Hibs have law on their side as Jones joins board

This team of directors has now become a six-men-and-a-woman enterprise. Although Jones' speciality is employment law she has not been recruited with a specific target in mind. The Glasgow-born 39-year-old laughs at the notion she has been handed a brief which includes the tying-up of agent Willie McKay in legal mesh. "I think [chairman] Rod Petrie is more than capable of handling Willie McKay himself," she says of the players' agent whose presence has loomed over the club in recent months. Within weeks of being hired by Kevin Thomson and Scott Brown the former had departed for Rangers in acrimonious fashion. Brown remains at Easter Road for now, but, like Thomson, his recently-signed contract is unlikely to be honoured.

Petrie has proved an implacable operator when it comes to agents, bringing his own iron will to bear on dramas involving not just Thomson and Brown, but also Derek Riordan. Jones is an additional weapon in the club's armoury. Even the club's latest signing might have cause to employ Jones' expertise. Thomas Sowunmi's contract wrangle with previous club FC Slovacko has still to be satisfactorily resolved, something which illustrates the difficulties involved in football today. Player movement has become more fluid, but so too has people's interpretation of contracts. The Bosman era is a mine-field, but one Hibs will now be able to pick their way across more carefully.

"Obviously my professional skills I would hope will be useful," says Jones. "I am a fairly well qualified solicitor with considerable experience of contractual matters, especially football. I am familiar with Scottish Premier League and Scottish Football Association rules."

Jones has taken a keen interest in the goings on at a club she has served in a professional capacity on many occasions during the last decade. She is a fan of the Easter Road side having abandoned her Glasgow roots 20 years ago to enrol at Edinburgh University. "I've lost my Glasgow accent, though it comes back when I am in a taxi in Glasgow," she says. A degree in politics was subsequently supplemented by one in law, and so began a successful career where football has featured prominently. Jones represented Kenny Dalglish after his time as Celtic director of football and then manager turned sour. But perhaps her most high-profile case involved the former Hearts footballer Kevin Thomas. Accused by his then club St Johnstone of taking illegal drugs on a night out in Perth, Thomas embarked on a long and complicated campaign to prove he had been unlawfully treated when sacked. Jones was heavily pregnant at the time with the first of her two sons, and recalls making frantic phone calls regarding the case from the old Simpson maternity pavilion. She also recollects with some measure of pride her dramatic effect on SPL procedure. "One of my claims to fame is that I appeared at the only ever SPL committee," she says. "There were provisions where if you got the sack you could take the matter to the SPL committee. It was the only time it ever sat I think. Because the decision went the wrong way they abolished it. I don't think they liked the result very much."

The Thomas case constituted a notable victory for Jones, and landed her in the sports pages again. Prior to that she was involved with Dalglish's fight to win compensation from Celtic in 2000, although that was eventually settled out of court. "Employment affects everyone one way or another," she says. "It's people orientated and technically can be quite demanding. But it's also very interesting having lots of individual clients. I am not the sort of person who could go through piles of leases or anything like that. What attracted me most about going on the board at Hibs is being able to get more involved in the running of a business. As an advisor you might be able to give advice, but it's up to the client whether they take it or not. What I am excited about at Hibs is being part of an organisation. My role is the same as that of any non-executive director - having statutory responsibility to make sure the club is run in a responsible way." With that in mind, a similar role at a certain football club across the city would not have been contemplated. "I don't think I would have needed to think about that," she laughs.

Jones was honoured to be invited to join the Hibs board but refuses to regard it as an envelope-pushing appointment. Hibs boasted a woman on their board in the late Eighties, when Sheila Rowland, wife of David Rowland, was appointed a director. Elsewhere in football it has become a common sight to see a woman in the boardroom. Karen Brady at Birmingham and Delia Smith at Norwich are the often-cited examples, but in Scotland, too, there is Vivien Kyles at Livingston, Helen MacGregor at Gretna and Julija Goncaruk at Hearts. "I would hope I have been brought onto the board on merit, of what I can bring to the board," she says. "There have been plenty of women who have done a lot more before me. Women like football as much as men do."

Jones was first introduced to the game by her uncle, who would take her to junior football matches at Pollock. Later she married her Newcastle United-obsessed husband Gavin and their home in East Lothian proved a handy location for journeys to both St James' Park and Easter Road. "I've always liked football, and that is how I got into sports law in the first place," she explains. "Anyhow, if I wasn't into football I'd have been divorced by now, because Sky is the constant feature of our household. My husband said on Wednesday night, 'who said there's nothing romantic about Valentine's night - the Arsenal game is on'."