Members

Alison Kellett is the current President of the SDT and Chair of the Board of the SDTAL. She joined the Tribunal as a member in 2015, becoming a board member in 2021. She is currently undertaking an interim part-time role as Managing Director of the SDTAL.

She began her legal career at Clifford Chance, then spent 15 years in-house as Head of Group Dispute Resolution for the UK and Channel Islands at BNP Paribas, before joining Norton Rose Fulbright as a partner in the Disputes practice in 2023.

Alison has also spent 11 years as a school governor, deputy chair of the board and chairing the Nominations/Remuneration and Compliance Committees. She is a passionate advocate for diversity and equality and of driving up standards fostering a culture of true collaboration and teamwork.

Alyson is a solicitor member of the Tribunal.  She was appointed in June 2022. Alison specialises in criminal law. She worked as a Crown Prosecutor. Alyson managed a Criminal Justice Unit prosecuting a wide range of cases in the magistrates’ courts. Alyson also worked in both the Home Office and Ministry of Justice as a Policy Advisor dealing with different aspect of the Criminal law such as Out of Court Disposals and women offenders. Alyson returned to the Crown Prosecution Service as a Senior Policy Advisor with a wide-ranging portfolio.

From 2015 to 2021 Alyson was seconded to the Judicial Office as the Legal and Policy Advisor to the Senior Presiding Judge. Alyson now volunteers with Citizens Advice focussing on Family law; particularly Domestic Abuse.

Andrew is a solicitor member of the Tribunal.  He was appointed in January 2023.  Andrew specialises in dispute resolution, especially professional liability, insurance, IT and shareholder disputes.  Andrew spent 20 years at City firms as a dispute resolution partner. He now practises as a consultant solicitor.

Andrew also sits as a judge of the First Tier Tribunal (appointed 2019) dealing with social security benefit appeals. 

Angela is a solicitor member of the Tribunal.  She was appointed in October 2015.  Angela specialises in professional negligence and regulation, usually acting on instructions from professional indemnity insurers.

Angela also Chairs the Investigation Committee of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, has served as a Trustee and Chair of various Charities, and been Vice-Chair of the Board of Governors of an independent co-educational school, having served on that Board for some 20 years. She is also a lay Assessor for the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists Part II Membership examination course.

Admitted as a Solicitor in 1985. Member of the Tribunal since 2010. Consultant in a City practice specialising in acting for investment banks in project financing. Formerly a partner successively in 4 City firms, including a US firm. Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. Trustee of almshouses charity and member of Church of England Deanery Synod.

Bhavna is a solicitor member of the Tribunal.  She was appointed in September 2019.  Bhavna specialises in civil litigation, clinical negligence, judicial review, and regulatory/professional discipline.  Bhavna is also a Case Examiner with General Optical Council.

Carolyn is a solicitor member of the Tribunal. She was appointed in 2015. Carolyn was a Partner in regional high street practice between 2009 and 2016, before setting up own practice. Carolyn is a specialist in Road Transport and Regulatory Law, including defending Operators at Public Inquiry and the Upper Tribunal. Carolyn is also a Duty Solicitor and Higher Rights Advocate.

Charlotte is a solicitor member of the Tribunal.  She was appointed in January 2023. Charlotte has held a a variety of senior in-house roles in both the charitable and private sectors, including Head of Legal Affairs, carrying out a range of commercial work at an educational charity, a university’s technology transfer company and a landscape architecture and construction company. 

Charlotte sits as a panel member for the Health and Care Professions Council. She also sits as a Deputy District Judge in Civil and Family.  Charlotte was appointed as a Recorder in May 2023.

Dominic is a solicitor member appointed in 2006. He was admitted as a Solicitor in 1993 and is a Partner in Fenchurch St firm specialising in media-related disputes, intellectual property, and commercial litigation. Dominic was appointed Registrar of British Indian Ocean Territory Supreme Court in 2018.

Ed is a solicitor member of the Tribunal.  He was appointed in November 2009.  Ed was the President of the Tribunal from February 2016 to February 2022.  He specialises in commercial property and charity trust law.  Ed has been the President of the Law Society of England and Wales, Governor of College of Law (later University of Law), Judicial Appointments Commissioner, International Bar Association Management Board Member, Legal Services Board Member and Queens Counsel Appointments Member.  

Ed is a trustee of various charities, and is the Diocesan Solicitor of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Salford.

