Professional Experience:
I am a lawyer with more than 11 years post qualification experience. I have worked as a senior lawyer for the UK government for 6 years. I've advised extensively on court and tribunal reform, as well as changes to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974, and commercial and procurement law. I have significant experience in all areas of government work, including legislative drafting, litigation, the Parliamentary process and the provision of advice to Ministers.
In addition to advising the Department on policy and operational issues, I spent year leading a project on efficiencies in legal services, which involved analysis of the litigation practices of the prison services in particular, and resulted in £7.5 million savings.
I have provided training to lawyers and non-lawyers across the UK in areas such as judicial review, tribunals reform, and general public law. I also provided training to the Macedonian judiciary on UK administrative law.
I recently set up my own consultancy business advising on legal services and justice sector issues. My first assignment was to travel to Rwanda to advise a charity on justice sector capacity building.
I am a Trustee of the Africa Justice Foundation, a UK NGO working in East Africa. I am leading a project in partnership with the Rwandan government and academic institutions on mediation training.
I previously practiced as an immigration and asylum advocate, preparing and presenting cases before the UK Asylum and Immigration Tribunal. Prior to that I spent two years as a Legal Officer at the Australian Human Rights Commission.