Innovation (2022- )

Since March 2022 I have joined the central MoJ Innovation team as a team lead.

Priority Projects (2020-2022)

Between July 2020 and March 2022 I was part of the MoJ Priority Projects team as a team lead. The Priority Projects Team is a high-profile, friendly and supportive team at the heart of the Ministry of Justice’s strategy function. We provide flexible resource to deliver priority policy projects, playing a central role in the development and delivery of the Ministry of Justice’s priorities.

So far in the team I have worked across 10 justice policy areas, covering topics such as legal aid, covid recovery, community justice, prisoner and prison officer policy, judicial policy, youth justice, alternative dispute resolution, drug and alcohol strategy, witness and victim attrition, and digital and technology.

Judicial Policy (2018-2020)

Between 2018 and 2020 I acted as a senior policy advisor in MoJ judicial policy, leading on several workstrands supporting the Lord Chancellor’s responsibilities in relation to the judiciary.

I led on reviewing impacts of several government policies on the recruitment and retention of judiciary. I was also involved in the forecasting of judicial recruitment and deployment needs based on potential future levels of demand, across all courts and tribunals and all jurisdictions.

Back in 2018 I also led work on downstream impacts of EU Exit on the judiciary, judicial training preparation and preparedness of justice system to deal with impacts (from a judicial angle). This involved complex forecasting of potential EU Exit impacts across each court and tribunal jurisdiction, being aware of the current situation and challenges in each jurisdiction, and recommending ways in which the judiciary could be best deployed/recruited to prepare for future demand.

Access to Justice (2017-2018)

I joined the UK Ministry of Justice back in spring 2017, determined to have a more substantive social impact, given my passion for justice and my background in justice research. I also wanted to better understand how the government works and how policies are made.

I joined the Access to Justice directorate as a policy advisor. Part of the Legal Support team, my role was to review a large body of evidence on legal needs, legal problem resolution pathways, and legal support solutions to help citizens solve their legal problems.

Legal Support involved a high-level, strategic view of innovative new ways of increasing access to justice, across civil, family and tribunals, including technology-enabled solutions. I reviewed current evidence and case studies on: public legal education (PLE), information and self-help; early legal advice; tailored signposting and referral; integrated legal support services; alternative dispute resolution; and in-court navigation and support for litigants in person. The resources library had 300+ pieces of evidence and over 70 case studies from home and around the world.

I also acted as an interim coordinator for the LASPO Post-Implementation Review (PIR). This involved project managing the drafting team, collaborating with several analytical and policy teams on each of the areas of PIR, and advising ministers on content, timeline and scope of the review.