builder, carries with her the heritage of Guyana and the soul of North London—a combination that has become the foundation for her unapologetically human approach to law. Today, through her work at Shiphrah Legal Services Ltd and the Guided Growth Network, she is redefining what it means to serve, advocate, and build legacy in both the United Kingdom and across the African-Caribbean diaspora.

A Journey Rooted in Justice and Heritage

Telisha’s story is as rich as the Caribbean traditions that shaped her early life. Raised in Tottenham under the strong influence of her mother, a woman who embodied integrity, hard work, and deep cultural pride, Telisha found herself instinctively drawn to spaces of advocacy. As a child, she was bullied, silenced, and at times made invisible. But rather than allow those moments to harden her, they carved within her a profound sense of justice.

Public speaking became her voice, and law, her chosen battlefield. Competitions like the Jack Petchey Speak Out Challenge sharpened her expression, but it was her upbringing infused with Guyanese values and Christian discipline that gave her the moral compass to make a career of standing for others when they couldn’t stand for themselves.

“The law chose me,” she says. “It gave me the power I once lacked, and I now use that power to lift others.”

Shiphrah Legal Services: A Name, A Mission, A Movement

The name Shiphrah is not incidental. It’s deeply spiritual, drawn from the biblical midwife in Exodus who resisted the Pharaoh’s orders and protected innocent lives. That symbolism of standing between injustice and the vulnerable is the entire ethos behind Telisha’s legal consultancy.

Founded with the vision of providing affordable, client-centered legal support, Shiphrah Legal Services Ltd specializes in:

• Employment Law: Navigating unfair dismissal, whistleblowing, and workplace discrimination.

• Housing Law: Addressing homelessness, poor living conditions, and landlord-tenant disputes.

• Commercial Law: Offering contract support and proactive legal strategies for small businesses.

But beyond services, Shiphrah offers something rare: empathy paired with excellence. For SMEs, Telisha simplifies legal processes without sacrificing substance. For workers and tenants, she provides advocacy that affirms their dignity. And for every client, her goal is the same: justice without jargon.

Seeing Both Sides of the Courtroom And Humanity

Having worked with both claimants and respondents, Telisha brings a rare dual-perspective to her advocacy. She understands how institutions think, the risks they calculate, and the policies they cling to. But she also hears the human stories behind every grievance stories of livelihoods lost, rights violated, and confidence shattered.

This insight has made her a strategic and compassionate legal mind, equally adept at negotiating with employers as she is at defending the marginalized. She doesn’t just argue cases; she tells stories, builds context, and crafts legal narratives that resonate with both the letter of the law and the soul of justice.

Entrepreneurship, Empathy & Education for the Next Generation

Telisha is more than a lawyer, she is a builder of ecosystems. Through the Guided Growth Network (CIC), she has created a unique platform for young professionals, especially from underserved communities, to explore the intersection of personal healing and professional development.

Having personally battled confidence issues rooted in early-life experiences, she recognizes how internal struggles can limit external opportunities. The Guided Growth Network offers:

• Networking tailored to diaspora realities

• Workshops on communication and self-advocacy

• Mentorship that connects young people to career pathways in law, finance, and beyond

“Confidence shapes how you walk into a room. Self-esteem changes how you draft your CV. The personal always leaks into the professional,” Telisha says.

Her work in this space is nothing short of prophetic—preparing a generation not only to succeed, but to do so without leaving themselves behind.

Expanding Justice from Tottenham to the Diaspora

As a diasporan woman of Guyanese descent, Telisha’s mission is global. She views the legal challenges facing Black communities in the UK—housing inequities, employment discrimination, broken immigration systems—not in isolation, but as symptoms of a wider, transnational injustice.

Whether in the Caribbean, Africa, or the UK, the common thread she sees is disempowerment rooted in systemic inequality. Her work is to break that thread. Not through lofty rhetoric, but through accessible legal advice, culturally competent service, and relentless community engagement.

“It’s not just about helping someone write a complaint. It’s about helping them believe that they can.”

Leadership the Law Doesn’t Teach You

Law school taught Telisha to think like a lawyer. But it didn’t teach her how to lead, how to listen, or how to balance law with life. Entrepreneurship did.

Running her own firm has revealed the emotional labour of advocacy, the nuance of client trust, and the quiet strength needed to lead with faith in spaces that often reward detachment. She has learned to manage not just cases, but people meeting them where they are and guiding them to where they need to be.

Her leadership is not loud. It is not corporate. It is grounded in service and shaped by Christ.

A Legacy of Empowerment and Eternal Impact

When asked about the future, Telisha is clear: she wants to be remembered not just for legal wins, but for the transformation of lives and communities. Whether through Shiphrah Legal Services or the Guided Growth Network, her mission is consistent empowerment.

Across the African and Caribbean diaspora, she envisions communities that are informed, confident, and equipped. Young people who walk into interviews with purpose. Women who speak up in boardrooms without fear. Tenants who know their rights. Business owners who protect their dreams with contracts.

And through it all, Telisha wants one thing to shine unmistakably:

“At the centre of it all, I want Christ and the love of Christ to be both seen and felt through everything I do.”

 A Bridge Between Worlds

Telisha  Matthews stands as a bridge between law and life, faith and justice, diaspora and homeland. Her story is not just inspirational; it is instructional. She shows us what it looks like when legal excellence meets divine purpose, and when one woman’s conviction becomes a catalyst for change across continents.

In every contract she drafts, every tenant she defends, and every young professional she coaches—she is midwifing justice.

And in that, Telisha is living up to her name.