Lucy Ann Scott-Moncrieff (born March 1954) is a British lawyer and a former

House of Lords commissioner for standards There are currently two House of Lords Commissioners for Standards, officers of the United Kingdom House of Lords. When the post was created in 2010 there was a single commissioner who was "responsible for the independent and impartial investigat ...

. She specialises in mental health and human rights law.

Early and personal life

Scott-Moncrieff was born in March 1954 in

Aldershot Aldershot () is a town in Hampshire, England. It lies on heathland in the extreme northeast corner of the county, southwest of London. The area is administered by Rushmoor Borough Council. The town has a population of 37,131, while the Alders ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

. She was educated at

Guildford College Guildford College of Further and Higher Education (GCFHE) in Guildford, Surrey was a Surrey County Council-funded educational establishment for students of age 16+ undertaking full-time and part-time studies, established in 1939. It became p ...

. She studied Law at the

University of Kent , motto_lang = , mottoeng = Literal translation: 'Whom to serve is to reign'(Book of Common Prayer translation: 'whose service is perfect freedom')Graham Martin, ''From Vision to Reality: the Making of the University of Kent at Canterbury'' ...

from 1972 to 1975. She attended the College of Law, Guildford, at the

University of Law The University of Law (founded in 1962 as The College of Law of England and Wales) is a For-profit education, for-profit private university in the United Kingdom, providing law degrees, specialist legal training and Professional development, conti ...

. Scott-Moncrieff lives in North West London.

Career

Scott-Moncrieff qualified in 1978. In 1986 she joined a sub-committee dealing with the first

Law Society A law society is an association of lawyers with a regulatory role that includes the right to supervise the training, qualifications, and conduct of lawyers. Where there is a distinction between barristers and solicitors, solicitors are regulated ...

specialist panel. She had roles in criminal law at the London firms Offenbach and Bradbury. Scott-Moncrieff founded the solicitors' firm Scott-Moncrieff & Associates Ltd in 1987, "as she wanted the flexibility of self-employment to combine work with motherhood". It was the first virtual solicitors' firm in the world, in which all the lawyers are self-employed consultants working from home or their own offices. At the time, Scott-Moncrieff was starting to specialise in mental health and human rights law. She is managing director of the firm. She spent most of her career representing mentally disordered offenders detained in high secure hospitals. She was elected to the Law Society Council in January 2002. She was President of The Law Society from 2012 to 2013, and then chaired its Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Committee for five years. Scott-Moncrieff has been a Mental Health Act commissioner and a founder member of the QC Appointments Panel, and was a commissioner at the

Postal Services Commission The Postal Services Commission, known as Postcomm, was a non-ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom charged with overseeing the quality and universal service of post in the United Kingdom. It was established in 2000 under t ...

from 2008 to 2011. Scott-Moncrieff was appointed

House of Lords Commissioner for Standards There are currently two House of Lords Commissioners for Standards, officers of the United Kingdom House of Lords. When the post was created in 2010 there was a single commissioner who was "responsible for the independent and impartial investigat ...

for five years beginning on 1 June 2016. The role was openly advertised. She succeeded Paul Kernaghan. In December 2017 she was appointed to the members' advisory board of mutual Wesleyan. She is a former patron of the Kent Law Campaign, to raise funds for the Wigoder Law Building at the

. Martin Jelley and Akbar Khan took over from her as House of Lords Commissioner for Standards from 1 June and 1 July 2021 respectively. Scott-Moncrieff was accused by peers of using "bullying" letters to persuade them to attend a course to combat bullying, discrimination and sexual harassment. In July 2021, ''

The Telegraph ''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are popular names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include: Australia * ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaide, South Australia, publ ...

'' reported that Scott-Moncrieff had been engaged in a legal battle with the freeholder at her home in North West London after she built a wild swimming pond. Scott-Moncrieff is Co-Chair of the Legal Aid and Access to Justice Committee of the

International Bar Association The International Bar Association (IBA), founded in 1947, is a bar association of international legal practitioners, bar associations and law societies. The IBA currently has a membership of more than 80,000 individual lawyers and 190 bar associat ...

. She has been a commissioner with the Judicial Appointments Committee. She is a mental health tribunal judge. She also sits as a judge for the

Court of Protection The Court of Protection in English law is a superior court of record created under the Mental Capacity Act 2005. It has jurisdiction over the property, financial affairs and personal welfare of people who lack mental capacity to make decision ...

. She is a member of the Bach Commission on Access to Justice. She is an associate with Verita, which carries out investigations on behalf of public bodies.

Awards and honours

In 2005 Scott-Moncrieff was named "Mental Health Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year". In 2009 Scott-Moncrieff was made an Honorary Doctor of Laws at the

. In 2011 she won the Association of Women Solicitors award for best manager of a legal aid practice. She was appointed

Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(CBE) in the

2014 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2014 were appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebrati ...

for services to legal aid. In October 2019 Scott-Moncrieff was awarded the "Lifetime Achievement Award" by The Law Society for "her outstanding contribution to the legal profession".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scott-Moncrieff, Lucy 1954 births Living people Alumni of the University of Kent Alumni of The University of Law Human rights lawyers Presidents of the Law Society of England and Wales Commanders of the Order of the British Empire People from Aldershot Lawyers from Hampshire