PLC Public Sector professional support team

Sophie Cameron worked as an editor for a magazine publisher before training as a solicitor at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer in London. She qualified into the litigation department in 2000 following a secondment to the in-house legal department at Reuters. In 2001 she moved to the employment department of Bates, Wells & Braithwaite, where she specialised in contentious and advisory employment work for individuals and charities and regularly appeared in the employment tribunal. Since June 2005, Sophie has been a part-time Visiting Research Fellow at the Fawcett Society, where she co-authored a report on the reform of gender equality legislation, Gender Equality in the 21st Century: modernising the legislation. Sophie joined PLC Employment in 2004 as an Editor and moved to PLC Public Sector to launch the new service in 2008. Sophie is Head of PLC Public Sector. Sophie is currently a non-practising solicitor.

Chris Knuckey trained at Cobbetts, and worked in their commercial department advising on public procurement and general commercial matters. From 2004 to 2006 he was a solicitor at Clarkslegal advising on public procurement, including in respect of PFI/PPP schemes undertaken by local authorities. From there, Chris joined the Treasury Solicitor's Department, advising across various Government departments on procurement law and associated commercial issues including undertaking a secondment to the prison service, before joining PLC Public Sector in 2008. Chris works on procurement, commercial law and freedom of information content for PLC Public Sector. Chris is currently a non-practising solicitor.

Kirsten Maslen trained at Nabarro Nathanson (now Nabarro) and qualified in January 2005. She then moved to West Sussex County Council where she advised on education and information law. Kirsten continues to work at West Sussex and now specialises in procurement, advising on all aspects of the tendering process and drafting and negotiating contracts from low value agreements to major projects. She has a particular interest in outsourcing and employee transfers. Kirsten joined PLC Public Sector in 2009 and is working on education, local government and commercial content. Kirsten is not practising at PLC.

Jane West worked as a solicitor for the London Borough Council of Haringey for three years advising on education and employment law, before joining Mayer Brown Rowe & Maw, where she gained substantial experience of public and administrative law and civil litigation, in particular judicial review proceedings. Jane joined PLC Public Sector in 2008 from Beachcroft where she had been advising public sector bodies on public and administrative law matters, including statutory powers. Jane works on our public, administrative and governance law content. Jane is currently a non-practising solicitor.

Belinda Schwehr trained as a barrister and practised for four years before moving to academia to teach public law. Belinda returned to legal practice in 1997, joining the Public Law Group at Rowe & Maw, re-qualifying as a solicitor and gaining rights of advocacy in the High Court. Belinda has specialised in adult social services, health care and human rights law for 12 years. Belinda runs a legal and training consultancy, Care and Health Law and regularly trains social workers and lawyers on the legal framework underpinning health and social care as well as speaking at conferences throughout the United Kingdom. Belinda was grant-funded by the Department of Health to produce awareness-raising materials about the Mental Capacity Act 2005. In 2008 Belinda worked with over 50 health and care bodies, providing topical legal training updates regarding the full range of policy, practice and performance issues. She has also advised the Local and Central Government Ombudsmen, ADASS, National Association of Finance Officers, and many charitable and private sector care home providers, domiciliary care and support providers, PCTs, users and carers. Belinda joined PLC Public Sector as a consultant editor in 2009 and will be contributing to the development of adult social care and health resources.

Fiona Gardiner has worked in the legal department of West Sussex County Council for over 10 years on employment, education and enforcement matters and is currently Senior Solicitor and Team Leader for People Services, managing a team of solicitors and legal executives. Fiona regularly appears in the Employment Tribunal, the Magistrates’ Court as Prosecutor for the County Council, the Family Proceedings Court and the Special Educational Needs and Disciplinary Tribunal. Fiona also advises on school admissions appeals and exclusions appeals as well as regularly advising schools and governing bodies on a wide range of legal issues. Fiona also advises and appears on behalf of West Sussex Trading Standards Service and West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service in criminal proceedings. Fiona joined PLC Public Sector as a consultant editor in 2009 and is working on education materials.