Gerald is a solicitor member of the Tribunal.  He was appointed in October 2015. Gerald specialised in criminal law and was a former Head of Crown Court Unit dealing with all Crown Court Cases in CPS North-East Area.  He has worked as a Crown prosecutor, Senior Crown prosecutor, Principal Crown prosecutor and Head of Crown Court Prosecutions Unit.

Gerald is a consultant at an international law firm.  He sits as the Legally Qualified Chair of Police Misconduct Panels.

Heidi is a solicitor member who was appointed to the Tribunal in June 2022.   She specialises in criminal defence and family law. Heidi was admitted as a solicitor in 2011.  Heidi develops AI for the legal profession with LexisNexis and is an experienced University lecturer.  She also supervises University students in the provision of pro bono advice to members of the public.

James is a solicitor member.  He was appointed to the Tribunal in June 2022.  James initially practised in criminal defence before being commissioned as a British Army Legal Officer. James has varied military experience including operational deployments to Northern Ireland, the Balkans, East Timor, Iraq and elsewhere providing advice to Commanders on matters such as the use of force, detainee handling, covert Ops and Rule of Law. He has extensive criminal prosecution experience at Court Martial and advice to the Army high command on employment law, health and safety, Army misconduct and grievance procedures. James is a Solicitor-Advocate (Higher Courts Criminal).

James holds regulatory roles with the ICAEW and IFA. He is also a member of HM Parole Board (terrorism specialist) and a Council of Europe expert consultant on International Criminal Justice and International Humanitarian Law issues.

John is a solicitor member who was appointed to the Tribunal in June 2022.  He specialises in insurance law. John was admitted as a solicitor in 1989 and practised as a litigator and mediator before going in-house in 2002. John was the European General Counsel of a global insurance company until embarking on a freelance career in 2022.

John also sits as a lay member on the professional conduct panels of the Teaching Regulation Agency and the National Counselling and Psychotherapy Society.

Lisa is a solicitor member of the Tribunal.  She was appointed in June 2022. She specialises in criminal defence work. Lisa was admitted as a solicitor in 2010. She is a solicitor-advocate and a criminal duty solicitor.  Lisa is also a Fee Paid Judge for the First Tier Tribunal (SEND) and an Employment Judge.

Lisa is a solicitor member appointed to the Tribunal in 2022. Lisa is In-House Counsel at an international law firm advising at a strategic level on various risk and compliance issues and undertaking regulatory investigations. Lisa was previously a Consultant in litigation, acting for clients in the financial services sector advising on disputes relating to contracts for secured lending, specialising in allegations of fraud, undue influence and contractual disputes.

Mark is a solicitor member of the Tribunal.  He was appointed in October 2015. Mark specialised in commercial litigation.  He is a former Crown Prosecutor and former Solicitor-Advocate with The General Pharmaceutical Council. Mark specialises in regulatory advocacy.  Mark sits as a lay member on the Corum Independent Review Mechanism. 

Member of the Tribunal since 2009. Paul attended Cambridge, after which he began his career with a City firm. He has 40+ years practice in a small Devon firm undertaking different types of work, now mainly employment law. As well as the SDT, Paul undertakes professional regulation work for several other professions. He has been a Judge at Employment Tribunal since 1992 and the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal between 2014 and 2021.

Peter is a solicitor member of the Tribunal. He was appointed in October 2015.  Peter was a former partner in a commercial firm where he was the Head of Public Inquiries, and Head of Commercial Litigation for three of the firm’s branch offices.  Peter has practised in the field of public inquiries for over 30 years and has led teams acting for major public inquiries. These include the Bloody Sunday Inquiry, the Shipman Inquiry, the Jersey Child Abuse inquiry and the Mid Staffs NHS Foundation Trust public inquiry. He has acted for clients on the Grenfell Tower Inquiry; the Infected Blood Inquiry; the Edinburgh Tram Inquiry; the Leveson Inquiry; IICSA (child abuse inquiry), and others. Peter is co-author of “the Practical Guide to Public inquiries” and is a regular speaker and commentator in the press on public law, and public inquiries.

Richard is a solicitor member of the Tribunal.  He was appointed in August 2006.  Richard specialises in Mental Health, Mental Capacity and Human Rights work.  He also sits as the Fee-paid President of the Mental Health Review Tribunal for Wales.  Richard is an Assessor for The Law Society’s Mental Health Tribunal Accreditation Panel.

