Allegra Kurer: From Cambridge Tax Lawyer to Challah Mummy—and Back to City Law
Allegra Kurer, now professionally known as Allegra Benitah, has followed an unusually varied career path. The daughter of British broadcaster Vanessa Feltz, she studied law at Cambridge, qualified as a solicitor and worked in corporate tax before stepping away from legal practice after becoming a mother. She later became familiar to television audiences as Challah Mummy, creating elaborate versions of traditional challah bread and appearing on programmes including ITV’s This Morning. Her story did not end with a permanent switch from law to food: current professional records show that Benitah has returned to legal practice and now works in transactional tax in London.
Quick Facts About Allegra Kurer
| Fact | Details |
|---|---|
| Full professional name | Allegra Sybilla Benitah |
| Also known as | Allegra Kurer, Challah Mummy |
| Nationality | British |
| Education | Law at Magdalene College, Cambridge; LPC at the University of Law |
| Profession | Solicitor; previously prominent as a TV chef and challah baker |
| Current legal role | Associate at Latham & Watkins in London |
| Mother | Vanessa Feltz |
| Husband | Dan Benitah |
| Children | Zeke and Neroli |
The Law Society lists her as Allegra Sybilla Benitah, a solicitor admitted in England and Wales in August 2010, while Latham & Watkins lists her as an associate in its London tax practice.
Who Is Allegra Kurer?
Allegra Kurer is the elder daughter of broadcaster and journalist Vanessa Feltz and surgeon Michael Kurer. Contemporary profiles of Feltz have long identified Allegra and her sister Saskia as the couple’s two daughters. Allegra later adopted the surname Benitah following her relationship with Dan Benitah, which is why newer professional and food-related material generally refers to her as Allegra Benitah rather than Allegra Kurer.
Her career is difficult to sum up with a single job title. At different stages she has worked as a tax solicitor, food personality, challah-baking teacher and television guest. More recently, she has re-established herself in international transactional tax law.
Education and the Beginning of Her Legal Career
Benitah studied law at Magdalene College, University of Cambridge. Her current Latham & Watkins biography records an MA in Law from Cambridge in 2007 followed by a Legal Practice Course qualification from the University of Law’s London Moorgate campus in 2008.
Her legal training led to a position at Clifford Chance, one of London’s Magic Circle firms. A 2018 profile in The Jewish Chronicle describes her as having qualified at Clifford Chance and pursued tax law before taking a career break. Her own biography similarly describes five years working as a tax solicitor in London and Paris.
The Law Society’s professional register provides another firm point in the timeline: Benitah was admitted as a solicitor on 16 August 2010.
Why Allegra Benitah Left Law
Her first major career change followed the birth of her son, Zeke, in 2014. Benitah told The Jewish Chronicle that she found it difficult to reconcile the demands of corporate law with the kind of parent she wanted to be, so she decided to take a career pause. She and her husband later had a daughter, Neroli.
That decision eventually opened a path into food rather than another conventional professional role.
A challah-making session at her son’s school became an important starting point. Benitah discovered an enthusiasm for shaping and decorating challah, the enriched braided bread closely associated with Jewish Shabbat and holiday meals. She began experimenting with designs, fillings and colours while baking with her children.
How “Challah Mummy” Began
Benitah developed the name Challah Mummy around her increasingly elaborate bread creations. Instead of limiting herself to traditional braids, she produced challahs shaped as crowns, trees, baskets, vehicles and other designs, often involving her children in choosing the week’s creation.
The project combined cooking with the hands-on parenting style she had embraced after leaving full-time legal work. Her website also connects her cooking with gardening: she grew fruit, vegetables and herbs in a small London garden and incorporated home-grown produce into family recipes.
By 2018, Challah Mummy had moved well beyond a home activity. Benitah was running baking workshops and teaching both children and adults how to shape challah. Hadassah Magazine documented her workshops and creative breads, while The Jewish Chronicle published several of her recipes.
Television Appearances and Food Career
Television gave Allegra Benitah a wider audience. In September 2018, she appeared on ITV’s This Morning to demonstrate sweet, savoury and colourful challah breads. ITV introduced her as Challah Mummy and explained that she had started baking while spending time with her young son.
She subsequently appeared on other British and Irish programmes. A 2020 profile from I Love Cooking lists appearances on Good Morning Britain, James Martin’s Saturday Morning, RTÉ Today and Ireland AM. James Martin’s official food site also carries her recipe for tear-and-share pesto sunflower challah.