Carl Gardner was called to the Bar in 1993 and spent twelve years as a government lawyer specialising in EU law and human rights. He advised ministers and officials in many departments across a range of policy areas from tax to terrorism, from pensions to discrimination and from broadcasting to health. He worked on major bills, on EU legislation and on litigation in the UK and Europe. Carl advised on the drafting of the European Constitution and represented the UK in negotiations, before moving to work with Lord Goldsmith at the Attorney General's Office. Carl now teaches at the National School of Government and is a member of Nominet's dispute resolution panel. Carl writes the law blog Head of Legal. Carl is a consultant editor to PLC Public Sector and works on human rights and central government resources.

Daniel Greenberg was called to the Bar in 1987 and after pupillage joined the Lord Chancellor's Department as a legal adviser. In 1991 he joined the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel, a group of civil servants in the Cabinet Office who draft all government Acts of Parliament and advise on Parliamentary procedure and aspects of constitutional law. As Parliamentary Counsel he has drafted in most areas of the law, including tax, insolvency, crime, tort, land law, employment law, constitutional law and regulatory law. He is the editor of Craies on Legislation and Stroud's Judicial Dictionary, and the General Editor of the third edition of Jowitt's Dictionary of English Law, which is planned for publication in 2010. He continues to serve as Parliamentary Counsel (part-time), and joined PLC, in a wholly private capacity, as a consultant editor in 2008, working on statutory construction and interpretation.

Caroline Cox trained at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and joined their real estate department in September 2001. She spent seven years thereafter qualification advising both private and public sector clients on a variety of property and planning transactions. Prior to training as a solicitor Caroline worked in both the private and public sectors as a town planner. Caroline spent six years as a development control officer in the planning department of a borough council dealing with major planning applications and appearing as the Council’s expert witness at a number of planning public inquiries. She is a member of the Royal Town Planning Institute. Caroline joined PLC in December 2008 and works on our planning content. Caroline is currently a non-practising solicitor.

Cally Foster studied law at King’s College London, graduating in 2005. She went on to undertake the Bar Vocational Course at the Inns of Court School of Law. She was called to the Bar in 2006. Cally is currently a Junior Editor for PLC Public Sector. Cally is not practising.

Liz Parkinson joined Norton Rose upon qualification in 1988. She later worked at Slaughter and May and then Simmons & Simmons in the commercial property departments. More recently she was a partner in the West End firm of Collins Benson Goldhill. Before joining PLC Property in 2004, Liz obtained a distinction in a masters degree in European Real Estate at Kingston University.

Liz has an interest in social housing and has been a member of the board of Shepherd's Bush Housing Association for the last four years. Liz is the PLC Public Sector champion for property law. Liz is currently a non-practising solicitor.

Peter Harvey qualified at Burges Salmon in 1993 and since then has been involved in environmental law, particularly litigation in both the civil and criminal courts. He joins from Veale Wasbrough, where he led the environment and regulatory team. Peter has extensive experience advising on environmental issues for commercial, public sector and institutional clients (including FTSE100 companies, local authorities, government departments and agencies). Peter has a masters in environmental law and before qualifying as a lawyer he worked for a local authority planning department, specialising in rights of way and nature reserves. Peter joined PLC Environment in June 2007. Peter is the PLC Public Sector champion for environment law. Peter is currently a non-practising solicitor.

Anna Taylor joined PLC from Fried Frank where she specialised in advising employers on both pensions and employment matters. Anna qualified at Taylor Joynson Garrett (now Taylor Wessing) in 2001 and subsequently joined the Pensions and Employment Department at Slaughter and May where she practised for four years, advising on a wide range of pensions and employment issues and, in particular, the relevant issues arising in corporate transactions. Anna is a member of the Association of Pension Lawyers. Anna has experience of advising on the pensions implications of taking a transfer of employees from the public sector. Anna is the PLC Public Sector champion for pensions law. Anna is currently a non-practising solicitor.