Teresa is a solicitor member of the Tribunal.  She was appointed in July 1999.  Teresa specialises in family law, including financial provision and arrangements for children. Her cases often involve an international element.  Teresa is also a Mediator, Collaborative Lawyer, and a qualified Psychotherapist.

Usman is a solicitor member of the Tribunal. He was appointed in June 2022.  Usman specialises in immigration law. Usman has a wide range of experience in the legal profession having worked in both magic circle and legal aid law firms before establishing his own firm.

William is a solicitor member of the Tribunal.  He was appointed in October 2015.  William specialises in professional negligence and fraud matters. William is an extremely experienced litigator and now leads a team of approximately 50 people focussing on property, contract and negligence-based disputes. 

Adair is a lay member of the Tribunal.  He was appointed in June 2019.  He is Managing Director of a training consultancy, Honorary Associate Professor of Chemistry at the University of Warwick and is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. Adair has been a judicial officer holder since 2007 and is currently a First-tier Tribunal Judge (Social Entitlement Chamber) and a Fitness-to-practice Committee chair of the General Dental Council.

Alan is a lay member of the Tribunal appointed in 2022. Alan has over 30 years police experience as a Force Senior Investigator, Director of Intelligence, Head of Covert Intelligence and National Counter Terrorism Co-ordinator at UK CT Policing Headquarters. Consultancy work with International and European Law Enforcement Agencies.

Anthony is a lay member of the Tribunal.  He was appointed in June 2022. He is a senior leader in regulatory affairs, with over 20 years of experience in economic regulation and the regulation of professions. Anthony is also a member of the Committee on Fuel Poverty, Lay Member and Alternate Chair of the Regulatory Board of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales, Chair of the Code Change Committee for the Non-Household Water Market, and a senior manager at the Payment Systems Regulator.

Ben Walsh is a Civil and Workplace Mediator. He was appointed as a Lay Member of the Tribunal in June 2022. Ben is also a Lay Member of the CIPFA Regulatory Panel and an Independent Chair/Selection Panel Member for the Judicial Appointments Commission. He sits on the Registration and Standards Committee for the Civil Mediation Council. 

Appointed as a Lay Member to the Tribunal in 2015, Carol is an experienced local government manager working for Kent County Council, with a background in change management, equality, diversity and inclusion, economic development, and highways. 20 years lay member on Employment Tribunal and lay diversity assessor for the Courts. Experienced in advocacy in employee relations.

Colin is a lay member of the Tribunal.  He was appointed in June 2022. Colin retired from the Royal Air Force in 2004 as a senior officer in the Engineer Branch. He has been awarded both the NATO Medal and the Iraq Medal for his leadership on operations. Colin founded and ran a business providing energy-efficiency-assessment services and was Chairman of a health and social care employee-owned social enterprise.

As well as hearing employment disputes as a non-legal member for the Employment Tribunals Service, Colin is also a regulatory panel member for the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants and the General Osteopathic Council. He is also a member of Lincolnshire County Council’s Independent Remuneration Panel.

Damian is a lay member of the Tribunal.  He was appointed in June 2022.  Following service in the Royal Air Force within the UK and overseas, Damian spent 25 years as a police officer, working as a senior detective across many areas of policing. As an Assistant Chief Constable, Damian was responsible for counter terrorism, organised crime and forensics, leading a large workforce throughout the five police forces based in the south-west of England. Thereafter, he was appointed as a Director within the national policing inspectorate, leading specialist inspections across the UK and in British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies.  Damian now holds lay regulatory positions with the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, and the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons.  He also sits as an independent member of the Parole Board for England & Wales and as a specialist member of the National Safeguarding Panel for Sport.

Stephanie is a lay member of the Tribunal.  She was appointed in October 2015.  Stephanie has been the Lay Vice-President since 2019. Stephanie practiced as a doctor in the NHS for eleven years before completing a law degree and specialising in the field of professional indemnity and medicolegal risk management for twenty years. She has extensive experience of the legal and professional issues that arise in healthcare gained through supporting and representing doctors in regulatory and disciplinary and through working with governments and other stakeholders on policy issues.

As an independent consultant, Stephanie undertakes a wide range of investigations into serious incidents, governance and service reviews in the NHS and private health sectors. She is also an experienced mediator in healthcare disputes. 

Stephanie is also an independent adjudicator of third stage complaints in the independent healthcare sector, as well as being a lay member of the Disciplinary Pool for the IFoA, and the Chair of the Disciplinary Pool subgroup.