Her approach was less about producing conventional bakery products than turning bread into an activity families could make together. Some creations incorporated seasonal fruit, vegetables and herbs, connecting her interests in baking, gardening and children’s food education.
Allegra Kurer’s Return to Law
One of the most important updates to older biographies of Allegra Kurer is that describing her simply as a former lawyer is no longer accurate.
The 2025 Pro Bono Recognition List recorded Allegra Benitah as a solicitor at Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner. Latham & Watkins states that she joined its London office in 2025 and now advises on international transactional tax matters involving finance, corporate transactions and multi-jurisdictional tax planning.
Her current profile also records secondments to Airbus in Toulouse, Barclays Bank and the Paris office of an international law firm. Recent Latham transaction announcements name Benitah among the firm’s tax lawyers, providing further confirmation that her return to commercial legal practice is active rather than honorary.
Her work extends beyond commercial transactions. Latham says she has assisted victims of the Windrush scandal with claims under the Windrush Compensation Scheme. She appears on both the 2025 and 2026 Pro Bono Recognition Lists for England and Wales.
Allegra Kurer Career Timeline
| Period | Milestone |
|---|---|
| 2007 | Completed an MA in Law at Cambridge |
| 2008 | Completed the Legal Practice Course in London |
| 2010 | Admitted as a solicitor in England and Wales |
| 2014 onward | Took a career pause following the birth of her first child |
| 2018 | Challah Mummy gained wider press and television exposure |
| 2018–2020 | Appeared on cooking and daytime television and ran challah workshops |
| 2025 | Recorded at Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner and later joined Latham & Watkins |
| 2026 | Listed by Latham as a London associate specialising in transactional tax |
Allegra Kurer’s Family
Allegra is closely associated with her mother, Vanessa Feltz, but her professional record stands independently of Feltz’s broadcasting career. The Jewish Chronicle reported that Allegra met her husband, Dan Benitah, at a Purim gathering in Rome in 2012. Their son Zeke was born in 2014, and they later welcomed their daughter Neroli.
Food also became part of the family’s shared life. An Irish Times feature followed Allegra, Vanessa Feltz and their family in Ballycotton, County Cork, where Benitah discussed the transition from demanding City tax work to spending more time with her children and developing Challah Mummy.
What Makes Allegra Kurer’s Career Unusual?
The most distinctive part of Allegra Kurer’s biography is not simply that she exchanged law for baking. Her career has effectively moved from law to food and media, and then back to law.
The skills involved are very different: international tax work requires technical legal analysis and knowledge of complex financial transactions, while her Challah Mummy work centred on cooking, teaching and television communication. Yet both careers have become established parts of her professional history.
That also explains why older pages about Allegra Kurer can be misleading. Articles written during her food-media period understandably call her a former tax lawyer. Current Law Society and Latham & Watkins records show that she is once again practising as a solicitor.
FAQs About Allegra Kurer
Who is Allegra Kurer?
Allegra Kurer, now known as Allegra Benitah, is a British solicitor and former TV food personality. She became known as Challah Mummy after leaving corporate tax law and developing creative challah-baking workshops and media appearances.
Is Allegra Kurer Vanessa Feltz’s daughter?
Yes. Allegra is one of Vanessa Feltz’s two daughters from her marriage to surgeon Michael Kurer. Her sister is Saskia Kurer.
Is Allegra Kurer still a lawyer?
Yes. Latham & Watkins currently lists Allegra Benitah as an associate in its London office specialising in transactional tax, and the Law Society lists her as a practising solicitor at the firm.
What is Challah Mummy?
Challah Mummy is the name Benitah used for her creative challah-baking work. She produced decorative and flavoured challahs, taught workshops and appeared on television programmes demonstrating her recipes.
Where did Allegra Kurer study?
She studied law at Magdalene College, Cambridge. Latham & Watkins records her MA in Law from Cambridge in 2007 and her Legal Practice Course qualification in 2008.
Who is Allegra Kurer’s husband?
She is married to Dan Benitah. The couple have two children, Zeke and Neroli.
Conclusion
Allegra Kurer’s biography spans two careers that rarely overlap. After studying law at Cambridge and qualifying as a tax solicitor, she stepped away from City practice, developed Challah Mummy and became a recognised food and television personality. She has since returned to international tax law, and current professional records place Allegra Benitah at Latham & Watkins in London. Her career is therefore best understood not as a permanent move from law into baking, but as an unusual professional journey that has included both.
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