Helen Hart joined PLC in 2008 from Stevens & Bolton, where she was a senior associate in the corporate and commercial department. She trained at Allen & Overy in London and Frankfurt and qualified in 1998. Between 1999 and 2005 she worked as in-house counsel for Centrica plc and then Palm Europe Limited. She is a member of the Society of Authors and the Society of Women Writers and Journalists and has an LLM in German law. Helen is the PLC Public Sector champion for commercial law. Helen is currently a non-practisng solicitor.

Lucy Harrison is a former solicitor. She is head of the competition service. She qualified into the competition group of McKenna & Co and after a spell in the Government Legal Service returned to work as an EC and competition lawyer at Cameron Mckenna. Prior to joining PLC in 2002 she worked at Linklaters for three years, specialising in EC and UK competition law, merger control and public procurement. Lucy is the PLC Public Sector champion for competition law.

Claire Templeton trained at Hobson Audley (now Faegre & Benson) and qualified into the dispute resolution department in 1998. Following secondments to one of its US offices and Viacom (UK) Limited, she joined the employment department of Norton Rose, dealing with predominantly non-contentious and advisory work for employers. She then returned to Faegre & Benson, where she gained wide experience of advising clients on international employment issues. Claire is the PLC Public Sector champion for employment law. Claire is currently a non-practising solicitor.

Michelle Rousell is a former solicitor. She trained at Cameron Markby Hewitt (now CMS Cameron McKenna) and then spent five years at Nabarro Nathanson (now Nabarro) before joining the construction and engineering team at Lewis Silkin in September 2000. She specialised in all aspects of construction and engineering disputes and worked for a wide range of clients - employers, contractors, specialist subcontractors and their insurers, registered social landlords and public bodies. She is a member of the Society of Construction Law and joined PLC Construction in February 2008. Michelle is the PLC Public Sector champion for construction law.

Pia-Cody Styles qualified in 1999, having trained at Travers Smith. She has dealt with a broad range of disputes including claims in the Commercial Court and has taken a number of cases to trial. She joined PLC Dispute Resolution from Travers Smith in April 2006. Pia is the PLC Public Sector champion for civil litigation. She is currently a non-practising solicitor.

Susan Hollingdale is a former solicitor. She trained at Beachcroft. On completing her training she joined Norton Rose, where she practised as a corporate/commercial lawyer before joining the Unisys in-house team. Since 1997 she has worked as a professional support lawyer with Bird & Bird and Olswang and most recently she worked in the company and commercial department of BP Collins as both a commercial lawyer and professional support lawyer. Susan joined PLC in 2005 and is joint head of PLC Corporate. Susan is the PLC Public Sector champion for corporate law.

Sui Lee worked as an associate at Wragge & Co, specialising in property tax, acting for a varied portfolio of clients. Sui started her tax career at Coopers and Lybrand (now PricewaterhouseCoopers) in their international corporate tax department. After several years she left to qualify as a solicitor at Linklaters. Sui subsequently joined Laytons Solicitors, where she advised on a diverse range of corporate and other taxes. She is a member of the Association of Taxation Technicians, the Association of Women In Property and the Stamp Taxes Practitioners Group. Sui has previously advised local authorities on indirect taxes in connection with property development. Sui joined PLC Tax in 2007 and is the PLC Public Sector champion for tax law. Sui is currently a non-practising solicitor.

Stephen Aldred is a former solicitor. He trained at Herbert Smith and worked in their IP department for two years after qualifying. He moved to Clifford Turner (which merged to become Clifford Chance), where he was a partner for eight years, specialising in IP law. He was subsequently a partner with Masons and Arnander Irvine and Zeitman, where he specialised in IP and IT law. Stephen is the PLC Public Sector champion for IP, IT and data protection law.