Elaine is a lay member of the Tribunal.  She was appointed in June 2022.  Elaine also sits for the Judiciary as a Tribunal Panel Member, hearing appeals, as well as sitting on several Police Scrutiny Panels.  Her passion is giving back to the community. She is a volunteer for a UK charity based in Uganda.

Gary is a lay member of the Tribunal.  He was appointed in June 2022.  Gary is a former Police Officer who served in the Royal Ulster Constabulary (GC) and the Police Service of Northern Ireland. Gary served as a Detective Superintendent within Specialist Operations Branch, with responsibility for National Security and Serious and Organised Crime Operations. He also performed the role of an Independent Policing Expert, focussing upon the police use of firearms, advising Public Inquiries, legal practices, Coroners and the Independent Office for Police Conduct.

Jenny is a lay member of the Tribunal.  She was appointed in October 2019.  Jenny spent her career in public service, working principally in legal departments: the Lord Chancellor’s Department, the Serious Fraud Office and the Attorney General’s Department. Jenny became the first Chief Executive of the United Kingdom Supreme Court in 2008.Jenny is a trustee of various charities, a non-executive member of the Chapter at Exeter Cathedral, and a member of the Independent Monitoring Board at Exeter prison.

Katharine is a lay member of the Tribunal.  She was appointed in January 2023.  Katherine works freelance in the field of bioethics, with a particular interest in how ethical considerations can be embedded in health policy and research, and the responsibilities of both individuals and institutions in promoting ethical outcomes. Before going freelance, she worked for thirty years first in the public sector (House of Commons Research Library, Department of Health and NHS), and then for the Nuffield Council on Bioethics (an independent body which identifies, analyses and advises on ethical issues in biomedicine). She now works with a range of national and international health bodies including the World Health Organization, the UK’s National Institute for Health Research, and the Multi-Regional Clinical Trials Center at Harvard University.

Lesley is a lay member of the Tribunal.  She was appointed in November 2009.  Leslie is a Senior Executive and Business Development Coach. Leslie also holds Non-Executive Director and Interim Director roles. Leslie worked in the broadcast industry holding Senior Executive Director positions at ITV, The London Studios, BBC, BBC Resources Ltd, and was a Non-Executive Director of the UK Screen Association, the trade body representing facilities service companies working in the film, commercials and television industry in the UK. Prior to entering the broadcast industry Leslie held several Director positions within the Printing industry including Managing Director for a group of six specialist printing companies nationwide. Leslie is also an Emergency Response Volunteer for the British Red Cross, Action For Happiness Volunteer, and a campanologist.

Linda is a lay member of the Tribunal.  She was appointed in June 2022.  Linda is a highly experienced Human Resources professional having worked as Head of HR at several mainly third sector organisations until 2019. She is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and now works as an HR Consultant mainly supporting small charities. She also sits as a member of the Employment Tribunal and as a lay panel member for a number of statutory regulators in the healthcare and finance sectors.

Louise is a lay member of the Tribunal.  She was appointed in January 2023. Louise is an independent social worker, with a background in Adult Services and is a qualified practice educator and Best Interests assessor.  Louise also sits as a lay chair on fitness to practice panels for the Nursing and Midwifery Council and as a registrant panel member for Social Work England.

Lay Member of the Tribunal since 2015. Paul was a Consultant General Surgeon in Croydon from 1992 to 2017, a Deputy Medical Director from 2000-2007, a Board Member at the London School of Surgery from 2009-2013 and a Chair at the Speciality Training Committee for General Surgery from 2003-2013. Paul is currently a Speciality Member at the Criminal Injuries Compensation Appeals Tribunal.

Rob is a lay member of the Tribunal.  He was appointed in November 2009. Rob is a retired ENT surgeon. Rob’s previous appointments include: Lay member of Qualifications Committee for the Bar Standards Board; Member of General Medical Council; Medical Undergraduate Dean, Royal United Hospital, Bath; Chair and subsequently case investigator for Medical and Dental Undergraduate Fitness to Practice procedures, Bristol University. 

Sarah is a lay member of the Tribunal.  She was appointed in February 2002.  Sarah is a Veterinary Surgeon. She was initially employed in general practice then in a range of government veterinary and management roles for MAFF/Defra/APHA, including Deputy Head of the FMD Claims Unit and Head of Field Delivery for APHA Midlands Region.  Sarah was also a Teaching Associate at the University of Nottingham School of Veterinary Medicine and Science. Sarah is now a member of the Cosby Community Library Management Team.